Rarely in one week has show business suffered such a succession of losses:

Died. Inger Stevens, 35, Swedish-born movie and TV star (The Farmer's Daughter); of an overdose of barbiturates; in Hollywood. A onetime chorus girl, she played TV roles in Studio One and Kraft Theater productions in the mid-1950s, won notice in Hollywood, where she appeared opposite Bing Crosby in Man on Fire, and went on to star in many more films, most recently A Dream of Kings.

Died. Anita Louise, 53, blonde Hollywood veteran who starred in more than 70 films; of a stroke; in Los Angeles. A trouper since the age of five when she played in The Sixth Commandment, she was regarded as the most beautiful woman in films during the late 1930s. Her roles ran the Hollywood gamut (Casanova Brown; Retreat, Hell!), but she confessed a preference for period and costume pictures (Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Marie Antoinette in Madame Du Barry).

Died. Gypsy Rose Lee, 56, mistress of striptease; of cancer; in Los Angeles. Gypsy was 15 and traveling the vaudeville circuit when she was offered a chance at burlesque. "I was tired of starving so I grabbed it," said Gypsy. By the time she was 17, she was a headliner for Billy Minsky, and went on to display her 5-ft. 9 1/2-in. figure in a succession of top billings: Ziegfeld's Follies, George White's Scandals, Billy Rose's Casino de Paree. Damon Runyon admired her and Walter Winchell spotlighted her in his column. After seeing her gracefully dispense with her clothing, Jean Cocteau exclaimed "How vital!" She "retired" in 1937 to become an author (The G-String Murders, Gypsy) and sometime actress (You Can't Have Everything), but continued to make scores of "final" appearances. Asked about her style, Gypsy quoted her teacher Tessie the Tassel Twirler. "In burlesque," Tessie once told her, "you've got to leave 'em hungry for more. You don't just dump the whole roast on the platter."

Died. Ed Begley, 69, winner of Hollywood's and Broadway's highest honors; of a heart attack; in Hollywood. Begley started out in radio in 1931, was heard in a number of roles, including Charlie Chan, and was in his mid-40s before turning to films. He was usually cast as the heavy, won critical plaudits in The Great Gatsby, Twelve Angry Men, and most notably, Sweet Bird of Youth, which gained him a 1962 Oscar. Broadway audiences remember him best as the glowering Matthew Harrison Brady in 1955's Inherit the Wind, for which he won the Tony Award.

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