Carroll Baker (born May 28, 1931) is an American film, stage, and television actress. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Baker's range of roles from naive ingenues to brash and flamboyant women established her as both a serious dramatic actress and a blonde bombshell. While performing on Broadway in 1954, she was discovered by director Elia Kazan who cast her as the lead in Tennessee Williams's Baby Doll (1956).