One of the most natural beauties of the 1960s with a gentle voice andpersonality to match, blonde Hope Lange was born in Redding Ridge,Connecticut, and performed on stage from the age of nine. She studiedboth drama and dance underMartha Graham,did some modeling and then worked in stock companies and on television,dancing onJackie Gleason shows.She acted in just a handful of motion pictures, garnering an AcademyAward nomination for one, and later won two Emmys for her best-lovedrole on television.

Hope was one of four children of an actress mother, upon whoseshoulders fell the responsibility of supporting the family after thepremature death of her father, the composer/arranger John Lange, at age 61 in1942. Along with her siblings, she worked as a waitress in thefamily's Greenwich Village restaurant,'Minette's of WashingtonSquare'. By chance, she made the acquaintance ofEleanor Roosevelt,who owned an apartment in the village, and ended up walking the formerFirst Lady's prized Scotch terrier, Fala. This got her photo into anewspaper, which, in turn, led to an advertising job with pictures onthe June 1949 cover of 'Radio-Electronics', sporting the futuristic red 'Manfrom Mars' pith helmet with built-in radio. Still just fifteen yearsold, Hope spent the next two years at college in Oregon and New York,then found her first job in television and was subsequently signed by20th Century-Fox.

After successful screen tests, Lange made her motion picturedebut inBus Stop (1956) (Barbara Edenwas one of her competitors for the part) oppositeMarilyn Monroe and husband-to-beDon Murray. Even the great Marilynwas said to have felt a little threatened by another blonde who was notonly beautiful but five years younger and could act as well. Afterplaying the wife of the titular character inThe True Story of Jesse James (1957),a picture which she later referred to as a 'turkey', Lange was castas the fragile Selena Cross in the melodramatic but good-looking soapoperaPeyton Place (1957). Thismovie was regarded as risqué and controversial at the time, dealingwith previously taboo subjects such as rape and incest. For her part ofthe abused girl, raped by her alcoholic stepfather, whom she finallykills in self-defense, Lange received an Academy Award nomination.

The glossy production values ofThe Best of Everything (1959),a film about ambitious New York career women working in a magazinepublishing house, overshadowed most of the character development.However, Lange (who was billed above the established starJoan Crawford) was dealt with mostfavorably by the critics. According toBosley Crowther of The New York Times:"Simply because she has the most to do, and does it gracefully, MissLange comes off best' (October 9,1959). The following decade was to bea period of mixed fortunes for Hope Lange.

In 1961, Lange began a long-standing relationship with fellow actorGlenn Ford and left husbandDon Murray. Ford, in his dual role ofstar and associate producer, put pressure on directorFrank Capra to cast Lange as the femalelead in his next motion picture, the whimsicalDamon Runyon-inspired comedyPocketful of Miracles (1961),even thoughShirley Jones hadalready been assigned to the role. Capra reluctantly gaveway, though Hope Lange was likely miscast as the wisecracking showgirl.Lange again co-starred with Ford in the glossy romantic melodramaLove Is a Ball (1963), wherein acting took a back seat to sumptuous costumes and the French Riviera. Onthe negative side of the ledger, Lange had unsuccessfully auditionedfor the part of Maria inWest side monogatari (1961), whichultimately went toNatalie Wood.Instead, she was cast asElvis Presley'spsychiatrist inWild in the Country (1961),which was generally panned by critics, except for Variety singling outher performance above the rest as'intelligent'and 'sensitive'. Lange was also slated to appear as love interest toGeorge PeppardinHow the West Was Won (1962),but her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

Turning increasingly towards television, Hope Lange achieved her mostlasting fame as the popular star of the amiable sitcomThe Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968) as a widow who (with two kids and a housekeeper) takes up residence ina quaint cottage also inhabited by the cantankerous ghost of a seacaptain (Edward Mulhare). The show ranfor three seasons and Lange won two Emmy Awards for OutstandingContinued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a ComedySeries (1969 and 1970). In her only other recurring TV role, she playedDick Van Dyke's wife inThe New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971),but with less rewarding results. She received good notices forportrayingCharles Bronson'sdying wife, the victim of the originalDeath Wish (1974) and its raisond'etre. She then acted primarily on television, with few exceptions, includingBlue Velvet (1986) andClear and Present Danger (1994) as a U.S. senator. In 1977, she replaced Tony Award-winningEllen Burstyn in the starring role ofDoris in 'Same Time, Next Year' on Broadway.

In the early '90s, Lange underwent surgery for a brain tumour. Whilethe operation was successful, her health remained precarious and shelimited her screen appearances, retiring altogether in 1998. She diedof an intestinal infection in December 2003, aged 70.