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Adele Mara

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Adele Mara
Publicity still of Mara for The Tiger Woman (1945)
Born
Adelaida Delgado

(1923-04-28)April 28, 1923
Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.
DiedMay 7, 2010(2010-05-07) (aged 87)
Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.
Resting placeSan Fernando Mission Cemetery
OccupationActor
Years active1941–1978
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1952; died 2002)​
Children3

Adele Mara (born Adelaida Delgado;[1] April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s[2] and on television in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1940s, the blonde actress was also a popular pinup girl.

Early years

A 1947 publicity photo

Mara was born in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents.[3][4]

Dancing

Mara danced as part of bandleader Xavier Cugat's show[4] as well on two episodes of Maverick entitled "Seed of Deception" and "The Spanish Dancer."

Film

Under the professional name of Adele St. Mara, she won a contract with Columbia Pictures and gained experience in the studio's "B" features and comedy shorts. This was soon shortened to Adele Mara. One of Mara's early roles was as a receptionist in the Three Stooges film I Can Hardly Wait. Mara and Leslie Brooks played the sisters of Rita Hayworth's character in the Fred Astaire film You Were Never Lovelier. In Alias Boston Blackie (1942), she plays the leading female role, as the sister of an escaped and wrongfully accused convict.

When her Columbia contract lapsed, she moved to Republic Pictures, where she became a fixture in the studio's westerns and outdoor adventures. She appeared in The Vampire's Ghost, Wake of the Red Witch starring John Wayne, Angel in Exile (leading lady), Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne in which she was John Agar's love interest, California Passage (leading lady), and Don Siegel's Count the Hours (supporting role).

Television

In 1955 Mara appeared as Sarita on the TV western Cheyenne in the episode "Border Showdown." In 1958, Mara played Maria Costa in the Bat Masterson episode "Double Showdown". In 1961, Mara appeared as a nurse with Cesar Romero on CBS's The Red Skelton Show in a sketch titled "Deadeye and The Alamo". About this time, she guest-starred on the NBC Western series, The Tall Man, as well as three episodes of Maverick and episodes of Laramie and Tales of Wells Fargo. She also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "House Guest" in 1962.

Personal

Mara was married to screenwriter/series creator/producer/novelist Roy Huggins and appeared as the leading lady in three episodes of his 1957 television series Maverick. They had three sons, Thomas in 1960, John in 1961, and James Patrick in 1963[5] and remained married until his death at age 87 in 2003. The marriage had spanned half a century.

Mara's brother, Luis Delgado (1925–1997) played small, often uncredited roles in films and TV, especially in the projects of his close friend James Garner, for whom Delgado also worked as a personal assistant.

Death

Mara died of natural causes on May 7, 2010.

Selected filmography

The Tiger Woman (1945)
Adele Mara (r.) with Jean Willes and Gene Barry in Bat Masterson (1959)
With Hugh O'Brien in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1961)

References

  1. ^ Michael G. Fitzgerald, Boyd Magers (2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. p. 149. ISBN 9780786426560.
  2. ^ Obituary Los Angeles Times, May 12, 2010; page AA6.[1]
  3. ^ "ADELE MARA (September 21, 1947)". Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (February 2, 2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. ISBN 9780786426560. Retrieved August 24, 2017 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "Adele Mara – The Private Life and Times of Adele Mara. Adele Mara Pictures". glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
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