Mary Healy

Mary Sarah Healy (April 14, 1918 – February 3, 2015) was an American actress, singer, and variety entertainer.

She performed often with her husband, Peter Lind Hayes, for over 50 years, in a succession of films, television and radio shows and on the stage. She appeared in four Broadway shows between 1942 and 1958, and her film appearances include Second Fiddle, Star Dust and Theodore Geisel's musical fantasy The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. In 2006 she was inducted into the Nevada Entertainment/Artist Hall of Fame at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Biography

Healy was born April 14, 1918, in New Orleans. Crowned Miss New Orleans in 1935, she performed as a singer in the New Orleans area. She made her first screen appearance in the 1938 musical comedy Josette. and in Star Dust, where she sang the title song. She starred as Mrs. Aouda in Orson Welles's 1946 Broadway production of the musical Around the World in 80 Days, a role she reprised for The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air radio adaptation.

Healy was a member of the regular cast of Hayes's CBS-TV series, Inside U.S.A. with Chevrolet (1949–50), a revue-style series that producer Arthur Schwartz based on his successful Broadway show, Inside U.S.A. Healy and Hayes were the first to sing the commercial jingle, "See the USA in Your Chevrolet", which later became a signature song for Dinah Shore.

Among the couple's other joint ventures on television were The Stork Club (1950), a CBS interview program; Healy and Hayes were among the substitute hosts of The Tonight Show in 1962, between Jack Paar's departure and Johnny Carson's arrival, They were frequent guest panelists and once were the mystery guests on the long-running quiz show What's My Line?

During the 1960s, they starred in a breakfast conversation show on New York radio station 710 WOR. WOR set up equipment in their house in suburban New Rochelle, New York, so that they could broadcast on weekday mornings from their home.

Over the years Healy and Hayes headlined on 14 occasions at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. In 2006 she was inducted into the Nevada Entertainment/Artist Hall of Fame at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Personal life Healy and Hayes were the parents of two adopted children – a son, Peter Michael Hayes, and a daughter, actress Cathy Lind Hayes. Healy died of natural causes February 3, 2015, in Calabasas, California.

Select filmography Year Title Role Notes 1938 Josette Uncredited Film debut 1939 Second Fiddle Jean Varick 1939 20,000 Men a Year Joan Marshall 1939 Hotel for Women Vocalist 1940 Star Dust Mary Andrews 1940 He Married His Wife Doris 1941 Hard Guy Julie Kavanaugh 1941 Ride, Kelly, Ride Entertainer 1941 Zis Boom Bah Mary Healy With Peter Lind Hayes and his mother Grace Hayes 1942 Strictly in the Groove Sally Monroe 1942 The Yanks are Coming Rita Edwards 1953 The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Heloise Collins With Peter Lind Hayes; co-written by Theodore Geisel