Actress Adele Mara Passes Away

Actress Adele Mara has died. She recently turned 87.

Mara's film career began in the early '40s. She played one of Rita Hayworth's younger sisters in my favorite Fred Astaire movie, YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER (1942). She had over 90 film and television credits, including the John Wayne films WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948) and SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949). Other notable credits include ANGEL IN EXILE (1948) and BACK FROM ETERNITY (1956).

She also appeared in a number of Westerns, such as BELLS OF ROSARITA (1945) and NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA (1948) with Roy Rogers and ROBIN HOOD OF TEXAS (1947) and TWILIGHT ON THE RIO GRANDE (1947) with Gene Autry.

Mara's husband, Roy Huggins, was a producer and writer of such TV classics as MAVERICK and 77 SUNSET STRIP. Mara appeared in three episodes apiece of 77 SUNSET STRIP and MAVERICK; my favorite of her MAVERICK appearances was "The Spanish Dancer." She and Huggins had three sons whose names served at times as Huggins' writing pseudonym, John Thomas James. Huggins passed away in 2002.

Mara's brother, Luis Delgado, was James Garner's longtime stand-in and a bit player in his shows. Viewers may remember him as Officer Billings on THE ROCKFORD FILES or Shifty Delgado on BRET MAVERICK; he can be seen as a cowboy extra in a number of MAVERICK shows. Delgado died in 1997.

For those who might be interested in learning more about this lovely actress, she was interviewed for the book LADIES OF THE WESTERN by Michael Fitzgerald and Boyd Magers. Thomas Burnett Swann's 1977 book on Republic's leading ladies, THE HEROINE OR THE HORSE, has a wonderful chapter, "The Evening Star," paying tribute to Adele Mara.

Ivan has more at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear.