European Film Star Postcards: Adele Mara

Adele Mara (1923-2010) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s and on television in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1940s, the blonde actress was also a popular pinup girl.

Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie, Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic / Centra. Adele Mara's name is misspelt at the card as Adèla Mara.

Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie, Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic / Centra.

Vintage card. Photo: Republic / Centra.

Transformed into a sexy platinum blonde pin-up

Adele Mara was born Adelaida Delgado in 1923 in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents. She had a brother, Luis, who became an actor. Mara danced as part of bandleader Xavier Cugat's show at such esteemed clubs as the Copacabana. While touring as a singer/dancer, she was spotted in Florida by a Columbia talent scout and signed to a Hollywood contract in 1942 at age 19.

Under the professional name of Adele St. Mara, she started off in bit exotic roles in such films as Honolulu Lu (Charles Barton, 1941) starring Lupe Velez, and gained experience in the studio's B features and comedy shorts. Her stage name was soon shortened to Adele Mara. One of Mara's early roles was as a receptionist in the Three Stooges film I Can Hardly Wait.

She quickly grew to alluring co-starring status opposite Joe E. Brown in Shut My Big Mouth (Lew Landers, 1942). Mara and Leslie Brooks played the sisters of Rita Hayworth's character in the Fred Astaire film You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942). In Alias Boston Blackie (Lew Landers, 1942), she plays the leading female role, as the sister of an escaped and wrongfully accused convict.

When her Columbia contract lapsed, she moved to Republic Pictures, where she was transformed into a sexy platinum blonde pin-up. Mara became a fixture in the studio's Westerns, predominantly cast as senorita-types opposite cowboy stars Roy Rogers in Bells of Rosarita (Frank McDonald, 1945) and Gene Autry in Twilight on the Rio Grande (Frank McDonald, 1947).

She also appeared in crime dramas including Blackmail (Lesley Selander, 1947) and Web of Danger (Philip Ford, 1947) and adventure films starring John Wayne such as Wake of the Red Witch (Edward Ludwig, 1948), and Sands of Iwo Jima (Allan Dwan, 1949) in which she was John Agar's love interest. Other interesting films were the Film-Noirs The Tiger Woman (Philip Ford, 1945), and Count the Hours! (Don Siegel, 1953) with Theresa Wright.

John Agar and Adele Mara in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

Spanish postcard by Ed. Sobe. John Agar and Adele Mara in Sands of Iwo Jima (Allan Dwan, 1949).

Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie, Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic / Centra. Adele Mara's name is misspelt at the card as Adèla Mara.

Guest star in TV Westerns

In 1955 Adele Mara appeared as Sarita on the TV Western Cheyenne in the episode 'Border Showdown'. In 1958, Mara played Maria Costa in the Bat Masterson episode 'Double Showdown' with Gene Barry. In 1961, Mara appeared as a nurse with Cesar Romero on The Red Skelton Show in a sketch titled 'Deadeye and The Alamo'.

About this time, she guest-starred in the Western series The Tall Man (1962) with Clu Gulager, as well as three episodes of Maverick (1958-1960), episodes of Laramie (1960), Tales of Wells Fargo (1959) with Dale Robertson and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1958-1961) with Hugh O'Brien.

She also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode 'House Guest' (1962). Her last screen appearance would be in The Big Circus (Joseph M. Newman, 1959) with Victor Mature.

Mara was married to screenwriter/series creator/producer/novelist Roy Huggins and appeared in his television series Maverick. She eventually abandoned her career and settled down to raise their three sons, Thomas (1960), John (1961), and James Patrick (1963). Only on a rare occasion, she would appear as a guest in one of his husband's efforts, including an episode of the TV series Cool Million (1972).

The couple remained married until his death at age 87 in 2002. The marriage had spanned half a century. Mara's brother, Luis Delgado (1925–1997) played small, often uncredited roles in films and TV, especially in the projects of his close friend James Garner, for whom Delgado also worked as a personal assistant. Adele Mara died of natural causes in Los Angeles in 2010. The 87-year-old actress was interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.