Sue Lyon played Lolita in Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film Lolita.
Lyon made her film debut as Dolores “Lolita” Haze, the adolescent daughter at the center of the adaptation. She co-starred with James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze, and Peter Sellers in multiple roles as Clare Quilty. The performance made Lyon an immediate international star and earned her a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer—Female.
Kubrick’s film adapts Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel, widely regarded at the time as difficult or impossible to film. The screenplay was initially written by Nabokov, but Kubrick and producer James B. Harris substantially reshaped it. Because the Hays Code restricted Hollywood depictions of sexual relationships involving minors, the film tones down and often indirectly presents the novel’s disturbing central relationship.
The actress is sometimes confused with later Lolita performers, including Dominique Swain in the 1997 adaptation. Sue Lyon belongs specifically to Kubrick’s 1962 version.