Mara Corday

Mara Corday

Born: January 3, 1930
in Santa Monica, California, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Wanting a career in films, Mara Corday 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. She signed on as a Universal International Pictures (UI) contract player where she met actor Clint Eastwood with whom she would remain lifelong friends. 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. Following the death of Long's wife, the two began dating and married in 1957.

Her roles were small until 1955 when she was cast opposite John Agar in Tarantula, a Sci-Fi B-movie that proved a modest success. She had another successful co-starring role in that genre (The Black Scorpion) as well as in a number of Western films. Respected film critic Leonard Maltin said that Mara Corday had "more acting ability than she was permitted to exhibit."

Mara 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, together with famous model and showgirl Pat Sheehan. In 1956, she had a recurring role in the ABC television series Combat Sergeant. From 1959 to early 1961, Corday worked exclusively doing guest spots on various television series. She then gave up her career to devote her time to raising a family. During her seventeen-year marriage to Richard Long she had three children.

A few years after her husband's passing in 1974, Corday's friend Clint Eastwood offered her a chance to return to filmmaking with a role in his 1977 film The Gauntlet. She acted with him again in Sudden Impact (1983), Pink Cadillac (1989), and in her last film, 1990s The Rookie.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Mara Corday,licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Mara Corday...

The Rookie
Title: The Rookie
Character: Interrogator #2
Released: December 7, 1990
Type: Movie
Veteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help Nick bust a carjacking ring is almost as hotheaded as he is … and when Nick gets kidnapped, his newbie partner is his only hope.
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Pink Cadillac
Title: Pink Cadillac
Character: Stick Lady
Released: May 26, 1989
Type: Movie
A bounty hunter helps out the wife of a bail-jumper after her child is kidnapped by neo-Nazi types.
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Sudden Impact
Title: Sudden Impact
Character: Loretta - Coffee Shop Waitress
Released: December 8, 1983
Type: Movie
When a young rape victim takes justice into her own hands and becomes a serial killer, it's up to Dirty Harry Callahan, on suspension from the SFPD, to bring her to justice.
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The Gauntlet
Title: The Gauntlet
Character: Jail Matron
Released: December 17, 1977
Type: Movie
Phoenix cop Ben Shockley is well on his way to becoming a derelict when he is assigned to transport a witness from Las Vegas. The witness turns out to be a belligerent prostitute with mob ties—and incriminating information regarding a high-ranking figure.
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Title: Surfside 6
Released: October 6, 1960
Type: TV
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. Margarita Sierra also had a supporting role as Cha Cha O'Brien, an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room, a popular Miami Beach hangout at the Fontainebleau Hotel, directly across the street from Surfside 6. Surfside 6 was in fact a real address in Miami Beach, where an unrelated houseboat was moored at the time; it can also be seen in the sweeping aerial establishing shot of the Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
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Title: Adventures in Paradise
Character: Angel
Released: October 5, 1959
Type: TV
Adventures in Paradise is an American television series created by James Michener which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962, starring Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III, which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. USA Network aired reruns of this series between 1984 and 1988. The plots deal with the romantic and detective stories of Korean War veteran Troy. The supporting cast, varying from season to season, features George Tobias, Guy Stockwell, and Linda Lawson.
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Title: Peter Gunn
Released: September 22, 1958
Type: TV
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series. Filmed in a film noir atmosphere and featuring Henry Mancini music that could tell you the action with your eyes closed, Peter Gunn worked in style. Known as Pete to his friends and simply as Gunn to his enemies, he did his job in a calm cool way.
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Title: Wanted: Dead or Alive
Character: Lucinda Lorenz
Released: September 6, 1958
Type: TV
Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.
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Girls on the Loose
Title: Girls on the Loose
Character: Vera Parkinson
Released: April 1, 1958
Type: Movie
A nightclub operator (Mara Corday), her sister (Barbara Bostock), a beautician (Lita Milan) and two other women rob a payroll.
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Undersea Girl
Title: Undersea Girl
Character: Valerie Hudson
Released: October 12, 1957
Type: Movie
A woman reporter, a navy investigator, and a heavyset police detective come across a gang which scuttled a ship in order to loot her later, underwater, for a Navy money consignment.
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The Black Scorpion
Title: The Black Scorpion
Character: Teresa Alvarez
Released: October 11, 1957
Type: Movie
Volcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.
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The Quiet Gun
Title: The Quiet Gun
Character: Irene
Released: July 18, 1957
Type: Movie
A mild mannered sheriff must fight both a hired gun and local anti-Indian bigotry in a small frontier town.
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The Giant Claw
Title: The Giant Claw
Character: Sally Caldwell
Released: June 1, 1957
Type: Movie
Global panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant turkey-like bird that flies at supersonic speed and has no regard for life or architecture.
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Naked Gun
Title: Naked Gun
Character: Louisa Jackson / Morales
Released: November 1, 1956
Type: Movie
Don Pablo Salazar steals a fortune in jewels from an Indian tribe and an Aztec medicine man puts a curse on the jewels until they are returned. Years later, an American insurance man promises to deliver the Salazar fortune to the rightful heir...
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A Day of Fury
Title: A Day of Fury
Character: Sharman Fulton
Released: May 2, 1956
Type: Movie
Town marshal Alan Burnett life is saved by a stranger he meets on the trail. His rescuer turns out to be Jagade, a gunslinger just returned after years away, who finds when he gets into town that he can't abide the peace that has been settled between "his" people (i.e. the saloon-keepers, gamblers, etc.) and the righteous, "respectable" folk.
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Raw Edge
Title: Raw Edge
Character: Paca
Released: March 24, 1956
Type: Movie
A Texan arrives in Oregon and seeks justice for his innocently-hanged brother
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Tarantula
Title: Tarantula
Character: Stephanie 'Steve' Clayton
Released: December 14, 1955
Type: Movie
A rogue scientist near a small desert town arouses the suspicion of the town's doctor when his lab assistant is found dead from a case of acromegaly, which took only four days to develop. As the doctor investigates, aided by the scientist's new female assistant, they discover that something is devouring local cattle and humans in increasingly large quantities.
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Foxfire
Title: Foxfire
Character: Maria
Released: July 13, 1955
Type: Movie
A part-Indian mining engineer looks for gold in an Arizona ghost town with his socialite bride.
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Allen in Movieland
Title: Allen in Movieland
Character: Self
Released: July 2, 1955
Type: Movie
TV goes Hollywood when Steve Allen visits Universal-International to prepare for his upcoming title role in "The Benny Goodman Story."
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The Man from Bitter Ridge
Title: The Man from Bitter Ridge
Character: Holly Kenton
Released: April 12, 1955
Type: Movie
The Man from Bitter Ridge is a film directed by Jack Arnold. Jeff Carr, a special investigator, arrives in Tomahawk. His assignment is to discover who has been holding up the local stagecoach and is guilty for a series of killings that terrorize the town. Sheepman Alec Black is suspected by the local population but it is not long before Jeff realizes the man is innocent. Alec even becomes a good friend although he is in love with the same woman as him, Holly. Jeff will manage to arrest the real culprits but not before the latter try to compromise him down.
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Man Without a Star
Title: Man Without a Star
Character: Moccasin Mary
Released: March 24, 1955
Type: Movie
A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.
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So This Is Paris
Title: So This Is Paris
Character: Yvonne
Released: December 15, 1954
Type: Movie
Three sailors on leave head for Paris with one thing on their minds.
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Title: The George Gobel Show
Character: Self
Released: October 2, 1954
Type: TV
The George Gobel Show is an American television series hosted George Gobel that aired on NBC from 1954 to 1960.
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Dawn at Socorro
Title: Dawn at Socorro
Character: Letty Diamond
Released: September 1, 1954
Type: Movie
Brett Wade, gambler, gunslinger, and classical pianist, is wounded in a gunfight with the Ferris clan; the doctor finds signs of tuberculosis. En route to Colorado for his health, Brett stops in Socorro, New Mexico along with Ferris gunfighter Jimmy Rapp. Sheriff Couthen fears another shootout, but what Brett has in mind is saving waif-with-a-past Rannah Hayes from a life as one of Dick Braden's saloon girls.
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Francis Joins the WACS
Title: Francis Joins the WACS
Character: Kate
Released: July 30, 1954
Type: Movie
Peter Stirling (with his old friend the talking mule) is recalled to active duty...in the WACs!
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Drums Across the River
Title: Drums Across the River
Character: Sue Randolph
Released: June 1, 1954
Type: Movie
When whites hunger after the gold on Ute Indian land, a bigoted young man finds himself forced into a peacekeeping role.
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Playgirl
Title: Playgirl
Character: Pam
Released: April 21, 1954
Type: Movie
If you remember Shelley Winters from "The Poseidon Adventure" or "Bloody Mama," you might tend to forget what a knockout she was early in her career. This film will give you the chance to see her as a sexy nightclub singer teaching her just-in-from-the-sticks friend Colleen Miller the ropes in New York City. When Winters finds out that her married boyfriend Barry Sullivan has fallen for Miller, the recriminations...and bullets...start to fly!
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Sweethearts on Parade
Title: Sweethearts on Parade
Character: Belle
Released: July 15, 1953
Type: Movie
Cam Ellerby brings his traveling medicine show to town and it spells glamour and excitement to young Sylvia Townsend.
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Tarzan and the She-Devil
Title: Tarzan and the She-Devil
Character: Locopo Woman
Released: June 18, 1953
Type: Movie
The king of the jungle fights off ivory poachers.
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Problem Girls
Title: Problem Girls
Character: Dorothy Childers
Released: April 7, 1953
Type: Movie
A medical student learns about a scheme to drug a girl and pass her off as an heiress to an oil fortune.
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Toughest Man in Arizona
Title: Toughest Man in Arizona
Released: October 10, 1952
Type: Movie
Marshal Landry captures outlaw Girard and bringing him in finds a woman and two children, the only survivors of an Indian attack. Later, transferring the prisoner his brothers free him. Then a stage is robbed of a silver shipment by Girard and his brothers. Examining telegrams gets Landry a confession from Girard's girlfriend. The telegraph line has been tapped and the telegrapher is the supposedly dead husband of the woman he brough in. Now knowing Girard's location he sets out after him.
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Title: Mr. & Mrs. North
Released: October 3, 1952
Type: TV
Mr. & Mrs. North is an American comedy/mystery television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1952 to May 25, 1954. The series centers on Jerry North, a mystery magazine publisher who thinks he is a good amateur detective, and his wife, Pamela, as they solve crimes in New York City.
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Sea Tiger
Title: Sea Tiger
Character: Lola, Hotel Proprietress
Released: July 27, 1952
Type: Movie
Murder ensues when owners and hired help contrive against each other to obtain diamonds and gold ingots secretly hidden on a derelict and abandoned Japanese freighter left lying in anchor in a New Guinea cove at the end of WW II.
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Tall, Dark and Dead
Title: Tall, Dark and Dead
Character: Greta Varden
Released: January 1, 1952
Type: Movie
A 1952 crime film edited from tv series Craig Kennedy, Criminologist. A well-known stage star is shot at when he approaches the front door of Craig Kennedy's laboratory. Later, the actor is murdered in his backstage dressing room, and Kennedy, aided by Police Inspector J. J. Burke and Evening Star reporter Walt James, is drawn into one of his most bizarre adventures. Blamour, sex and publicity motivate the mystery, played before an intriguing background of Oriental stage-settings and theatrical backdrops. Passions, bot homicidal and amorous, almost lead to Kennedy's death at the hands of the killer.
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Title: The Adventures of Kit Carson
Released: August 11, 1951
Type: TV
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson. Don Diamond co-starred as "El Toro", Carson's Mexican companion.
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Title: The Colgate Comedy Hour
Character: Self
Released: September 10, 1950
Type: TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.