Regina Carrol

Regina Carrol is best remembered for her work in exploitation films of the late '60s, '70s, and early '80s, directed (and occasionally produced) by her husband, filmmaker Al Adamson. Although she was never taken seriously as an actress, Carrol's voluptuous physical presence and subtle sense of humor made her a star in this field. Born Regina Gelfan in Boston, MA, in 1943, she was an attractive child and was brought on auditions by her mother as early as age five. After losing her mother to cancer at age 15, she was left virtually on her own, and in her later teens was a dancer in Las Vegas; it was her dancing that earned Carrol her screen debut, in Albert Zugsmith's exploitation movie The Beat Generation. She later played small, uncredited roles in John Ford's Two Rode Together, the Paul Newman-starring From the Terrace, The Slender Thread with Sidney Poitier, Viva Las Vegas starring Elvis Presley, and the Doris Day vehicle The Glass Bottom Boat. That kind of work didn't constitute a real career, however, and it was only after meeting Al Adamson and appearing in his biker film Satan's Sadists that Carrol's screen career took off. Although Carrol only worked in fewer than a dozen movies made by Adamson -- whom she married -- Carroll became a star within that field. She gave up movies following a diagnosis of cancer, although she did later resume some work in cabaret.

~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide