British film and television actress from a noted family, known for her beauty, she was labelled “the most photogenic girl in the world.” In 1958 she became the face on Sweetheart Stout cans and bottles; the brand marked the 50th anniversary of using her image in 2008.
Venetia was the daughter of film director Robert Stevenson and actress Anna Lee. The family moved to Hollywood within a year of her birth after her father signed a contract with film producer David O. Selznick. When her parents divorced in 1944, she stayed with her father and new stepmother, Frances. After an education in exclusive Californian private schools, her theatrical debut was with her mother in Liliom in April 1955.
A one-time Miss Los Angeles Press Club, Stevenson was placed on contract by RKO Pictures in November 1956. She had primary roles in the films Day of the Outlaw (1959) and Studs Lonigan (1960). From 1957 to 1960 Stevenson appeared on television in episodes of various series.
At age 17 Stevenson married MGM actor-dancer Russ Tamblyn on Valentine’s Day, 1956, shortly after her half-brother, actor Jeffrey Byron, was born to her mother. Stevenson and Tamblyn divorced in April 1957, but the two remained friends. Stevenson had a year-long affair with actor Audie Murphy, which began when they co-starred in Seven Ways from Sundown in 1960.
Stevenson remarried, to Don Everly, in 1962 and retired from acting and modelling. She had often complained about how much she hated acting. The couple had two daughters, Stacy and Erin Everly, both models/actresses, and a son, Edan Everly, a musician. She divorced Don Everly in 1970 and never remarried. Erin, the ex-wife of rocker Axl Rose, was the inspiration for several Guns N’ Roses songs, including “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, where she also appeared in the video.
Stevenson died from Parkinson’s disease on 26 September 2022 at age 84 at a health care facility in Atlanta, Georgia.
Link to Wikipedia biography