18 July 2018

Mara Lane

British-Austrian actress Mara Lane (1930-2014) was considered one of the most beautiful models in Great Britain during the early 1950s. She appeared in more than 30 English and German language films of the 1950s and early 1960s, but she seems forgotten now.

Mara Lane
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 968. Photo: ENIC.

Mara Lane
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/58.

Mara Lane
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.bH., Minden-Westf., no. 1828.

Mara Lane
German postcard by UFA/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4659. Photo: Lothar Winkler / UFA.

Peter Alexander, Gerlinde Locker, Uschi Siebert, Maria Sebaldt and Mara Lane in Ich bin kein Casanova (1959)
German postcard, no. 973. Photo: Peter Alexander, Gerlinde Locker, Uschi Siebert, Maria Sebaldt and Mara Lane in Ich bin kein Casanova/I am not a Casanova (Géza von Cziffra, 1959).

Cover model


Mara Lane was born as Dorothy Lane Bolton in 1930, in Vienna, Austria. Her mother was Russian-born pianist Olga Mironova and her English father Briton John Bolton worked in Vienna for an American oil firm. Her father later died in a car crash in the U.S. Her younger sister, Jacelyn Olga, later became known as actress Jackie Lane (aka Jocelyn Lane).

In Vienna, Mara trained for the Viennese ballet, but her family left Austria and in 1942 they arrived aboard the Jutlandia in New York from Copenhagen, Denmark. In New York she attended high school. In 1950, she moved to London, England, to study costume design. She was soon spotted by a talent scout in a restaurant.

In the early 1950s, Mara became a glamorous and very popular cover model in Great Britain. The Elizabeth Taylor-like beauty was soon also discovered for the cinema.

In 1951, she made her film debut as a cafe singer in Hell Is Sold Out (Michael Anderson, 1951) starring Mai Zetterling.

Other small roles followed in the comedy Treasure Hunt (John Paddy Carstairs, 1952) and in the comedy-drama Something Money Can't Buy (Pat Jackson, 1952) starring Patricia Roc. Her first bigger part was in Decameron Nights (Hugo Fregonese, 1953), a rather dull adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s bawdy novel.

Mara Lane
Dutch postcard by P. Moorlag, Heerlen, Sort. 13/6.

Mara Lane
Dutch postcard by P. Moorlag, Heerlen, Sort. 15/6.

Mara Lane
German postcard by ISV, Sort. 16/6.

Mara Lane
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/68. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Mara Lane
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-308. Photo: Joe Niczky / UFA.

Sultry Femme Fatale


Later that year, Mara Lane went to Hollywood, like her sister Jackie would do a few years later. There she was a popular and often photographed starlet.

Howard Hughes’ RKO signed her for a Hollywood contract. She played a supporting part in the comedy Susan Slept Here (Frank Tashlin, 1954), starring Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds.

Mara Lanee also starred as a sultry femme fatale in the American-Italian Film Noir,Angela (Edoardo Anton, Dennis O'Keefe, 1954) opposite Dennis O'Keefe and Rossano Brazzi.

While filming Angela (Edoardo Anton, Dennis O'Keefe, 1954) in Italy she caught the eye of wealthy Italian prince Alessandro 'Dado' Ruspoli. According to Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, the Prince tried to get his passport back so that he could travel to Switzerland to divorce his Princess Francesca and marry Mara.

However, a wedding never occurred. A few years later, she also had a broken engagement with German playboy heir Gunther Sachs.

Filmschauspeieler aus aller Welt
German postcard by Kunst und Film Verlag H. Lukow, Hannover, no. L2/1042. Caption: Filmschauspieler aus aller Welt (Film actors from around the world). Mara Lane in the middle below.

Mara Lane in Bonsoir Paris (1956)
West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2318. Photo: Melodie / Deutsche London (DLF) / Heil. Publicity still for Bonsoir Paris/Good Evening Paris (Ralph Baum, 1956).

Mara Lane
Dutch-Belgian postcard by DRC Holland, no. 3673. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF / Herzog Film / Ufa.

Mara Lane in Monpti (1957)
West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3674. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF / Herzog Film. Publicity still for Monpti/Love from Paris (Helmut Käutner, 1957).

Mara Lane
German postcard, no. 961.

Sexy eye candy


In 1954, Mara Lane returned to Europe to reprise her film career here. She appeared in Italy in La grande avventura/The Great Adventure (Mario Pisu, 1954) with Gino Cervi, and Le avventure di Giacomo Casanova/Sins of Casanova (Steno, 1955).

Lane was mainly cast as sexy eye candy in European comedies like the the French comedy Bonsoir Paris (Ralph Baum, 1956) with Dany Robin, and the German comedy Der Fremdenführer von Lissabon/The Guide of Lisbon (Hans Deppe, 1956) starring Vico Torriani.

One of her better films was Monpti/Love From Paris (Helmut Käutner, 1957), in which she supported Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz.

After that she appeared in more than a dozen European B-films, including German comedies, Italian Peplums and a Spanish drama, but all of no interest. In 1961, she married petrol millionair William Dugger from San Antonio, Texas, in a civil ceremony in London. She left him after three years.

In 1965 Mara Lane retired and she died in 2014 in Marbella, Spain. Her films are mostly forgotten now, but her pin-up pictures are still popular on the net.

Mara Lane
German postcard by ISV, Sort. 17/6.

Mara Lane
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/406. Photo: Erwin Schneider.

Mara Lane
German postcard by ISV, Sort. 14/6.

Mara Lane
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F-80. Photo: Klaus Collignon / UFA.

Mara Lane
German postcard by UFA, no. CK-200. Photo: Klaus Collignon / UFA.

Sources: Celine Colassin (La saga des etoiles filantes - now defunct), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 14 January 2024.

3 comments:

Bunched Undies said...

Mara will no longer be forgotten, not after these wonderful pics...Thanks for posting Bob

Heimer said...

The Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen page from your reference has updated that she died in 2014 in Marbella, Spain

Paul van Yperen said...

Thanks, Heimer, We've updated the info.