# RIP - Sue Lyon (Kubrick's Lolita) Dead at 73

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-sue-lyon-kubricks-lolita-dead-at-73/845542>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** celebrity-death\
**Created:** [December 29, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-sue-lyon-kubricks-lolita-dead-at-73/845542 "2019-12-29T13:17:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-sue-lyon-kubricks-lolita-dead-at-73/845542/1 "2019-12-29T13:17:11Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Sue Lyon, who at age 14 played the title character in the 1962 film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita, has died at age 73.
> 
> Longtime friend Phil Syracopoulos told The New York Times she died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He gave no cause of death.
> 
> Director Stanley Kubrick reportedly selected the young and inexperienced Lyon to play Lolita – a 12-year-old in Nabokov’s book who enters into a relationship with a middle-aged literature professor – from among 800 aspirants. After her casting, Nabokov described Lyon as the “perfect nymphet”.

> **[Sue Lyon, Kubrick's Lolita, dies aged 73](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/29/lolita-sue-lyon-stanley-kubrick-dies-aged-73)**
>
> Actor who starred in the controversial 1962 adaptation of Nabokov’s novel as a 14-year-old never matched its impact in her subsequent career

Other articles:

> **[Sue Lyon, Star of ‘Lolita,’ Is Dead at 73 (Published 2019)](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/movies/sue-lyon-dead.html)**
>
> She was 14 when she was cast in the title role of Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film of the Nabokov novel. It remained her best-known credit.

> **[Sue Lyon, actress who portrayed Lolita in scandalous 1962 movie, dies at 73](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/sue-lyon-actress-who-portrayed-lolita-in-scandalous-1962-movie-dies-at-73/2019/12/28/95b4386e-29c7-11ea-ad73-2fd294520e97_story.html)**
>
> She was 14 when she played the underage object of an older man’s desire.

> **[Sue Lyon, Teenage Star of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Lolita,’ Dies at 73](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sue-lyon-dead-teenage-star-stanley-kubricks-lolita-was-73-1265070/)**
>
> Sue Lyon, the titular "nymphet" in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, has died. The actor was 73.

IMDB:

> **[Sue Lyon | Actress, Soundtrack](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0528987/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1)**
>
> Known for: Lolita, The Night of the Iguana, Tony Rome

I like her in The Flim-Flam Man.

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**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-sue-lyon-kubricks-lolita-dead-at-73/845542/2 "2019-12-29T13:29:46Z")

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She was quite good in Night Of The Iguana, with Richard Burton and Ava Gardner. One of the few Tennessee Williams plays that doesn’t feature a lot of screaming and angst.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-sue-lyon-kubricks-lolita-dead-at-73/845542/3 "2019-12-29T19:00:44Z")

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There’s some discussion of this in the current Lolita [thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=886931), including my usual IMDb link.