Actress and Singer Edie Adams, Dead at 81

American actress, singer and comedienne Edie Adams died on October 15 in Los Angeles, reported the New York Times. The cause was cancer and pneumonia. She was 81.

A graduate of the Columbia School of Drama and the Juilliard School of Music, Adams started out in TV, working with Tonight Show host Jack Paar and comedian Ernie Kovacs, whom she married in 1954. in 1962, Kovacs died in a car accident. Adams married actor Marty Mills two years later. She is survived by their son, Josh Mills.

Known for her ability to portray the sultry seductress, Adams landed a long-running television commercial gig for Muriel cigars, in which she spoke the famous line "pick up and smoke it sometime."

On Broadway, Adams won a Theatre World Award for her role in Wonderful Town (1953) and garnered a Tony for her role in L'il Abner (1961). Her film credits include The Apartment (1960), Lover Come Back (1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Made in Paris (1966), Up in Smoke (1978) and The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980). Her television credits include The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952-1956), Cinderella (1957), Here's Edie ((1963-1964), Superdome (1978), The Seekers (1979), Portrait of an Escort (1980), As the World Turns (1982) and Tales of the City (1993).