The news of Carol Lynley's death last week due to a heart attack has really made me feel sad and put me in a funk. I've been reading messages on Facebook from people who knew her, and that has brought me a great deal of comfort, so I decided to share some of my own memories of her in hopes that it might help other people cope as well.
I was not a close friend of Ms. Lynley by any means, but I did have the pleasure of chatting with her on several occasions at autograph shows throughout the years. She was always very friendly and seemed please to be there.
The first time I talked to her, I was a nervous wreck inside, and could hardly speak. It is a surreal feeling suddenly being face to face with someone that you grew up watching on TV. I told her that "The Shuttered Room" was my favorite movie of hers, and we chatted about the movie. She told me a story about filming the scene where the house burned down, and said she almost got hit in the eye by some falling embers.
A couple years later, I served as a volunteer at the Ray Courts Hollywood Show. She was one of the first guests to arrive, and I was picked to escort her to her assigned table, and helped her with her bags.
Another time, I got to experience her sense of humor. I was with my friend, Debbie, and we approached her table, and looked over the photos spread out on her table. She gave us a guided tour of her photos at various stages in her career. I remember her pointing them out, saying, "This is me young, and this is me old." lol I picked out a photo of her to sign. Before she signed it, I told her I wanted her to write a different type of inscription or dedication because I already had her autograph from the earlier show. She replied, "How about, 'To Ron - You were great last night!'" Both Debbie and I laughed, and we eagerly said yes, but first Ms. Lynley wanted to make sure that it was okay with Debbie because she didn't know what our relationship was, and she didn't want to be a "homewrecker." Debbie assured her it was okay with her, so that's what Ms. Lynley wrote, and that is the picture she is holding up of the two of us.
Rest well, Ms. Lynley, and thank you for all the joy and entertainment you've brought into my life.
Carol’s daughter, Jill Selsman, told People in a statement, “She loved to dance, going to the ballet, seeing anything on Broadway. I basically lived at Lincoln Center as a child because of her. She had an easy approach to life and always took the good with the bad. She was a bon vivant. There really was no situation that couldn’t be improved or ignored because there really was so much fun to be had, why dwell on things you can’t change.”
Selsman continued, “Clearly, you can’t change death, but if there is a world beyond, she’s dancing with her great friend Fred Astaire and enjoying her new life as much as she enjoyed her previous one.”
