Italian postcard by Bromofoto, no. 552. Photo: Universal International.
Italian postcard by Nannina, Milano.
Running away from home to join the circus
Mari (sometimes written as Mary) Blanchard was born in 1923, in Long Beach, California. Her father was an oil and mining tycoon; her mother, Dr. Mary Sennott, was a psychotherapist. Blanchard trained from childhood for a dancing career, but at the age of nine, she suffered from severe polio. She fought back against her illness and was walking again by age eleven. To exercise her once-paralysed limbs, she swam daily for several years afterwards.
At 17, she ran away from home to join the Cole Brothers Circus and learned how to ride elephants, perform bareback on horses and fly on the trapeze bar. Her mother found her and took her back home. She attended Santa Barbara State College, UCLA, and USC to study international law and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in International Law. In the late 1940s, Mari joined the Conover Agency as an advertising model and was a successful model and film extra. In 1948, her beautiful blue-eyed brunette (later blonde) looks and 36-25-36 figure became the inspiration for cartoonist and writer Al Capp in creating the voluptuous Stupefyin' Jones character for his L'il Abner comics.
After she was seen by a Paramount producer in a bubble bath commercial ad for Kodak that appeared on the back of The Hollywood Reporter, she was offered a film contract. From 1951 to 1952, she took roles in a number of films at MGM, RKO, and Paramount, but was relegated to walk-ons and bit parts. I.S. Mowis at IMDb: "Ten Tall Men (1951), for example, limited her to a token stroll down a street, twirling a parasol and smiling seductively at members of the Foreign Legion."
In 1952, she was signed by Universal-International. There her fortunes improved somewhat. Her first film at the studio was Back at the Front (George Sherman, 1952) with Tom Ewell. In the romantic adventure The Veils of Bagdad (George Sherman, 1953) she co-starred with Victor Mature. One of her more memorable tongue-in-cheek exotic roles was the Venusian queen, Allura, in the comedy Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (Charles Lamont, 1953).
She starred with Audie Murphy in the Western Destry (George Marshall, 1954). I.S. Mowis at IMDb: "A remake of the classic Destry Rides Again (1939), she was cast in the Marlene Dietrich part and took great pains to affect a totally different look, darkening her hair, so as not to be compared to the great star. Even the name of her character was changed from 'Frenchy' to 'Brandy'. Destry was not all smooth sailing. There was tension between her and director George Marshall (who had also directed the original version) and Mari suffered a facial injury as the result of a fight scene. The film was critically well received." However, her contract was not renewed by Universal.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 609. Photo: Paramount Pictures, 1950.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 733.
Playing bad girls and ladies of ill-repute
Mari Blanchard worked for television and for minor studios. She continued to excel at playing bad girls and ladies of ill repute. In Son of Sinbad (Ted Tetzlaff, 1955), she was one of the 127 women in ancient Baghdad who dazzled Dale Robertson as Sinbad - and of course the audiences. On TV, she starred in episodes of such series as Climax! (1955) and Casablanca (1956). In the cinema, she starred as a female monster in the B-movie She Devil (Kurt Neumann, 1957). She played a TB victim injected with a serum turning her into a Mr. Hyde-like killer.
Then she was the love interest of Lex Barker in Jungle Heat (Howard W. Koch, 1957), shot on Kauai, Hawaii. A curiosity was her appearance in the Turkish film Karasu (Turgut Demirag, 1958). Following her work on these films, Blanchard began to focus increasingly on performing on television. In the 1960–1961 television season, she starred as hotel owner Kate O'Hara in the short-lived Western series Klondike with James Coburn. She also guest-starred in episodes of Rawhide (1959-1961), 77 Sunset Strip (1961) and Perry Mason (1962).
Among her later films were the musical Don't Knock the Twist (Oscar Rudolph, 1962) with Chubby Checker and the horror film Twice-Told Tales (Sidney Salkow, 1963) starring Vincent Price. In 1963 she had a small but flamboyant role as the cheerful and likeable town madam Camille in the John Wayne Western McLintock! (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1963). It was her final film appearance.
Mari Blanchard was diagnosed with cancer. She retired and acted only in a few TV programs when her cancer temporarily went into remission. Her last credited performance was in 1968, playing the part of Madame Gamar in the series It Takes a Thief. Following a struggle of seven years, Mari Blanchard died in 1970. She was only 43. In accordance with her wishes, her remains were cremated and scattered at sea.
Blanchard was married three times: to attorney Reese Hale Taylor, Jr. (1960-1961); George Shepard (1965-1966); and to photographer Vincent J. Conti (1967-1970). In the early to mid-1950s, she dated a string of men, including Greg Bautzer, once Joan Crawford's paramour, and Mel Torme before marrying photographer Vince Conti.
British card in the Greetings series. Photo: Universal-International.
French postcard offered by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 308. Photo: Universal International.
Spanish postcard, no. 178.
Sources: I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Brian J. Walker (Brian's Drive-in Theater), William Bjornstad (Find A Grave), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.
This post was last updated on 4 June 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment