Connie Stevens to Receive 2022 Ralph Morgan Award

Actor, singer and former Screen Actors Guild Secretary-Treasurer Connie Stevens has been selected to receive the SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local’s highest honor, the Ralph Morgan Award. The award will be presented to Stevens later this month in a private ceremony. 

Stevens’ daughter, Joely Fisher, who followed her mother’s footsteps into the business and service as the union’s secretary-treasurer, congratulated Stevens and was delighted by the announcement.  

Said Fisher, “My mother’s star still shines so bright. However, it is her life of activism and service that inspires me the most. Her penchant for sparkly things is matched only by her desire to help the underserved and her fellow performers. She loves our country and this great union. I am humbled and proud that the Los Angeles Local’s highest honor, the Ralph Morgan Award, will be bestowed on Connie Stevens. My dreams are coming true, in that I might be able to bring to fruition some of what she fought for in the position she once held as secretary-treasurer of Screen Actors Guild.”

“Connie is a national treasure, and we are so pleased to be able to present this token of appreciation for her years of service,” said Los Angeles Local Board member and National Honors and Tributes Committee Chair Jenny O’Hara.

“I have been a fan of Connie Stevens all my life. First for her work as an actor/performer and then for her union activism work on behalf of our members at legacy Screen Actors Guild and at SAG-AFTRA. A life well lived and an award well deserved! Congratulations Connie, we love you,” said SAG-AFTRA National Board member and Los Angeles Local President Jodi Long.

“I started my Board service in 2005, the same year Connie Stevens was elected secretary-treasurer; it was my good fortune to serve with her. Her contributions to our members are unequivocal. She is one of a kind. I am overjoyed with Ms. Stevens being venerated for her service with the Ralph Morgan Award,” said SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Honors and Tributes Committee Chair Joe D’Angerio.

During her two terms as SAG secretary-treasurer (2005–2009), Stevens was the primary elected liaison for SAG’s budgetary and financial matters. Between 2005 and 2022, she served on numerous Screen Actors Guild and SAG-AFTRA national and local committees.

A SAG member since 1957, Stevens’ acting career began with roles in the films Eighteen and Anxious, Young and Dangerous and Party Crashers. In 1958, she got her big break when comedian Jerry Lewis cast her in Frank Tashlin’s Paramount musical film Rock-a-Bye Baby. This led to her memorable role as Cricket Blake in the TV series Hawaiian Eye, which made Stevens a household name.

A successful recording artist, Stevens also joined AFTRA in 1957. Her musical artistry began when she sang in a group called The Three Debs at age 16. She recorded two mega-hits in the early sixties, Kookie Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb), a duet with Ed, “Kookie” Burns of the TV series 77 Sunset Strip, and Sixteen Reasons, which reached #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in May 1960.

Established in 1981, the Ralph Morgan Award is named in honor of the first president of Screen Actors Guild and salutes SAG-AFTRA members or union staff for their devotion to serving members. Morgan served three terms as SAG president, first during the union’s inception in 1933, and then additional terms in 1938–1940. Upon the end of his final presidency, the SAG Board presented him with a scroll reading, “Devotion to the cause of actors, courage to fight for the right, sacrifice of self for others have made the name of Ralph Morgan a symbol of loyalty.”

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.