Relaxed, elegantly beautiful blonde lead of the 1950s and 60s with a gentle and refined presence. A veteran of the New York stage from the age of 12 and live TV dramas in the early 1950s, including several outings on "Playhouse 90", Lange attracted the attention of film producer Buddy Adler with her performance in Kraft Television Theatres' "Snap Finger Creek" in 1956. Her success led to her notable debut as the waitress Emma in Adler's film adaptation of "Bus Stop" (1956).
Signed by 20th Century Fox, Lange earned an Oscar nomination for her third film, "Peyton Place" (1957), in which she plays an incest victim who murders her rapist father; she played Montgomery Clift's romantic interest in "The Young Lions" (1958), and won two Emmys as the eponymous Carolyn Muir on the mild but charming and popular comedy series, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1968-70). She continued to display her gift for light comedy as the wife on the TV series, "The New Dick Van Dyke Show" (1971-74). After a 6-year hiatus, Lange returned to film as Charles Bronson's wife and the reason for his vigilante revenge in the first "Death Wish" (1974) and later played Laura Dern's mother in "Blue Velvet" (1986). Lange was married to "Bus Stop" co-star Don Murray (1956-61) and director-producer Alan J. Pakula (1963-69).