Efrem Zimbalist Jr seems to have always been playing on TV in the background when I was a kid. Could it be that every household I went to when I was a little boy was always watching "The F.B.I."? His face was just one that I took for granted as being somebody that I knew.

It wasn't until I was older that I appreciated his stalwart, handsome appearances in campy films with glamor girls - like “By Love Possessed” with Lana Turner, “Harlow” with Carol Lynley and “The Chapman Report” with Shelly Winters, Glynis Johns and Jane Fonda.  And his Golden Globe nominated performance as blind Audrey Hepburn's husband in “Wait Until Dark”. That movie always used to freak me out; probably because the movie was literally always so dark!

Best of all was his performance in “See, The Monkey Dance” episode on “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”. You should check it out on Roku or Plex. As you can see here, Efrem wrote me a personal note of appreciation, saying that it was his favorite performance. Sometimes, entertainers really love doing something that’s not their usual typecast and they really appreciate it when fans call out their versatility in lesser-known projects.

Efrem was on my list of people to write to during the pandemic because he was getting up there in years. I wrote to him on January 18th, 2012, and was so pleased to hear back from him FIVE (5) days later with his really nice signature on all the photos that I had sent him. A class act as expected; somebody I always perceived as the clean-cut good guy with integrity. Sometimes people's image can really have a long-lasting hold.  And the name Ephrem Zimbalist Jr is synonymous to me with reliable and thoughtful man.

I love the fact that I had an old newspaper article (shown here) where Zimbalist had to testify about Jim Bakker and PTL saying that although Efrem was on the board of directors, the board just basically a “rubber stamp for the wishes of Bakker and other ministry leaders”. OUCH!

Also shown here is one of his co-stars from "The F.B.I". Handsome William Reynolds had been knocking around films and TV since the early 50's but his 7 year run as a regular on "The F.B.I." is when he finally hit his stride.

Efrem's daughter, Stephanie Zimbalist, a cutie with an infectious smile was initially on my radar from starring in the made for TV movie "Forever". The movie was based on book by one of my favorite children's books author, Judy Blume, and her first foray into something sexy and racy.  It wasn't about a girl getting her period like “Are You There God, It's Me Margaret”, nor was it about a fat kid named “Blubber” who was body shamed and bullied, and it certainly wasn't about a teen girl with scoliosis named Deanie. All of which I did read, along with the “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” series. “Forever” was about teen sexuality and a lot of people and Puritans and libraries were NOT having it!  Even now, in 2024, “Forever” is a book that is still banned in some places. Redunkulous.

Oh, and I must stop here and get my Judy Blume autographs. I remember having ripped the signed pages out of books at our junior high school library.  Just look at the inscriptions. I was such a hoodlum. Now that "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret" is being made into a movie, Judy Blume made an appearance on WWHL with Andy Cohen. As per usual, Andy asked one of those personal (but we do wanna know) questions: "How RICH are you from all those books?" (or something like that). She demurred to answer directly, but general sources put her net worth at approximately $125 MILLION. Blume is bloomin'!

Back to Stephanie Zimbalist.  I remember watching “Remington Steele” when it first came out and thinking that the titular character was going to be a big star. I just had no idea that Pierce Brosnan would ultimately become James Bond.

Pulling my files on the Zimbalists, I was surprised to find the article about Stephanie's stalker. I don’t really remember that happening.  Maybe the stalker stabbing of Teresa Saldana and murder of Dominique Dunne, both in 1982, made me subconsciously minimize other stalker news, because Saldana's and Dunne's were so viciously brutal.

It’s nice to see that Stephanie is doing well as of 2025, peacefully spiritual and she still has that infectious grin.

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