‘Peyton’ star Hope Lange dies at 70

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Hope Lange, who starred opposite Hollywood’s top actors over a decades-long career and earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 1957 film “Peyton Place,” has died, her husband said Sunday. She was 70.

Lange died Dec. 19 at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica after suffering an infection caused by an intestinal inflammation known as ischemic colitis, said her husband, Charles Hollerith.

Lange split her time between homes in Los Angeles’ Westwood section and New York City, said Hollerith, a former theatrical producer and vice president of the Actors’ Fund of America.

Lange starred in dozens of films and television shows and captured two Emmy Awards for her role in the series “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” in the late 1960s, her husband said.

Her big-screen credits included “The Best of Everything” in 1959 with Joan Crawford, “The Young Lions” in 1958 with Marlon Brando, and “Peyton Place” with Lana Turner. More recently, she was in 1986’s “Blue Velvet” and 1994’s “Clear and Present Danger.”

Actor Don Murray, who was married to Lange for several years in the 1950s, said Lange combined good looks and acting prowess.

“She was considered a great beauty who was also a serious and dedicated actor who didn’t pay attention to being glamorous,” Murray said.

Murray said her looks even intimidated Marilyn Monroe, who wanted Lange’s naturally blond hair dyed light brown in their 1956 film “Bus Stop.”