Madlyn Rhue

Life and career

Rhue was born in Washington, D.C. Rhue graduated from Los Angeles High School and studied drama at Los Angeles City College. From the 1950s to the 1990s, Rhue appeared in some twenty films, including Operation Petticoat (1959), The Ladies Man (1961), A Majority of One (1961), Escape from Zahrain (1962), Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), He Rides Tall (1964), Kenner (1969) and Stand Up and Be Counted (1972). She also was a guest star in dozens of television series, including a 1967 appearance as Khan Noonien Singh's love interest (Lieutenant Marla McGivers) in the Star Trek episode "Space Seed". In 1960, Rhue had played the spouse of another Ricardo Montalbán character in an episode of NBC's Bonanza. That year, she also played the title role of Marian Ames in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Wayward Wife".

Other guest appearances included Cheyenne (1955); Have Gun – Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Riverboat, The Rebel, Laramie, and Rawhide (1959); Pony Express, Sugarfoot, Checkmate, The Alaskans, Bourbon Street Beat, The Roaring 20s, The Untouchables, and The Westerner(1960); Route 66 (1962); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963); The Virginian (1963); The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964, 1967), Daniel Boone (1965); The Fugitive (1964, 1966); Ironside (1967); The Wild Wild West (1967); Star Trek (1967) (playing another character who becomes betrothed to a character played by Montalbán); Mannix (1968); Bracken's World (1969–70); Hawaii Five-O (1970, 1973); Mission: Impossible (1972); Banacek (1972); Starsky & Hutch (1975); Fantasy Island (1978) and Charlie's Angels (1979). She also appeared in the television movie Goldie and the Boxer (1979), and made appearances on the quiz show, The Match Game (1974–76).

In 1962, Rhue married actor Tony Young and acted with him in the western He Rides Tall. They divorced in 1970.

In 1977, Rhue was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She continued to work, including a role in Days of Our Lives; but, by 1985, she needed a wheelchair and was limited to roles that did not require her to walk or stand, such as recurring roles in Murder, She Wrote and Houston Knights, with Michael Beck and Michael Paré. Her illness prevented her from appearing as her Star Trek character Lieutenant Marla McGivers in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the character ultimately disappeared from the script, as director Nicholas Meyer didn’t wish to re-cast the part.

She eventually became incapacitated by multiple sclerosis and died from pneumonia at the age of 68 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, California. She was survived by her sister Carol.