Mara Corday

Marilyn Joan Long ( Watts; January 3, 1930 – February 9, 2025), known professionally as Mara Corday, was an American actress, showgirl, model and Playboy Playmate who was a 1950s cult figure during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Early life Marilyn Joan Watts was born in Santa Monica, California on January 3, 1930. 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 as a dancer in the Earl Carroll Revue in Hollywood. Accompanied by her mother, Corday auditioned when she was 15 years old. During the 2½ years that she was in the show, she advanced "from showgirl to actress in the sketches". This was also when she adopted the stage name Mara Corday, because it made her seem more exotic. The name Mara came from a bongo player who called her Marita when Corday was working as an usher at the Mayan Theater; the name Corday was lifted from a bottle of perfume.

Film

Corday signed with Universal-International Pictures (UI) as a contract player, where she was given small roles in various B-movies and television series. In 1954, while on the set of Playgirl, she met actor and future husband Richard Long.

Her acting roles were small until 1955, when she was cast opposite John Agar and Leo G. Carroll in the successful science-fiction film Tarantula, which has Clint Eastwood in a very brief role as a jet fighter pilot. She had two other co-starring roles in the genre, The Black Scorpion and The Giant Claw (both 1957), as well as in a number of Western films, including Man Without a Star, A Day of Fury 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 old friend Eastwood offered her a chance to return to films with a role in his 1977 film The Gauntlet. She also had a brief but significant role in Sudden Impact (1983), where she played the waitress who dumped sugar into the coffee of Det. Harry Callahan in that film's iconic "Go ahead, make my day" sequence. She acted with Eastwood again in his 1989 film Pink Cadillac, as well as in her last film, 1990's The Rookie.

Modeling Corday appeared as a pinup girl in numerous men's magazines during the 1950s and was the Playmate of the October 1958 issue of Playboy, along with model 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, such as Peter Gunn in the episode, “Keep Smiling”. She also guest starred with Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive in April 1960.

Personal life and death Following the 1955 death of Suzan Ball, the first wife of actor Richard Long, Corday began dating Long, and they married in 1957.

Filmography Features

Partial Television Credits

Year Title Role Notes1951 The Adventures of Kit CarsonLola La Vada/Janet Cronin /Juanita 3 episodes1952-1953 Craig Kennedy, Criminologist Lucille Merrill/ Mae Gibson/ Greta Varden 3 episodes1953 The Adventures of Kit CarsonMrs. Drake Episode: "Ventura Feud"Mr. and Mrs. NorthCynthia Stone Episode: "The Third Eye"1959 The Restless Gun Della Episode: "Shadow of a Gunfighter"Peter Gunn Emily - Blackmailer Episode: "Keep Smiling"Tales of Wells Fargo Ruby Episode: "The Train Robbery"The Man from BlackhawkAnnabel Episode: "Contraband Cargo" 1960 Adventures in Paradise Angel Episode: "Walk Through the Night"1961 Surfside 6 Bonnie Scott Episode: "An Overdose of Justice"