06/13/2026
Connie Hines (March 24, 1931 – December 18, 2009) began her career as a child, working as a model and radio and stage actress in Boston with her own programs on WMBR-TV and joining a stock company in Miami, before moving to New York in the early 1950s after her first marriage ended in divorce to train with the Helen Hayes Equity Group and pursue Broadway dreams. She got work modeling and appearing in commercials, then landed a romantic leading role on CBS anthology series "Rendezvous" shot in Europe, and her first film role came in 1960's "Thunder in Carolina" (a forgettable feature about stock car racing), plus episodic TV appearances on "The Millionaire" (1959), "Johnny Ringo," "Sea Hunt," and "Riverboat" in 1960. Her big break arrived when she auditioned for and won the role of Carol Post on the CBS sitcom "Mister Ed" (1961–1966)—Carol was the pretty, perky young newlywed wife of Wilbur Post (Alan Young), the only person who could talk with the talking palomino horse Mister Ed; she appeared in all 133 episodes over 6 seasons, becoming beloved to Baby Boomers who watched her never let it bother her that her husband seemed like a nut case with a horse he thought could talk only to him. Even though she often dismissed her role as limited (her biggest line was "Iunch is ready!"), she never complained about being overshadowed by a talking horse, and as the show reemerged in syndication, Connie enjoyed being discovered by new audiences. After "Mister Ed" ended, she worked sporadically on TV in guest spots on "Bonanza," "Love, American Style," "The Mod Squad," "Medical Center," and "Perry Mason," then retired in 1971. In 1989, after moving to Dana Point, California with her second husband Lee Savin (an entertainment lawyer and producer), Connie hosted a local cable access show about animal rescue where she interviewed veterinarians and animal behaviorists and offered animals for adoption, remaining active in animal causes. She reunited with Alan Young on stage in 1996 for the two-hander "Love Letters," and wrote a section about her career in Young's 2007 book "Mister Ed and Me and More," leaving behind a legacy as one of 1960s television's most recognizable wives before passing at age 78 from heart problems in Beverly Hills.