Mara Corday

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Mara Corday (born on January 3, 1930 in Santa Monica, California) is an American showgirl, nude model, actress,[1] Playboy Playmate of the Month[2][3] and a 1950s cult figure.

Corday, wanting a career in films, 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,[4][5] a Sci-Fi B-movie that proved a modest success (with Eastwood in an un-credited role). 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 one of the two misses who were chosen as Playmate of the Month for October 1958 issue of Playboy,[6] together with famous model and showgirl Pat Sheehan. In 1956, she had a recurring role in the ABC television series Combat Sergeant.[7] 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 (Valerie, Carey and Gregory).

A few years after her husband's death 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 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.[8] And she acted with Eastwood again in Pink Cadillac (1989) as well as in her last film, 1990's The Rookie.

External links

References

  1. (2004-07-31) Westerns Women: Interviews With 50 Leading Ladies Of Movie And Television Westerns From The 1930s To The 1960s. McFarland, 62–. ISBN 9780786420285. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  2. Lisanti, Tom (2001). Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. McFarland, 12–. ISBN 9780786408689. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  3. Petersen, James R. (2005-09-22). Playboy Redheads. Chronicle Books, 10, 16. ISBN 9780811848589. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  4. (2006-09-30) Interviews With B Science Fiction And Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup. McFarland, 2–. ISBN 9780786428588. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  5. Williams, Tony (November 1985). "Female Oppression in "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" (L'oppression des femmes dans "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman")". Science Fiction Studies 12 (3): 264–273. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  6. Craddock (1996-09). VideoHound's golden movie retriever. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9780787607807. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  7. Terrace, Vincent (2009). Encyclopedia of television shows, 1925 through 2007. McFarland. ISBN 9780786433056. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 
  8. O'Brien, Daniel (1996-08-08). Clint Eastwood: film-maker. B.T. Batsford. ISBN 9780713478396. Retrieved on 12 May 2012. 



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