Adele Mara
Publicity still of Mara for The Tiger Woman (1945)
Born
Adelaide Delgado

(1923-04-28)April 28, 1923
Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.
DiedMay 7, 2010(2010-05-07) (aged 87)
Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1941–1978
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1952; died 2002)​
Children3
1947 publicity photo

Adele Mara (born Adelaide Delgado;[1] April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s[2] and on television in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early years

Mara was born in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents Angel Delgado and Eloisa.[3][4][5] She had a brother, Luis Delgado (1925-1997), who became an actor.[6]

Dancing

Mara danced as part of bandleader Xavier Cugat's show[5] 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 (1942), 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 (leading lady), Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne in which she was John Agar's love interest, California Passage (leading lady), and Don Siegel's Count the Hours (supporting role).

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 (one with James Garner and Jack Kelly and two with only Kelly), 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

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[7] 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.[2]

Selected filmography

Adele Mara (r.) with Jean Willes and Gene Barry in Bat Masterson (1959)
With Hugh O'Brien in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1961)

References

  1. ↑ Michael G. Fitzgerald, Boyd Magers (2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. p. 149. ISBN 9780786426560.
  2. 1 2 "Obituary: Adele Mara dies at 87; film and television actress". Los Angeles Times. May 13, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Adelaide Delgado, "United States Census, 1940"". 1940. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  4. ↑ "ADELE MARA (September 21, 1947)". Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (February 2, 2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. ISBN 9780786426560. Retrieved August 24, 2017 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ "Adele Mara". Films of the Golden Age (105): 52–53. Summer 2021.
  7. ↑ "Adele Mara – The Private Life and Times of Adele Mara. Adele Mara Pictures". glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
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