Role Showgirl Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) | Weight 118 lb (54 kg; 8.4 st) Name Mara Corday | |
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Measurements Bust: 35"Waist: 24"Hips: 35" Children Valerie Long, Gregory Long, Carey Long Movies Tarantula, The Giant Claw, The Black Scorpion, The Man from Bitter Ridge, Sudden Impact Similar People Sally Todd, Saundra Edwards, Evelyn West, Joan Staley, France Anglade | ||
Movie legends mara corday
Mara Corday (born Marilyn Joan Watts on January 3, 1930) was showgirl, model, actress, Playboy Playmate and a 1950s cult figure.
Contents
- Movie legends mara corday
- 40 Glamorous Photos of Mara Corday in the 1950s
- Early life
- Dancing
- Film
- Modeling
- Television
- Personal life
- References
40 Glamorous Photos of Mara Corday in the 1950s
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. 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."
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.
Her roles were small until 1955 when she was cast opposite John Agar and Leo G. Carroll in Tarantula, a Sci-Fi movie that proved successful (with Clint Eastwood in a brief role). She had two other co-starring roles in that genre with The Black Scorpion and The Giant Claw (both 1957), as well as in a number of Western films such as Man Without a Star and Raw Edge. Film critic Leonard Maltin said 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. And she acted with Eastwood again in Pink Cadillac (1989) as well as in her last film, 1990's The Rookie.
Modeling
In the 1950s, Corday featured as a model in various men's publications and was notably the Playmate for the October 1958 edition of Playboy magazine, alongside renowned model and showgirl Pat Sheehan.
Television
In 1956, Corday 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.
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. Corday has also been a lifelong friend of actor Clint Eastwood, whom she met while working for Universal Pictures.