First I pose this question to you.....Do you like Mara Corday the Model?
or Mara Corday the Actress? better?....Or the same? I would be very curious
as to your thoughts please let me know
Dino Everett
Me personally, I like Mara the actress better and I'll tell you why..
I look at the woman who is so serious and intense at times in Tarantula ,Black
Scorpion, The Quiet Gun, or downright sinister(in the TV show Wanted Dead
or Alive or Girls on the Loose) , This my friends is a strong woman.
I think of those moments of celluloid and then look at one of her pin ups
and it all seems clear. Mara Corday was THE MOST UNDERATED actress of her
time. She could excel no matter what the task was.
Being a model in a way is acting and she of course excelled at that, however
most models it seems fail once they open their mouth...Not Mara Corday.
Whether it was to make a man drool in print or make us believe there actually
was a horrible giant force attacking, Mara pulled it off, whether dressed
in pants or bathing suits whatever she was called on to do she worked it
better than her counterparts. Better Actress, Better Model, Better Wife....How
many Hollywood actresses do you know of would have chucked it all for her
marriage????Whatever the case was Mara Corday stepped up and excelled beyond
the call of duty....... and her rich rewards? ? ?.Not enough to satisfy me.
This is where the industry fails.
Mara Corday deserves the rewards, any and all, I only wish I had the power
to bestow them.
Mara(supposedly short for Marguerite) was born Marilyn Watts ,January 3,
1932 in Santa Monica, CA. She first put her "swift certain magnetism" to
work at age 15 as a showgirl making her debut as one of the blondes gentleman
prefer in a West Coast production of the Anita Loos hit
.NOW There's a photo I'd like to see.....Mara Corday as
a blonde???
The 5 foot 5 1/2 120lb (37-23 1/2-35) brown haired, brown eyed Mara moved
on to modeling(which she continued all through her career ) where she was
labeled one of cheesecakes TOP 5. Photographer Peter Gowland called her "one
of the most outstanding models" others dubbed her "The earthy epitome of
unbridled sex appeal".
Throughout the years she collected over 100 awards and attracted the top
photgraphers including Bruno Bernard who photographed her often. His estate
has since put her in his book "Brunettes".
Early on when she was dancing in "Earl Carroll's Revue" some of the other
girls had told her that they did extra work on movies during the day and
why didn't she join them. This began the transition we can all be thankful
for.
The earliest movie she appeared in was Two Tickets to
Broadway(RKO, 1951)..(even though I still can't quite find her in it). My
guess is this was the first movie and she is one of the chorus girls but
there are lots of brunettes and each time I watch it I have to say that I
think I see her then I don't then I think I see her .....Then I don't.
In 1952 she appeared in 2 films "Sea Tiger" as a spanish inn keeper(Looking
great as usual) and "Son of Ali Baba" as a harem girl(she's highlighted in
pratically the first scene). These early films sort of set the trait
for her Universal days as her sultry looks often got her cast as the ethnic
or exotic looking girl.
In 1953 the story goes that she was spotted by Bruck Randall who signed her
to play The Black Dahlia in a film that I'm not sure was even made...(I'll
check on this)..Anyway while living in Burbank, CA and finding time for a
supposed hobby of Archery she was very busy with her modelling and making
various bit parts in movies like Problem Girls (Columbia), Money From
Home(uncredited as the waitress) and The Lady Wants Mink. Her modeling career
was in full force this year and the movie career was just getting under
way as there are lots of magazine covers avaliable from this year and only
the few bit parts in films..
1954 However was the year that things started
to change, she signed a contract with Universal along with her friend Allison
Hayes (50 ft woman) which had her working regularly in many Universal
International films. To this day Francis Joins the Wacs is the only
film where you can find Mara alongside Allison Hayes, Julie Adams(Creature
Froom The Black Lagoon) and even Mamie Van Doren...What a movie lovers
powerhouse. O.K. so they are all in this stupid Francis the talking Mule
movie but Hell If I was a kid and went to the theatre to see a movie and
my three favorite beauties (Mara, Julie, Allsion) were there I'd have been
the happiest kid alive!!
1954 also brought us more bit parts in the films Playgirl, Dawn at Socorro, Drums across the River & of course the musical So This Is Paris starring Tony Curtis (his only musical). Mara has often remarked that she felt she looked better in this film than in any other. In some ways I have to agree(However that one scene in Foxfire on the porch...WOW!) as the small image on the front page of the site shows, Mara looks exceptional in this film, stunning! I also have to imagine that she enjoyed it based on the fact that she was allowed to do something other than the usual roles she had been receiving . The early departure from movies in the 50's a sadly deprived us of a Mara Corday comedy. I think had she starred in a romantic comedy as the female lead she would have skyrocketed to stardom and the world would have recognized her full talents. Instead....while the next year didn't include a romantic comedy it did prove fruitful as she finally did start receiving starring roles..
1955 brought us 2 more smaller roles one in the Jane Russell feature Foxfire, to which Mara has since commented that Jane Russell wasn't all that friendly on the set, which is so ironic because recently AMC broadcast the movie right after an interview with Ms. Russell in which she tells a story about an early film that she worked on where the head honcho was down right rude to the newer actors and how upset it made her?????HA!!!! Didn't she learn anything. Another role this year was as a saloon girl in the Kirk Douglas feature Man without a Star.
Her first starring role also came this year in the feature Man From Bitter Ridge in which she starred alongside her onetime beau Lex barker. Ah yes 1955 was also the year of the film that Mara starred in, the one that people who may not even know her by name remember her in. One of the all time classic horror films Tarantula. Plenty has been said about this film so I'll move on except to say that I agree so much with Mara on the fact that they(Universal) dropped the ball big time ( and most noticibly on this film) by not exploiting her pin up qualities, I mean you have a scene where she wakes up in the middle of the night and here you have one of the premier pin up sex symbols of all time running around in her night clothes which they have decided should be men's pajamas..That's like RKO or MGM saying "HMMM...This Fred Astaire guy dances real good let's utilize his talents in strictly dramatic roles"....yeah that'll work.....Or McDonald's saying "you know people love our hamburgers..Let's discontinue them!"....Why didn't they wake up so that Mara could have been a huge star and I could have had life size Mara Corday posters on my wall as a kid or gone into the store and purchased a Mara Corday retrospective hard back, 2 volume collective pin up works book anthology when I reached my 40's . This again is where the industry fails us. I knew I shouldn't have brought up Tarantula.
I will put up a more detailed Biography as soon as I have time to write it
up
for now however you can check out the small info at the Internet Movie
Database
Mara Corday Bio
or just go back to the
front