Ina Balin

Ina Balin (born Ina Rosenberg; November 12, 1937 – June 20, 1990) was an American actress who worked across stage, film, and television. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of Sam Rosenberg, a dancer, singer, and comedian who performed on the Borscht Belt circuit before leaving show business to join his family's furrier trade. Her mother, a Hungarian-born professional dancer, married Sam Rosenberg as her third husband by the time she was 21. The couple later divorced while Ina and her brother Richard were still young, and the two siblings were placed in boarding schools. Their mother subsequently married shoe magnate Harold Balin, who adopted both children. Balin completed high school at age 15, having spent five years at a boarding school in Pennsylvania.

Balin began her professional career doing summer stock, which led to her Broadway debut. She first appeared on Broadway in the drama Compulsion, in which she portrayed the role of Ruth. In 1959, she appeared in the comedy A Majority of One, playing Alice Black. That same year, she received the Theatre World Award in recognition of her Broadway work, specifically her performance in A Majority of One. Her Broadway career spanned 1957 to 1959.

Her transition to film began in 1959 with The Black Orchid. The following year she appeared opposite Paul Newman in From the Terrace, the 1960 screen adaptation in which she played his love interest. The performance earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations and a win for New Star of the Year – Actress. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for the same role. In 1961, she appeared in two films: The Young Doctors, a hospital drama featuring Ben Gazzara and Fredric March, and The Comancheros, in which she played Pilar Graile alongside John Wayne and Stuart Whitman. She co-starred with Jerry Lewis in the 1964 comedy The Patsy and had a secondary role in the 1965 production The Greatest Story Ever Told. She appeared with Elvis Presley in the 1969 film Charro, co-starred in the 1971 film The Projectionist, and appeared in the 1982 comedy The Comeback Trail.

On television, Balin made her first appearance on The Perry Como Show and subsequently guest-starred on numerous series, among them Bonanza, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Get Smart, Ironside, Battlestar Galactica, Hart to Hart, Magnum P.I., The Streets of San Francisco, Quincy M.E., Wonder Woman, and Mannix, among many others. In 1969, she appeared in the television movie The Lonely Profession alongside Joseph Cotten, Fernando Lamas, and Dean Jagger.

Beyond her entertainment career, Balin made her first trip to Vietnam with the USO in 1966, the first of several such visits. During the fall of Saigon in 1975, she participated in the evacuation of orphans. She later adopted three Vietnamese children: Nguyet Baty, Ba-Nhi Mai, and Kim Thuy, with Ba-Nhi Mai and Kim Thuy subsequently raised by Hollywood talent agent Ted Ashley and his wife. In 1980, she portrayed herself in The Children of An Lac, a television movie drawn from her experiences during that period.

Balin died on June 20, 1990, at Yale–New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, where she had been seeking a lung transplant. Her death resulted from complications of chronic lung disease, including pulmonary hypertension. She was 52 years old.