Beautiful, talented performer who unfortunately--perhaps because she was a former "Playboy" centerfold--was typecast in undemanding, sexpot roles through the 1960s. Although Stevens first gained attention as the vamp, Appassionata von Climax, in the film "Li'l Abner" (1959), it wasn't until John Cassavetes' "Too Late Blues" (1962) and Sam Peckinpah's lyrical "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" (1970) that she was able to showcase her dramatic and comedic gifts. She later produced and directed a feature-length documentary, "The American Heroine" (1979), and has appeared on numerous TV shows. She directed her first feature, "The Ranch", starring her son Andrew Stevens, in 1989.