‘The Puppet Professor’ star tried to buy Playboy pictures from Hugh Hefner: son

Stella Stevens was in dire need of a paycheck when Playboy called.

The actress, who was groomed to be the next Marilyn Monroe before making her mark during the final years of Hollywood’s golden age, died in 2023 at the age of 84.

Now she’s the subject of her son Andrew Stevens’ new documentary, “Stella Stevens: The Last Starlet.” Features commentary from Quentin Tarantino and Vivica A. Fox, among others.

STELLA STEVENS, ACTRESS FROM “THE MAD PROFESSOR” AND COLLEGE OF ELVIS PRESLEY, DIED AT 84.

In the film, viewers learn how Stevens, who had a young son to feed, accepted the offer to pose naked for a magazine. This cemented her role as a sought-after screen siren, but it came at a price.

“She was alone in Hollywood, barely 18 years old [and] bankrupt with no source of income,” Andrew told Fox News Digital.

“A photographer and his wife came to her and said, ‘We’re shooting for a magazine called Playboy and we’ll pay you $5,000 if you do a look.’ Stella said: ‘It was work and I had a child to support.’

Before stripping, Stevens was discovered in a department store in Memphis. She flew to Hollywood for an audition and then signed a three-year contract with 20th Century Fox. While Stevens made three films in six months, she was dropped by the studio on a work card technicality.

Despite the $5,000 offer, Stevens said Playboy founder Hugh Hefner told her after the lavish shoot that he would only pay her half. To earn the rest, she had to work as a hostess in one of his clubs.

She was quoted as saying: ‘I told him to push him, I won’t,’ Andrew said.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE FOR THE FUN NEWSLETTER

Stevens has signed a new deal with Paramount. She landed the lead role in “Li’l Abner” as Appassionata Von Climax. She is determined to get her photos back before they go to press.

“She called Hugh Hefner and said, ‘I’ve got this big Hollywood movie now… please don’t post the photos. I’ll buy them off you,'” Andrew said. “He said, ‘Oh no, you have a contract. We use them.’ So, [Playboy] exploited ‘Li’l Abner,’ which takes place in a mythical place called the Dogpatch. They called her photos ‘Dogpatch Playmate’.”

WATCH: 60s STAR STELLA STEVENS TRIED TO BUY PLAYBOY PICTURES FROM HUGH HEFNER: SON

“The irony is that after she was fired from 20th Century Fox, she won a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer in 1960 when Marilyn also won a Golden Globe for Best Actress,” Andrew said. “AND [Marilyn won] for a studio that just went down [my mother’s] contract.”

Stevens found being a sex symbol a “double-edged sword,” Andrew said.

“On the one hand, she appreciated getting more attention in the Hollywood community,” he explained. “Everyone wanted to meet her… [But] the old Hollywood studio system at the time was a very male, misogynistic community. And the casting couch was very real. And like [film critic] Leonard Maltin is quoted [in the film]’There was a whole town led by the first Harvey Weinsteins.'”

“Somehow, [being a sex symbol] it gave her a career boost,” Andrew said. “But on the other hand, she was quoted as saying that it killed her to do anything decent or legitimate after that. People wouldn’t take her seriously because of this sexpot nickname she got. So, more difficult and meatier dramatic roles were not as forthcoming as more frivolous post-Marilyn Monroe type roles.”

“She called Hugh Hefner and said, ‘Now I have this big Hollywood movie … please don’t post the photos. I’ll buy them from you,'” He said, ‘Oh no, you use them.'”

— Andrew Stevens, son of Stella Stevens

Stevens was determined to be taken seriously as an actress. According to the documentary, Stevens had no desire to appear alongside Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!” from 1962.

“The studio was pushing her to do it,” Andrew explained. “At the time, very few actors had a say in what the studio gave them… Stella said, quite bluntly, ‘I don’t want to be the girl that Elvis Presley leaves for another girl. That’s not what I have in mind for my career.'”

LIKE WHAT YOU READ? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

“She had just finished a movie called ‘Too Late Blues,’ directed by John Cassavetes, starring Bobby Darin,” Andrew pointed out. “It was this … dramatic piece. That’s the kind of work she was interested in. Not some frivolous fluff piece, although Elvis movies were very popular at the time. [But] nobody took him seriously as an actor, and nobody took them seriously.”

“She had her own struggles with trying to be taken seriously after posing in Playboy.”

Although Stevens had “great respect” for Presley, she urged the studio not to cast her in the film. Stevens agreed to this only after she was promised to star opposite Montgomery Clift in her next film. It never happened.

Stevens hated the Presley movie and could never bring herself to watch it.

There was one person who believed in Stevens’ talent – Jerry Lewis. The comedian chose her to play his love interest in the 1963 film The Nutty Professor.

“Stella and Jerry Lewis loved each other,” Andrew said. “They had such a great partnership. When Jerry got the green light to shoot ‘The Nutty Professor’ at Paramount, he said, ‘I want the most beautiful girl you have under contract.’ And I think he named the role Stella Purdy after Stella. They just had a nice relationship.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I have fond memories of knowing Jerry Lewis and being on set, watching him direct,” Andrew recalled. “… I think he was a great mentor for Stella.”

Growing up, Andrew admitted that his relationship with Stevens was complicated.

She dropped out of high school at 15 to marry Andrew’s father, Herman Stephens. The couple divorced in 1956, and she took Andrew to California, where she could pursue an acting career. His father and grandfather later showed up at her house to take him back to Memphis, resulting in a nasty custody battle.

“The unfortunate thing about both of them is that they were babies having babies,” Andrew said of his parents. “My mother was 16 and my father 18 when I was born.

“My father barely finished high school. My mother had to drop out of high school to stay home and take care of me. She went to school at night to get her GED so she could go to Memphis State University… But neither, frankly, was she really equipped to take care of a child.”

“… I would always prefer to be in Memphis with my friends and the rest of my family,” Andrew admitted. “I certainly don’t blame my mother for wanting her child. But frankly, neither of my parents had the goods to raise a child.”

MARILYN MONROE STRUGGLED WITH SEXPOT PERSONA, MARRIAGE DISAPPOINTED DURING FILMING OF LAST MOVIE: THE BOOK

Although mother and son had “multiple periods of estrangement,” they bonded on set. She directed the 1989 film “The Ranch,” starring Andrew. He later directed her in 1991’s The Terror Within II.

Stevens worked steadily in television in the 1970s and ’80s, appearing in “Wonder Woman,” “Hart to Hart,” “The Love Boat” and “Night Court,” to name a few. She remained employed until she could no longer work due to Alzheimer’s disease.

To Stevens’ dismay, his mother was not included in the annual “In Memoriam” segment of the Academy Awards and never received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“My mother deserved better,” Andrew said. “Although my life with her was tumultuous and complex and not always warm and fuzzy, time and distance have given me a new perspective on the impact she had.”