Trivia

"Carolyn Lee" was her modeling name -- a name that was already registered with Actors' Equity, so she changed it to use the homophone "Carol Lynley".

She had an affair, off and on for 18 years, with David Frost.

Lynley owned the boots and pendant she wears in The Poseidon Adventure (1972). She complained during production that the boots were shrinking due to constant immersion in water, making them extremely uncomfortable.

Although in later years she claimed to have sung "The Morning After" in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), her voice was in fact dubbed by studio singer Renée Armand.

Her only child is a daughter with ex-husband Michael Selsman named Jill Selsman (born March 2, 1962).

She was featured on the April 22, 1957, cover of LIFE Magazine. Walt Disney saw her photo and article and decided to cast her in his release The Light in the Forest (1958). It was Carol's debut (she received an "and introducing" credit in the opening titles), but it was also her swan song for Disney's studio. Opposite James MacArthur, a Broadway actor, both gave convincing performances, receiving mixed critical reaction, mostly because of the entrenched polarized "pro" and "anti" Disney factions.

Attended professional children's school in New York with fellow child models and future actresses Sandra Dee and Tuesday Weld. The three girls, along with another top New York child model at the time, Lorna Gilliam, frequently appeared in The American Girl Magazine and even appeared together in an ad for Canada Dry ginger ale.

Was a huge fan of Cameron Diaz, one of her favorite films being There's Something About Mary (1998).

At 12 she would pose in modeling work all day, then dash to the theatre to perform in 'The Anniversary Waltz'. She attracted a lot of attention on Broadway with her roles in 'The Potting Shed' and 'Blue Denim'.

Was close friends with actor/dancer Fred Astaire. In the late 1970s, it was much rumored (over a period of several years) in the press that they might even marry; however, in June 1980, the then 81-year old Astaire instead wed Robyn Smith, who is precisely (two years, 183 days in leap years of both her birth year of 1944 and wedding year of 1980) two and one half years younger than Carol. Carol is quoted extensively in the book "Fred Astaire: His Friends Talk" (1988), by Sarah Giles.

With her friend, entertainment reporter Nelson Aspen, Lynley appeared in several interstitial showbiz segments covering a variety of topics. For Australia's #1 morning show Sunrise (2000), she reflected on the remake of The Poseidon Adventure (1972). On TV Guide Television (1999), she discussed her long career in television, film and on Broadway. For "New with Nelson", she revealed some of her Oscar picks for that year and named her all-time favorite Oscar winner as Frank Sinatra.

Upon her death, she was cremated. Her ashes were sprinkled in the Pacific ocean, off the California coast.

Daughter of Frances Fuller (Felch), from Suffolk, Massachusetts, and Cyril Roland Jones, who was an Irish emigrant, from Kerry.