Mara Corday

Mara Corday[1][2]
Playboy centerfold appearance
October 1958
Preceded by Teri Hope
Succeeded by Joan Staley
Personal details
Born Marilyn Joan Watts[3]
(1930-01-03) January 3, 1930
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Measurements Bust: 35"
Waist: 24"
Hips: 35"
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight 118 lb (54 kg; 8.4 st)
Official website

Mara Corday (born Marilyn Joan Watts on January 3, 1930) is a showgirl, model, actress, Playboy Playmate and a 1950s cult figure.

Early life

Corday was born in Santa Monica, California. Wanting a career in films, she came to Hollywood while still in her teens and found work as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard. Her physical beauty brought jobs as a photographer's model that led to a bit part as a showgirl in the 1951 film Two Tickets to Broadway.

Dancing

One of Corday's first professional jobs was being a dancer in Earl Carroll's Vanities.[4] Accompanied by her mother, Corday auditioned when she was 15 years old. During the 2.5 years that she was in the show, she advanced "from showgirl to actress in the sketches."[5]

Film

Corday signed on as a Universal International Pictures (UI) contract player. With UI, Corday was given small roles in various B-movies and television series. In 1954 on the set of Playgirl she met actor Richard Long.[6]

Her roles were small until 1955 when she was cast opposite John Agar in Tarantula,[7][8] a Sci-Fi B-movie that proved a modest success (with Clint Eastwood in a minor role). She had another successful co-starring role in that genre (The Black Scorpion) as well as in a number of Western films such as Man Without a Star and Raw Edge. Respected film critic Leonard Maltin said that Mara Corday had "more acting ability than she was permitted to exhibit."

A few years after her husband's death in 1974, Corday's friend Eastwood offered her a chance to return to filmmaking with a role in his 1977 film The Gauntlet. She had a brief-but-significant role in Sudden Impact (1983), where she played the waitress dumping sugar into Harry Callahan's coffee in that movie's iconic "Go ahead, make my day" sequence.[9] And she acted with Eastwood again in Pink Cadillac (1989) as well as in her last film, 1990's The Rookie.

Modeling

Corday appeared as a pinup girl in numerous men's magazines during the 1950s and was the Playmate of the October 1958 issue of Playboy,[10] together with famous model and showgirl Pat Sheehan.

Television

In 1956, Corday had a recurring role in the ABC television series Combat Sergeant.[11] From 1959 to early 1961, Corday worked exclusively doing guest spots on various television series.

Personal life

Following the death of Suzan Ball, the first wife of actor Richard Long, in 1955, Corday began dating Long, and they married in 1957. In the early 1960s, she gave up her career to devote herself to raising a family. During their 17-year marriage, they had three children: Valerie; Carey, and Gregory.[4] Corday has also been a lifelong friend of actor Clint Eastwood, whom she met while working for Universal Pictures.[9]

Partial filmography

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lisanti, Tom (2001). Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. McFarland. pp. 12–. ISBN 9780786408689. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  2. ↑ Petersen, James R. (2005-09-22). Playboy Redheads. Chronicle Books. pp. 10, 16. ISBN 9780811848589. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Weaver, Tom (2004-10-30). It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the Sf and Horror Tradition. McFarland. pp. 67–. ISBN 9780786420698. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  4. 1 2 Henniger, Paul (February 1, 1976). "Undaunted, Mara Corday returns to TV". Ohio, Hamilton. The Journal News. p. 25. Retrieved March 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Thomas, Bob (October 6, 1954). "Dreams Help Mara Corday Make Decisions on Career". Texas, Corpus Christi. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. p. 25. Retrieved March 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Magers, Boyd; Fitzgerald, Michael G. (2004-07-31). Westerns Women: Interviews With 50 Leading Ladies Of Movie And Television Westerns From The 1930s To The 1960s. McFarland. pp. 62–. ISBN 9780786420285. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  7. ↑ Weaver, Tom; Brunas, John; Brunas, Michael (2006-09-30). Interviews With B Science Fiction And Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup. McFarland. pp. 2–. ISBN 9780786428588. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  8. ↑ Williams, Tony (November 1985). "Female Oppression in "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" (L'oppression des femmes dans "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman")". Science Fiction Studies. 12 (3): 264–273. JSTOR 4239701.
  9. 1 2 O'Brien, Daniel (1996-08-08). Clint Eastwood: film-maker. B.T. Batsford. p. 153. ISBN 9780713478396. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  10. ↑ Craddock (September 1996). VideoHound's golden movie retriever. Visible Ink Press. p. cxcviii. ISBN 9780787607807. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (2009). Encyclopedia of television shows, 1925 through 2007. McFarland. p. 300. ISBN 9780786433056. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
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