Adele Mara


Adele Mara was an American actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s and on television in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early years

Mara was born Adelaide Delgado in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents Angel Delgado and Eloisa. She had a brother, Luis Delgado, who became an actor.

Career

Dancing

Mara danced as part of bandleader Xavier Cugat's show as well as on two episodes of Maverick entitled "Seed of Deception" and "The Spanish Dancer".

Film

Under the professional name of Adele St. Mara, she won a contract with Columbia Pictures and gained experience in the studio's "B" features and comedy shorts. She soon shortened her name to Adele Mara. One of Mara's early roles was as a receptionist in the Three Stooges film I Can Hardly Wait. Mara and Leslie Brooks played the sisters of Rita Hayworth's character in the Fred Astaire film You Were Never Lovelier. In Alias Boston Blackie, she plays the leading female role, as the sister of an escaped and wrongfully accused convict.
When her Columbia contract lapsed, she moved to Republic Pictures, where she became a fixture in the studio's Westerns and outdoor adventures. She appeared in The Vampire's Ghost, Wake of the Red Witch starring John Wayne, Angel in Exile, Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne in which she was John Agar's love interest, California Passage, and Don Siegel's Count the Hours.

Television

In 1955 Mara appeared as Sarita on the TV Western Cheyenne in the episode "Border Showdown". In 1958, Mara played Maria Costa in the Bat Masterson episode "Double Showdown" with Gene Barry. In 1961, Mara appeared as a nurse with Cesar Romero on CBS's The Red Skelton Show in a sketch titled "Deadeye and The Alamo". About this time, she guest-starred on the NBC Western series The Tall Man with Clu Gulager, as well as three episodes of Maverick, and episodes of Laramie, Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp with Hugh O'Brian. In 1961 she appeared in an episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller series called The Beckoning Ghost. She also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "House Guest" in 1962.

Personal life

Mara was married to screenwriter/series creator/producer/novelist Roy Huggins and appeared as the leading lady in three episodes of his 1957 television series Maverick starring James Garner and Jack Kelly. They had three sons, Thomas in 1960, John in 1961, and James Patrick in 1963 and remained married until his death at age 87; the marriage had spanned half a century from 1952 to 2002.
Mara's brother, Luis Delgado, played small, often uncredited roles in films and TV, especially in the projects of his close friend James Garner, for whom Delgado also worked as a personal assistant.

Death

Mara died of natural causes at age 87 on May 7, 2010.

Selected filmography

  • Honolulu Lu as Debutante
  • Navy Blues
  • You Were Never Lovelier as Lita Acuna
  • Alias Boston Blackie as Eve Sanders
  • Blondie Goes to College as Babs Connelly
  • Shut My Big Mouth
  • Crime Doctor as Nurse
  • Redhead from Manhattan as Check Girl
  • Riders of the Northwest Mounted as Gabrielle Renaud
  • Reveille with Beverly as Evelyn Ross
  • Call of the South Seas as Aritana
  • Atlantic City as Adele – Barmaid
  • The Fighting Seabees as Twinkler Tucker – Jitterbugger
  • Faces in the Fog as Gertrude
  • Thoroughbreds as Sally Crandall
  • Girls of the Big House as Harriett
  • Song of Mexico as Carol Adams
  • The Tiger Woman as Sharon Winslow
  • Bells of Rosarita as Patty Phillips
  • Flame of Barbary Coast as Marie
  • The Vampire's Ghost as Lisa
  • Earl Carroll Vanities as Chorine
  • Grissly's Millions as Maribelle
  • The Inner Circle as Geraldine Travis alias Gerry Smith
  • I've Always Loved You as Senorita Fortalega
  • The Magnificent Rogue as Sugar Lee
  • The Invisible Informer as Marie Ravelle
  • The Last Crooked Mile as Bonnie
  • Night Train to Memphis as Constance Stephenson
  • Traffic in Crime as Silk Cantrell
  • Passkey to Danger as Renee Beauchamps
  • The Catman of Paris as Marguerite Duval
  • A Guy Could Change as Bernice
  • Exposed as Belinda Prentice
  • Blackmail as Sylvia Duane
  • Robin Hood of Texas as Julie
  • The Trespasser as Deedee
  • Web of Danger as Peg Mallory
  • Twilight on the Rio Grande as Elena Del Rio
  • Wake of the Red Witch as Teleia Van Schreeven
  • Night Time in Nevada as Joan Andrews
  • Angel in Exile as Raquel Chavez
  • I, Jane Doe as Marga–Jane Hastings
  • The Gallant Legion as Catalina
  • Campus Honeymoon as Bessie Ormsbee
  • The Main Street Kid as Gloria
  • Sands of Iwo Jima as Allison Bromley
  • Rock Island Trail as Constance Strong
  • California Passage as Beth Martin
  • The Avengers as Maria Moreno
  • The Sea Hornet as Suntan Radford aka Golbraid
  • Count the Hours as Gracie Sager – Max Verne's girlfriend
  • The Black Whip as Ruthie Dawson
  • Back from Eternity as Maria Alvarez, an airplane stewardess
  • Curse of the Faceless Man as Maria Fiorillo
  • The Big Circus as Maria 'Mama' Colino
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Eve Sherston