Famous Marys
Other names include: Marie, Marion, Maria, Maryann, and other related names.
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Mary Tyler Moore was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on December 29, 1936. Moore's family relocated to California when she was eight. Her childhood was troubled, due in part to her mother's alcoholism. The eldest of three siblings, she attended a Catholic high school and married upon her graduation, in 1955. Her only child, Richard Meeker Jr., was born soon after.
A dancer at first, Moore's first break in show business was in 1955, as a dancing kitchen appliance - Happy Hotpoint, the Hotpoint Appliance elf, in commercials generally broadcast during the popular sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952). She then shifted from dancing to acting and work soon came, at first a number of guest roles on television series, but eventually a recurring role as Sam, Richard Diamond's sultry answering service girl, on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956), her performance being particularly notorious because her legs (usually dangling a pump on her toe) were shown instead of her face.
Although these early roles often took advantage of her willowy charms (in particular, her famously-beautiful dancer's legs), Moore's career soon took a more substantive turn as she was cast in two of the most highly regarded comedies in television history, which would air first-run for most of the '60s and '70s. In the first of these, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Moore played Laura Petrie, the charmingly loopy wife of star Dick Van Dyke. The show became famous for its very clever writing and terrific comic ensemble - Moore and her fellow performers received multiple Emmy Awards for their work. Meanwhile, she had divorced her first husband, and married advertising man (and, later, network executive) Grant Tinker.
After the end of The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Moore focused on movie-making, co-starring in five between the end of the sitcom and the start of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), including Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), in which she plays a ditsy aspiring actress, and an inane Elvis Presley vehicle, Change of Habit (1969), in which she plays a nun-to-be and love interest for Presley. Also included in this mixed bag of films was a first-rate television movie, Run a Crooked Mile (1969), which was an early showcase for Moore's considerable talent at dramatic acting.
After trying her hand at movies for a few years, Moore decided, rather reluctantly, to return to television, but on her terms. The result was The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), which was produced by MTM Enterprises, a company she had formed with Tinker, and which later went on to produce scores of other television series. Moore starred as Mary Richards, who moves to Minneapolis on the heels of a failed relationship. Mary finds work at the newsroom of WJM-TV, whose news program is the lowest-rated in the city, and establishes fast friendships with her colleagues and her neighbors. The sitcom was a commercial and critical success and for years was a fixture of CBS television's unbeatable Saturday night line-up. Moore and Tinker were determined from the start to make the sitcom a cut above the average, and it certainly was - instead of going for a barrage of gags, the humor took longer to develop and arose out of the interaction between the characters in more realistic situations. This was also one of the earliest television portrayals of a woman who was happy and successful on her own rather than simply being a man's wife. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) is generally included amongst the finest television series ever produced in America.
Moore ended the sitcom in 1977, while it was still on a high point, but found it difficult to flee the beloved Mary Richards persona - her subsequent attempts at television series, variety programs, and specials (such as the mortifying disco-era Mary's Incredible Dream (1976)) usually failed, but even her dramatic work, which is generally excellent, fell under the shadow of Mary Richards. With time, however, her body of dramatic acting came to be recognized on its own, with such memorable work as in Ordinary People (1980), as an aloof WASP mother who not-so-secretly resents her younger son's survival; in Finnegan Begin Again (1985), as a middle-aged widow who finds love with a man whose wife is slowly slipping away, in Lincoln (1988), as the troubled Mary Todd Lincoln, and in Stolen Babies (1993), as an infamous baby smuggler (for which she won her sixth Emmy Award). She also inspired a new appreciation for her famed comic talents in Flirting with Disaster (1996), in which she is hilarious as the resentful adoptive mother of a son who is seeking his birth parents. Moore also acted on Broadway, and she won a Tony Award for her performance in "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"
Widely acknowledged as being much tougher and more high-strung than her iconic image would suggest, Moore had a life with more than the normal share of ups and downs. Both of her siblings predeceased her, her sister Elizabeth of a drug overdose in 1978 and her brother John of cancer in 1991 after a failed attempt at assisted suicide, Moore having been the assistant. Moore's troubled son Richie shot and killed himself in what was officially ruled an accident in 1980. Moore was diagnosed an insulin-dependent diabetic in 1969, and had a bout with alcoholism in the early 1980s. Divorced from Tinker in 1981 after repeated separations and reconciliations, she married physician Robert Levine in 1983. The union with Levine proved to be Moore's longest run in matrimony and her only marriage not to end in divorce. Despite the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), in which she throws a package of meat into her shopping cart, Moore was a vegetarian and a proponent of animal rights. She was an active spokesperson for both diabetes issues and animal rights.
On January 25, 2017, Mary Tyler Moore died at age 80 at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, from cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by pneumonia after having been placed on a respirator the previous week. She was laid to rest during a private ceremony at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield, Connecticut.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Mary Ellen Trainor was born in Chicago, Illinois. She appeared in many feature-films of the 1980s, notable characters include, Elaine, the kidnapped sister of Kathleen Turner and the catalyst for the entire plot in Romancing the Stone (1984), Dr. Stephanie Woods (LA Police Psychiatrist) in in all four Lethal Weapon (1987) films, Mrs. Walsh Mikey and Brand's (Sean Astinand Josh Brolin) mom in The Goonies (1985), news reporter Gail Wallens in Die Hard (1988) and Ricochet (1991).- Actress
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Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an actress known for her versatile work in a variety of film and television projects. Possibly most known for her role as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), she has also starred in critically acclaimed independent films such as Smashed (2012), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, as well as genre fare like Final Destination 3 (2006) and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007).
Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina but largely raised in Sandy, Utah, which is where she discovered a love for the performing arts. She grew up training to be a ballerina and attended the Joffrey Ballet School training program at the age of 12. It was also around this time that she began to pursue a career in acting and soon started working steadily in television and film.
Winstead is also a recording artist and performs under the name "Got a Girl" alongside producer Dan the Automotor.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was born in Lombard, Illinois, to Mary D. (Pagone) and Frank A. Mastrantonio, who ran a bronze foundry. Her parents were of Italian descent. She was raised in Oak Park, IL, and began her career in school plays as a teenager. Mary attended the University of Illinois and got bitten by the acting bug, starring in "Guys and Dolls".
Leaving for New York, she took part in "West Side Story" in 1981. She also made it into movies, starring alongside Al Pacino in Scarface (1983). In 1985, she starred in The Color of Money (1986), which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Around 1990, a string of movies came about that really gave her a lot of attention: important roles in The Abyss (1989), Class Action (1991), and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). At this time she married The January Man (1989) director Pat O'Connor. Mastrantonio is also a renowned cabaret-style singer, and her singing is showcased in John Sayles's Limbo (1999).
Careerwise, she took the decision to pick roles she liked instead of roles that would attract attention. Also, she took time off to be with her family. As of 2001, she lives with her husband and two children in London, England, UK.- Actress
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Mary Elizabeth Ellis is an American actress. She is best known for her role as The Waitress on the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Ellis also starred in the NBC sitcom Perfect Couples and the Fox sitcom The Grinder. She also appeared as Nick's ex-girlfriend Caroline in the sitcom New Girl. From 2017 to 2019, she starred as Lisa Palmer on the Netflix horror-comedy Santa Clarita Diet.- Actress
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Southern-bred Mary-Louise Parker was born on August 2, 1964 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the youngest of four children of Judge John Morgan Parker, and the former Caroline Louise Morell. She is of mostly Swedish, English, and Scottish descent. Her father's occupation took the family both around the country and abroad while growing up.
Parker showed potential in her teens and majored in acting in her college years, graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Beginning her acting career with a part on the daytime soap Ryan's Hope (1975), Mary decided to test the waters in New York, and after work on the off-Broadway stage in the late 1980s, made her Broadway debut with "Prelude to a Kiss" in 1990, where she won the Theatre World Award, the Clarence Derwent Award and a Tony nomination.
Films and TV quickly followed and she quickly gained attention. She provided both poignant and amusing as the token femme friend to a group of gay men in the AIDS drama Longtime Companion (1989), but really caught fire with her feisty, standout performance in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), holding her own against such female powerhouses as Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates and Mary Stuart Masterson. Dubbed by some as the "long-suffering girl next door," she played such noble offbeat miserables and cast-asides in Grand Canyon (1991), Naked in New York (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The Client (1994) Boys on the Side (1995), in which she was the AIDS victim this time, The Portrait of a Lady (1996), The Maker (1997), Let the Devil Wear Black (1999), Red Dragon (2002) and Pipe Dream (2001).
Preferring quality over quantity, she perfected her craft with offbeat roles in independent features and did not abandon her theater roots. She copped a slew of acting prizes for her stage work in "How I Learned to Drive" (1996) and, most notably, "Proof" in 2000, wherein she won nearly every award there is to attain, including the prestigious Tony. Her marquee name still does not command what it should, but a picture or production with Mary-Louise Parker in it usually guarantees a strong critical reception. Unmarried, she did enter into a longtime companionship with actor Billy Crudup after the twosome appeared opposite each other in the 1996 play, "Bus Stop". They went their separate ways in 2003, amid major controversy (she was pregnant at the time).
Mary Louise continues to divide her time equally and skillfully on TV, film and the stage. The powerful TV miniseries adaptation of Tony Kushner heralded award-winning Broadway play Angels in America (2003), directed by Mike Nichols, earned the actress supporting performance Golden Globe and Emmy awards. She also earned a Tony nomination for the Broadway show, "Reckless", a year later but truly turned heads and wowed audiences the year after that in the highly acclaimed 7-season Showtime series Weeds (2005), earning another Golden Globe and several Emmy nominations for her amazing performance as Nancy Botwin, a relatively naïve suburban housewife and mother who courts serious trouble with the law and drug cartels when she turns into a neighborhood drug dealer for sustenance after her husband dies suddenly.
Into the millennium, Mary has continued with compelling work in such films as RED 2 (2013), R.I.P.D. (2013), Jamesy Boy (2014), Behaving Badly (2014), Chronically Metropolitan (2016), Golden Exits (2017) and Red Sparrow (2018). TV roles have included recurring roles on The Blacklist (2013) and the sci-fi thriller Mr. Mercedes (2017).
Her first child is eighteen-year-old William Atticus Parker -- a director, writer and actor. Adopting a second child from Ethiopia, Mary Louise was acknowledged in 2013 for her significant contributions to Hope North, an organization that works in the educating and healing of young victims caught in Uganda's civil war. Her memoir-in-letters, Dear Mr. You, came out in 2015.- Actress
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Mary Stuart Masterson started acting before the age of ten, when she appeared in The Stepford Wives (1975) in 1975 with her father. Afterwards, at the direction of her parents, Mary Stuart led a life outside of the limelight, attending school in New York. She appeared in a few productions at New York's Dalton School. At the age of 15, the young actress appeared on Broadway in Eva Le Gallienne's version of Alice In Wonderland. She played two parts, the Four of Hearts and the Small White Rabbit. She returned to films in 1985 with the role of Dani in Heaven Help Us (1985). For eight months afterwards, Mary Stuart attended New York University, where she studied anthropology.- Actress
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Mary Astor was born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke on May 3, 1906 in Quincy, Illinois to Helen Marie Vasconcellos, an American of Portuguese and Irish ancestry from Illinois, and Otto Ludwig Langhanke, a German immigrant. Mary's parents were very ambitious for her and wanted something better for her than what they had, and knew that if they played their cards right, they could make her famous. Recognizing her beauty, they pushed her into various beauty contests. Luck was with Mary and her parents because one contest came to the attention of Hollywood moguls who signed her when she was 14.
Mary's first movie was a bit part in The Scarecrow (1920). It wasn't much, but it was a start. Throughout 1921-1923 she continued her career with bit or minor roles in a number of motion pictures. In 1924, she landed a plum assignment with a role as Lady Margery Alvaney opposite the great John Barrymore in the film Beau Brummel (1924). This launched her career to stardom, as did a lively affair with Barrymore. However, the affair ended before she could star with him again in the classic Don Juan (1926). By now, Mary was the new cinematic darling, with each film packing the theaters.
By the end of the 1920s, the sound revolution had taken a stronghold on the industry, and Mary was one of those lucky actresses who made the successful transition to "talkies" because of her voice and strong screen presence. Mary's career soared to greater heights. Films such as Red Dust (1932), Convention City (1933), Man of Iron (1935), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) kept her star at the top. In 1938, she turned out five feature films that kept her busy and in the spotlight. After that, she churned out films at a lesser rate. In 1941 she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Sandra Kovac in The Great Lie (1941). That same year she appeared in the celebrated film The Maltese Falcon (1941), but her star soon began to fall.
Because of her three divorces, her first husband Kenneth Hawks' death in a plane crash, alcoholism, a suicide attempt, and a persistent heart condition, Mary started to get smaller film roles. She appeared in only five productions throughout the 1950s. Her final fling with the silver screen was as Jewell Mayhew in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).Although it was her final film, she had appeared in a phenomenal 123 motion pictures in her entire career.
Mary lived out her remaining years confined to the Motion Picture Country Home, where she died of a heart attack on September 25, 1987. She was 81.- Mary Ashleigh Green was born on 24 December 1992 in Hollywood, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Miss Congeniality (2000), Arlington Road (1999) and Where the Heart Is (2000).
- Actress
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Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Elsie Charlotte (Hennessy) and John Charles Smith. She was of English and Irish descent. Pickford began in the theater at age seven. Then known as "Baby Gladys Smith", she toured with her family in a number of theater companies. At some point, at her devout maternal grandmother's insistence, when young Gladys was seriously ill with diphtheria, she received a Catholic baptism and her middle name was changed to "Marie".
In 1907, she adopted a family name Pickford and joined the David Belasco troupe, appearing in the long-running The Warrens of Virginia". She began in films in 1909 with the 'American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]', working with director D.W. Griffith.
For a short time in 1911, to earn more money, she joined the IMP Film Co. under Carl Laemmle. She returned to Biograph in 1912, then, in 1913 joined the Famous Players Film Company under Adolph Zukor. She then joined First National Exhibitor's Circuit in 1918. In 1919, she co-founded United Artists with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and then-future husband, Douglas Fairbanks.- Actress
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Mary McCormack began her acting career performing in a stage production of Gian Carlo Menotti's Christmas opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors". "I was twelve but looked like an eight-year-old boy" she recalls. "As luck would have it, none of the boys in town could sing, so I got the part and wore a hat". Mary continued working regionally throughout New Jersey and continued her education at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. At Trinity, she majored in English and painting and continued her stage work in many more musicals. Mary finished an acting program at the William Esper Studio. She has worked in many New York theaters, some of which include The Atlantic Theatre Company, Alice's 4th Floor and Naked Angels, where she recently appeared in Jon Robin Baitz's "A Fair Country".- Actress
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Mary Wiseman was born on 30 July 1985. She is an actress, known for Star Trek: Discovery (2017), Marriage Story (2019) and Baskets (2016). She was previously married to Noah Averbach-Katz.- Music Artist
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Mary J. Blige was born on 11 January 1971 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Mudbound (2017), Rock of Ages (2012) and The Help (2011). She was previously married to Kendu Isaacs.- Actress
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Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress, singer, director, and screenwriter. She is known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series. Her numerous film appearances include Private Benjamin (1980), The Big Chill (1983), Captain Ron (1992) and Francis Ford Coppola's 1997 drama The Rainmaker. Place also recorded three studio albums for Columbia Records, one in the Haggers persona, which included the Top Ten country music hit "Baby Boy." For her performance in Diane (2018), Place won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress.- Actress
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Mary-Kate Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American actress, fashion designer, producer, author, and businesswoman. She co-founded luxury fashion brands The Row, Elizabeth and James, and the more affordable lines Olsenboye and StyleMint alongside her fraternal twin sister Ashley Olsen. Olsen pursued acting independently as an adult until 2012. She is the older sister of actress Elizabeth Olsen.
Mary-Kate was born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Jarnette "Jarnie", a personal manager, and David "Dave" Olsen, a real estate developer and mortgage banker. Along with her twin, Ashley, she has an older brother, Trent, a younger sister, Elizabeth Olsen, and two half siblings from her father's second marriage. Olsen's parents divorced in 1996.
Along with Ashley, Olsen was cast at the age of nine months to share the role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House. The Olsen twins portrayed Michelle throughout the series' 1987-95 run. In the early 1990s, she and Ashley established a company, Dualstar, which produced a long string of TV movies and direct-to-video releases featuring the girls. The Olsens continued to release direct-to-video films up to the early 2000s, along with starring in the 1995 feature film It Takes Two. In 1997, the Olsen twins guest starred in an episode of Sister, Sister, alongside rival twin actresses Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry. After Full House, the sisters starred in two other sitcoms (Two of a Kind and So Little Time) and an animated series (Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!). The former lasted one season while the latter ran for two seasons. These ventures, combined with an array of licensing deals for their names and likenesses, made Olsen wealthy at a young age. In 2004, Olsen's wealth was estimated at $137 million.
Olsen and her sister became co-presidents of Dualstar upon their eighteenth birthday. Olsen's first solo acting appearance was in the movie Factory Girl, released in December 2006. Olsen's one short scene was ultimately cut from theatrical release, but was included on the film's DVD. In 2007, the sisters said that if they became involved in movies together again it would be as producers. Olsen had a recurring role on Weeds . In 2008, she appeared in The Wackness. At the Sundance Film Festival, Academy Award-winner Sir Ben Kingsley, her co-star' praised her. In 2008 Olsen also made a guest appearance on the ABC comedy Samantha Who? as a self-destructive girl that Samantha tries to help. Olsen appeared in the motion picture adaption of the Alex Flinn novel Beastly. Beastly was Mary-Kate's final acting project.
In March 2012, both Mary-Kate and Ashley indicated their interest to retire as actresses in order to focus on their careers in fashion. Mary-Kate and Ashley felt that their futures were in fashion, and not in acting. They discussed wanting to open a store as one of their future fashion-based endeavors.
In 2015 it was announced that John Stamos signed on with Netflix to produce and co-star in Fuller House, a spin-off Full House that would reunite the original cast members for a 13-episode series. Mary-Kate and Ashley originally announced in May 2015 that they will not reprise their role as Michelle Tanner.
Nickelodeon acquired the rights to the Olsen twins' video library in 2015.
In 1993, following Mary-Kate and Ashley's success on Full House, a limited liability company, Dualstar was created to produce Mary-Kate and Ashley-branded products.
In 2004, both Mary-Kate and Ashley took control of Dualstar, becoming joint-CEOs and presidents of the company, which at the time had its merchandise being carried in over 3,000 stores in America and 5,300 stores worldwide.
Mary-Kate and her twin Ashley's success has been marked by their inclusion on every Forbes The Celebrity 100 list since 2002. In 2007 Forbes ranked the twins jointly as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment, with an estimated combined net worth of $100 million.
Following a high volume of public interest in their fashion choices, the sisters began work in collaboration on a string of fashion lines available to the public. Starting as young girls, the Olsen twins started a clothing line in Wal-Mart stores across America for girls ages 4 to 14 as well as a beauty line called "Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real fashion for real girls". In 2004 they made news by signing a pledge to allow all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh full maternity leave. The National Labor Committee, which organized the pledge, later praised the twins for their commitment to worker rights.
In 2006, in an attempt to gain credibility in the fashion industry after their association with Wal-Mart tarnished their reputations, they were tapped as the faces of the upscale fashion line Badgley Mischka.
As adults, the Olsen twins have devoted much of their attention to the world of fashion. They head a couture fashion label, "The Row," as well as "Elizabeth and James", "Olsenboye", and "StyleMint" retail collections. Mary-Kate's sometimes controversial fashion choices have often found her on both the best and worst dressed fashion lists, particularly for her decision to wear fur. Mary-Kate and Ashley designed an Olsenboye Change Purse in 2011 and donated the money to "Pennies From Heaven".
In 2011, Mary-Kate and Ashley teamed up with TOMS Shoes to design footwear for kids without shoes in more than 20 countries worldwide. Mary-Kate and Ashley are now the creative directors for Superga. Mary-Kate and Ashley released an Elizabeth and James perfume in Spring 2013. They won the top prize at the 2012 CFDA Fashion Awards. StyleMint is now available in the UK.
In October 2012, Mary-Kate and Ashley won the WSJ magazine Innovator of The Year Award.
Mary Kate was nominated for Council Of Fashion Designers in 2015.
In 2008, the Olsen twins co-authored Influence, a book featuring interviews with fashion designers that have inspired the twins' fashion lines.
Olsen has dated David Katzenberg, son of DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg; photographer Maxwell Snow; and artist Nate Lowman.
In May 2012, Olsen began a relationship with Olivier Sarkozy, half brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In March 2014, photos were published showing Olsen wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring. Olsen and Sarkozy were married on November 27, 2015 at a private residence in New York City.
In 2014, Olsen competed in the Hamptons Horse Show. In 2013, her horse Marvelous competed in and won the 38th Hampton Classic Horse Show.
In mid-2004, Olsen announced she had entered treatment for anorexia nervosa. A Got Milk? ad featuring the twins was pulled following the announcement. On November 20, 2007, she was hospitalized for a reported kidney infection.
Mary-Kate was a close friend of late actor Heath Ledger. After discovering Ledger unconscious in his bed in January 2008, his masseuse called Olsen twice before contacting police. Olsen sent a private security guard to the scene.
Responding to a claim by an anonymous law enforcement official that she would not speak to federal investigators without a promise of legal immunity, Olsen's attorney Michael C. Miller said, "We have provided the government with relevant information including facts in the chronology of events surrounding Mr. Ledger's death and the fact that Ms. Olsen does not know the source of the drugs Mr. Ledger consumed".- Actress
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Mary Ann Hermansen was born on 8 November 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Rookie: Feds (2022), Why Women Kill (2019) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005).- Actress
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Mary Gibbs was born on 5 October 1996 in Pasadena, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Monsters, Inc. (2001), Inside Out (2015) and Tracy (2009).- Actress
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Mary Beth McDonough was born on 4 May 1961 in Van Nuys, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for The Waltons (1972), Mortuary (1982) and The West Wing (1999). She has been married to Don since 4 June 2011. She was previously married to Rob Wickstrom.- Actress
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Mary Jo Catlett has been part of the main voice cast on SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) since its premiere, playing SpongeBob's teacher, Mrs. Puff. She is an unmistakably happy and hearty veteran character actress and comedienne who has found success in all three mediums (stage, film and television) with her trademark flowery voice, giddy demeanor and ever-cheery disposition. Having made her off-Broadway debut in 1963, the endearing Mary Jo Catlett is now broaching six decades in the entertainment business.
Catlett was born on September 2, 1938 in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Robert and Cornelia (Callaghan) Catlett. A graduate of Loretto Heights College in Denver, she was drawn to acting quite young -- musical comedy, in particular. While she made her off-Broadway debut in a 1963 melodrama, "Along Came a Spider", which opened at the Mermaid Theatre, the following year Mary Jo was right back in her tuneful element scoring as Ernestina in the original Broadway production of "Hello, Dolly!" starring Carol Channing. She toured with the production when Ginger Rogers took the show on tour. Eventually building up her resume in regional theater, she served as a replacement in the 1969 musical "Promenade", then returned to Broadway at the end of that year where her broad, burlesque style well suited the bawdy musical takeoff of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", which lasted about four months. Other New York-based productions came her way but most were short-lived, including "Greenwillow" (1970), "Different Times" (1972), "Lysistrata" (1972) and "Fashion" (1973). However, she did enjoy a scene-stealing role as Mabel in the New York revival of "The Pajama Game" in 1973.
While Mary Jo has a propensity for humor and laughter, she has also demonstrated an award-winning dramatic side. Her role as Lola Delaney in "Come Back, Little Sheba" earned her the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award in 1976. Four years later, she won the award again in a production of "Philadelphia, Here I Come". Over the years, she has flitted about not only in musicals ("Annie Get Your Gun" (as Annie), "How to Succeed in Business..."), but has tackled Shakespeare ("Twelfth Night", "Romeo and Juliet") and other serious stage roles ("27 Wagons Full of Cotton", "Naomi Court", "Our Town").
With her plaintive and matronly features, ample size, wallflower demeanor and instincts for broad levity, Mary Jo has proven to be a natural for small screen comedy. In the late 1960s, she began to apply her trade on-camera. One of her earliest mid-career appearances included a role in the television fantasy The Littlest Angel (1969) where she and fellow comedienne Lu Leonard played plus-sized scribes, but it was not until the mid-1970s that she began making the normal rounds with dozens of appearances on the sitcom circuit, including roles on "The Bob Newhart Show", "M*A*S*H", "Mr. Belvedere", "Night Court", Gimme a Break", "Saved By the Bell", "Maude" and "Welcome Back, Kotter". In 1982, she joined the cast as a housekeeping regular for television kids Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato on Diff'rent Strokes (1978) and found plentiful work on lightweight dramatic series too such as "Murder, She Wrote," "Matlock" and "Fantasy Island". In daytime, she was nominated for an Emmy Award during the 1989-1990 season of General Hospital (1972). She also became a television face in households with over 30 national commercials to her credit.
Sparingly used on film, she made her debut in an unbilled part in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971). Other supporting work include roles in High Anxiety (1977), Semi-Tough (1977), The Champ (1979), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and, more notably, Serial Mom (1994). She has had a slight upsurge of late in movie parts with roles in the gay-themed Surprise, Surprise (2010) and Anderson's Cross (2010), and the comedy How to Be a Serial Killer (2008). On stage, Mary Jo has continued to put her best foot forward on the musical stage in such productions as "Beauty and the Beast", "Big River" and "The Full Monty", not to mention several variations of "Nunsense" and its offshoots.
Over the years, Mary Jo has shown that her heart is as big as her talent as a consistently reliable and fun-filled novelty song performer at charity fund raisers and musical benefits, most notably for various AIDS and the Broadway-oriented "Help Is on the Way" organizations.- Mary Jo Deschanel was born on 25 November 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Right Stuff (1983), 2010 (1984) and The Patriot (2000). She has been married to Caleb Deschanel since 8 July 1972. They have two children.
- At a very young age, Mary-Charles Jones' family quickly noticed that she had an ability to captivate strangers with her outgoing personality. And at the ripe young age of 4, her family decided to bring her to an open call held by local agent Joy Pervis where she was immediately signed for both local representation and national representation through Osbrink.
Quickly Mary-Charles began booking in print, local, regional, and national commercials and television and film roles were soon to follow. Her first job in that capacity was a recurring role as "Caitlin Rowan" in the ABC drama October Road and it began to waterfall from there. Mary-Charles' ability to handle emotional story lines allowed for her to be cast in a heart wrenching episode of ABC's hit series Grey's Anatomy, she had the honor of working with Kevin Spacey in the film Father of Invention, and she was cast to play a young Miley Cyrus in a recurring capacity on Hannah Montana. More recently Mary-Charles was cast in a guest starring role opposite Zooey Deschanel in New Girl.
Mary-Charles had the opportunity to work with her sister Maggie Elizabeth Jones for the first time playing sisters in Paramount's remake of Footloose. They would get to do this again a few years later in Universal's Identity Thief opposite Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.
Mary-Charles can also be seen as the lead role of Isabella in Walden Media's film Dear Dumb Diary, which is based on the Scholastic's popular children's book series by the same name.
Mary-Charles Jones was born on December 28, 2001 in Seattle, Washington. In Late 2002 Mary-Charles family relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where they still reside - Additional Crew
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Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is a voice over actress, writer, singer and director. As an actress, she plays Governor Pryce in Star Wars: Rebels (2014), Dr. Maheswaran in Steven Universe (2013), Valkyrie in Lego Marvel's Avengers (2016), Talis in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010), Johanna in Heroes of the Storm (2015), and Brooha in Smile PreCure! (2012). She voiced Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004), for which she won the American Anime Award for Best Actress. You can also hear her as the Female Crusader in Diablo III (2012), Kurutsu in Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 1: Ghost Pain (2013), and Sei in Alpha Protocol (2010). Some of her other popular roles are Kurenai from Naruto (2002), Zanpakuto from Bleach (2004), Helba from .hack//SIGN (2002), Jagura from Wolf's Rain (2003) and Caroline from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000). She also portrays Zahra on Geek & Sundry's Critical Role (2015).
Mary is voice directing the Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (2017) television series; Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer (2017); Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (2014) for Disney XD, starring Thomas Middleditch, Adam Devine, Alfred Molina and Larry Wilmore and Smile PreCure! (2012) for Saban Entertainment. She has directed the 6 Naruto movies, as well as Naruto (2002), for which she received the 2008 SPJA Award for Best Director. Among her many other directing credits are Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001), Tenkai Knights (2013), Digimon Fusion (2013), Stitch! (2008), Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (2014), Wolf's Rain (2003), and was a co-writer for the American adaptation of "Metropolis". She also directed the original animated series, Boing the Play Ranger (2013) and Gormiti: The Lords of Nature Return! (2008).
Mary Elizabeth has had the great honor of singing the music of Akira Yamaoka for the movies Julia X (2011) and Silent Hill (2006) as well as the games: Silent Hill 3 (2003), Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004), Silent Hill: Origins (2007), Shadows of the Damned (2011), Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009) and Silent Hill: Book of Memories (2012), which she also voice directed.- Actress
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After graduating from The Alexander W. Dreyfoos High School of the Arts in theater (West Palm Beach, FL), American actress Mary Elise Hayden attended The New York Film Academy for film studies. While still in high school, Hayden performed stand-up at the LA Improv in Los Angeles and, as a member of The Palm Beach Principal Players, appeared in Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy. Her first major stints in LA include a supporting role in Popstar (Aaron Carter) and punking Carmello Anthony on MTV's Punk'd. In addition to her recurring roles on 10 Things I Hate About You and Ravenswood, she has had a guest role on Longmire, performed the title leads in feature film Kathy T (Audience Choice Award) and the film We Are The Mods (Audience Choice Award, among others) and shot a pilot lead for 20th Century Fox & Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard/Brian Grazer). Hayden played Kate Middleton's sister Pippa in Lifetime's William & Kate, Eric Roberts' daughter in Cartoon Tiger and the enigmatic figure in Andrew Huang's Slamdance Award-Winning Experimental Short Solipsist. She has also appeared in over 40 music videos, many leads for prominent musicians. She herself sings and plays several instruments. Hayden is represented by Metropolitan Talent Agency in Los Angeles, CA, and managed by cc crown, mgt., Los Angeles.- Actress
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Mary Wiseman was born on 30 July 1985. She is an actress, known for Star Trek: Discovery (2017), Marriage Story (2019) and Baskets (2016). She was previously married to Noah Averbach-Katz.- Actress
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Mary Gross was born March 25, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois, to Virginia Ruth and William Oscar Gross. She is often associated with her run on Saturday Night Live (1975), from 1981-85, and other characters she plays on television and film including, Janis Zuckerman in Feds (1988), Annie Herman in Troop Beverly Hills (1989), Ms. Quick in seasons 2, 3, and 4, of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Patricia Patterson in season 3 of Disney's That's So Raven (2003), and Leigh Swift in season 4 of Boston Legal (2004).- Actress
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Maria Bello was born on 18 April, 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Kathy, a nurse and teacher, and Joe Bello, a contractor. She is of Italian and Polish descent. Maria went to Villanova University, majoring in political science. She had every intention of becoming a lawyer, but she took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She discovered she was very good at it, and she was soon cast in small off-Broadway plays, such as "The Killer Inside Me", "Small Town Gals With Big Problems" and "Urban Planning". She later guest-starred on episodes of The Commish (1991), Nowhere Man (1995), Misery Loves Company (1995), and Due South (1994). She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996) as "Mrs. Smith" (they remembered her from her performance in a failed pilot that was a remake of the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958)). The show was canceled after eight weeks on the air. Then came a spot on ER (1994) as "Dr. Anna Del Amico", in which she guest-starred on the final three episodes of the third season. The show's producers were so impressed with her that they asked her back as a regular on the series.- Actress
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Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard was born on September 30, 1975 in Paris. Cotillard is the daughter of Jean-Claude Cotillard, an actor, playwright and director, and Niseema Theillaud, an actress and drama teacher. Her father's family is from Brittany.
Raised in Orléans, France, she made her acting debut as a child with a role in one of her father's plays. She studied drama at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique in Orléans. After small appearances and performances in theater, Cotillard had occasional and minor roles in TV series such as Highlander (1992) and Extrême limite (1994), but her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s. While still a teenager, Cotillard made her cinema debut at the age of 18 in the film L'histoire du garçon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse (1994), and had small but noticeable roles in films such as Arnaud Desplechin's My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument (1996) and Coline Serreau's comedy The Green Planet (1996).
In 1996, she had her first lead role in the TV film Chloé (1996), playing the title role - a teenage runaway who is forced into prostitution. Cotillard co-starred opposite Anna Karina, the muse of the Nouvelle Vague.
In 1997, she won her first film award at the Festival Rencontres Cinématographiques d'Istres in France, for her performance as the young imprisoned Nathalie in the short film Affaire classée (1997). Her first prominent screen role was Lilly Bertineau in Gérard Pirès's box-office hit Taxi (1998), a role which she reprised in two sequels: Taxi 2 (2000) and Taxi 3 (2003), this role earned her first César award nomination (France's equivalent to the Oscar) for Most Promising Actress in 1999.
In 1999, Cotillard starred as Julie Bonzon in the Swiss war drama War in the Highlands (1998). For her performance in the film, she won the Best Actress award at the Autrans Film Festival in France. In 2001, Marion starred in Pretty Things (2001) as the twin sisters Marie and Lucie, and was nominated for her second César award for Most Promising Actress.
Cotillard's breakthrough in France came in 2003, when she starred in Yann Samuell's dark romantic comedy Love Me If You Dare (2003), in which she played Sophie Kowalsky, the daughter of Polish immigrants who lives a love-hate relationship with her childhood friend. The film was a box-office hit in France, became a cult film abroad and led Cotillard to bigger projects.
Her first Hollywood movie was Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), in which she played Joséphine, the wife of William Bloom (played by Billy Crudup). A few years later, Marion starred in Ridley Scott's A Good Year (2006) playing Fanny Chenal, a French café owner who falls in love with Russell Crowe's character. In 2004, she won the Chopard Thophy of Female Revelation at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Cotillard won the César award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance of Tina Lombardi in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement (2004).
In 2007, Cotillard received international recognition for her iconic portrayal of Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (2007). Director Olivier Dahan cast Cotillard to play the legendary French singer because to him, her eyes were like those of "Piaf". The fact that she can sing also helped Cotillard land the role of "Piaf", although most of the singing in the film is that of Piaf's. The role won Cotillard the Academy Award for Best Actress along with a César, a Lumière Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe. That made her only the second actress to win an acting Oscar performing in a language other than English next to Sophia Loren (Two Women (1960)). Only two male performers (Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Robert De Niro for The Godfather Part II (1974)) have won an Oscar for solely non-English parts. Trevor Nunn called her portrayal of "Piaf" "one of the greatest performances on film ever". At the Berlin International Film Festival, where the film premiered, Cotillard was given a 15-minute standing ovation. When she won the César, Alain Delon presented the award and announced the winner as "La Môme Marion" (The Kid Marion), he also praised her at the stage saying: "Marion, I give you this César. I think this César is for a great great actress, and I know what I'm talking about".
Cotillard has worked much more frequently in English-language movies following her Academy Award recognition. In 2009, she acted opposite Johnny Depp in Michael Mann's Public Enemies (2009), and later that year played Luisa Contini in Rob Marshall's musical Nine (2009) and received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Time magazine ranked her as the fifth best performance by a female in 2009. The following year, she took on the main antagonist role, Mal, in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), and in 2011 she had memorable parts in Midnight in Paris (2011) and Contagion (2011) and reteamed with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
In 2011 and 2012 respectively, Cotillard appeared on the top of Le Figaro's list of the highest paid actors in France, it was the first time in nine years that a female topped the list. Cotillard was also the highest paid foreign actress in Hollywood.
In 2012, Cotillard received wide-spread critical acclaim for her role as the legless orca trainer Stéphanie in Rust and Bone (2012). The film was a box office hit in France and received a ten-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. Cotillard won the Globe de Cristal (France's equivalent to the Golden Globe), the Étoile d'Or award and was nominated for the Golden Globes, SAG, BAFTA, Critics' Choice and César Awards for her performance in the film. Cate Blanchett wrote an op-ed for Variety praising Cotillard's performance in "Rust and Bone", the two actresses competed for the Academy Awards for Best Actress in 2008, Cate was nominated for her performance in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Marion for her performance in La Vie En Rose (2007) and Cotillard won the Oscar.
She had her first leading role in an American movie in 2013, in James Gray's The Immigrant (2013), in which she played Ewa Cybulska, a Polish immigrant who wants to experience the American dream. Cotillard received wide-spread acclaim for her performance in the film at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered, and also won several critics awards. In 2014, Cotillard played Sandra in the Belgian film Two Days, One Night (2014) by the Dardenne brothers. Her performance was unanimously praised at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, earned several critics awards, Cotillard won her first European Award for Best Actress and also received her second Oscar nomination and her sixth César award nomination.
In 2015, she played Lady Macbeth opposite Michael Fassbender in Justin Kurzel's Macbeth (2015) and voiced two animated movies: The Little Prince (2015) in which she voiced The Rose, and April and the Extraordinary World (2015), in which she voiced the lead role, Avril. Her 2016 included Nicole Garcia's From the Land of the Moon (2016), Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World (2016), Justin Kurzel's Assassin's Creed (2016), in which she worked again with her Macbeth co-star Michael Fassbender; and Robert Zemeckis's Allied (2016), with Brad Pitt.- Actress
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Marion Davies was one of the great comedic actresses of the silent era and into the 1930s.
Marion Cecelia Douras was born in the borough of Brooklyn, New York on January 3, 1897, the daughter of Rose (Reilly) and Bernard J. Douras, a lawyer and judge. Her parents were both of Irish descent. Marion had been bitten by the show biz bug early as she watched her sisters perform in local stage productions. She wanted to do the same. As Marion got older, she tried out for various school plays and did fairly well. Once her formal education had ended, Marion began her career as a chorus girl in New York City, first in the pony follies, and eventually found herself in the famed Ziegfeld Follies. But she wanted to do more than dance. Acting, to Marion, was the epitome of show business and aimed her sights in that direction. Her stage name came when she and her family passed the Davies Insurance Building. One of her sisters called out "Davies!!! That shall be my stage name", and the whole family took on that name.
Her first film was Runaway Romany (1917), when she was 20. Written by Marion and directed by her brother-in-law, the film wasn't exactly a box-office smash, but for Marion, it was a start and a stepping stone to bigger things. The following year Marion starred in two films, The Burden of Proof (1918) and Cecilia of the Pink Roses (1918). The latter film was backed by newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst. When Marion moved to California, she already was involved with Hearst. They lived together at his San Simeon castle, an extremely elaborate mansion which stands as a California landmark to this day. At San Simeon, they threw grand parties, many of them in costume. Frequent guests included Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Sonja Henie, and Dolores Del Río - basically all the top names in Hollywood and other celebrities including the mayor of New York City, President Calvin Coolidge, and Charles Lindbergh. Davies and Hearst would continue a long-term romantic relationship for the next 30 years. Because of Hearst's newspaper empire, Marion would be promoted as no actress before her.
She appeared in numerous films over the next few years, with The Cinema Murder (1919) being one of the most suspenseful. In 1922, Marion appeared as Mary Tudor in the historical romantic epic, When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922). It was a film into which Hearst poured in millions of dollars as a showcase for her. Although Marion didn't normally appear in period pieces, she turned in a wonderful performance, and the film turned a profit. Marion remained busy, one of the staples in movie houses around the country. At the end of the twenties, it was obvious that sound films were about to replace silents. Marion was nervous because she had a stutter when she became excited and worried she wouldn't make a successful transition to the new medium, but she was a true professional who had no problem with the change. Time after time, film after film, Marion turned in masterful performances. In 1930, two of her better films were Not So Dumb (1930) and The Florodora Girl (1930). By the early 1930s, Marion had lost her box office appeal and the downward slide began.
Had she been without Hearst's backing, she possibly could have been more successful. He was more of a hindrance than a help. Hearst had tried to push MGM executives to hire Marion for the role of Elizabeth Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934). Louis B. Mayer had other ideas and hired producer Irving Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer instead. Hearst reacted by pulling his newspaper support for MGM without much impact. By the late 1930s Hearst was suffering financial reversals and it was Marion who bailed him out by selling $1 million of her jewelry. Without her, the Hearst Corporation might not be where it is today. Hearst's financial problems also spelled an end to her career. Although she had made the transition to sound, other stars fared better, and her roles became fewer and further between. In 1937, a 40-year-old Marion filmed her last movie, Ever Since Eve (1937). Out of films and with the intense pressures of her relationship with Hearst, Davies turned more and more to alcohol. Despite those problems, Marion was a very sharp and savvy business woman.
When Hearst died in 1951, Marion did not really know what was going on. The night before, there had been a lot of people in the house. Marion was very upset by the large crowd of family and friends. She said it was too noisy, and they were disturbing Hearst by talking so loud. She was upset and had to be sedated. When she woke, her niece, Patricia Van Cleve Lake, and her husband, Arthur Lake, told her that Hearst was dead. Upon Patricia's death, it was revealed she had been the love child of Davies and Hearst. Marion was banned from Hearst's funeral.
She later started many charities including a children's clinic that is still operating today. She was very generous and was loved by everyone who knew her. She went through a lot, even getting polio in the 1940s. Marion married for the first time at the age of 54, to Horace Brown. The union would last until she died of cancer on September 22, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. She was 64 years old.- Director
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Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page with Guinevere Turner. Although Harron has denied this title, she has been thought to be feminist filmmaker due to her film on lesbian feminist Valerie Solanas, in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), and a queer story-line within her teenage Gothic horror, The Moth Diaries (2011).- Actress
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Mary Holland was born on 24 June 1985 in Galax, Virginia, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Happiest Season (2020), The Package (2018) and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016).- Actress
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Mary Lynn Rajskub is an American actress, comedienne and singer who is best known as a co-star of Kiefer Sutherland on the popular television series 24 (2001).
Born June 22, 1971, in Detroit, Michigan, Rajskub comes from a family of Irish, Czech, and Polish ancestry. In 1989 she graduated from Trenton High School before attending Detroit's College for Creative Studies with a painting major. She later transferred to the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating as a painter but also studying music and acting. After performing as a stand-up comedian at various clubs and restaurants for some years, Rajskub made her 1995 television debut when David Cross hired her as one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995). During its second season she left the show to take a brief job as a coffee brewer at Seattle's Best Coffee before again making her way to TV; In 1999 she joined the cast of 'Veronica's Closet' TV series as Cloe, appearing in 15 episodes of the show.
A skilled guitarist, Rajskub has been one half of comic duo "Girls Guitar Club" and appeared on the NBC's 'Late Friday' show. The 2000's saw her venturing into more dramatic roles, most notably as analyst Chloe O'Brian opposite Kiefer Sutherland on the hit TV series 24 (2001). She joined the show in 2003 at the beginning of its third season, drawing praise from both critics and the viewership; Rajskub became a recurring cast member and eventually the show's leading female.
While she has mainly been a television star, Rajskub also played bit parts on the big screen in Magnolia (1999), Man on the Moon (1999), and Road Trip (2000), among other works. She offered mesmerizing performances in Mysterious Skin (2004), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), and in Punch-Drunk Love (2002), then played a few more visible roles such as Janet Stone in Firewall (2006), opposite Harrison Ford, and as Pam in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). In 2006 Rajskub was awarded the Female Breakthrough Award for her comedic stage productions and acting prowess in both TV and film. She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Awards twice, in 2005 and 2007.
Besides her work in film and on television, Mary Lynn Rajskub has been performing locally in Hollywood with her Girls Guitar Club show. Outside of acting, she is fond of art and is known as a regular at numerous LA museums. Her own paintings have been displayed and sold at art auctions and exhibits.- Mary Louise Weller was born September 1, 1946, and raised in Los Angeles. The onetime top New York model made her film debut with a small uncredited role in Serpico (1973).
Weller was especially memorable as a beautiful marine biologist in the made-for-TV picture Hunters of the Reef (1978) and, likewise, solid as professor Andrew Prine's college student lover in the superior haunted house horror winner The Evil (1978). But she achieved almost cultural-icon status with her excellent performance as sorority girl Mandy Pepperidge in the uproarious hit comedy National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). After "Animal House", Weller went on to play many notable roles in both comedy and drama. - Actress
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Mary Steenburgen is an Academy Award-winning American actress.
She was born in Newport, Arkansas, USA. Her mother, Nellie May (Wall) Steenburgen, was a school-board secretary, and her father, Maurice H. Steenburgen, was a freight-train conductor. Her surname comes from distant Dutch ancestry, and her roots also include English, Scottish, and Welsh.
Young Steenburgen was fond of arts and literature. Mary grew up tap-dancing her way through talent shows and school functions. She was active in her school drama class. After appearing in a number of high school plays, she enrolled at Hendrix College, a highly progressive Southern School located in Conway, Arkansas. Upon the recommendation of her drama professor, she left college in 1972 and moved to New York to study acting professionally. In the past several years, Mary Steenburgen has emerged as one of the most accomplished and sought-after screen actresses. Ever since Jack Nicholson discovered her and cast her as a sassy adventuress in his rollicking western, Goin' South (1978), her career has skyrocketed and she has won acclaim for exceptional performances in each of her diverse film roles. In Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time (1979), Steenburgen was afforded critical praise for her portrayal of a somewhat dippy but liberated young bank clerk in San Francisco who crosses paths, via time machine, with English author H.G. Wells (played by Malcolm McDowell, who later became her husband). In 1980 she shot to fame with her role as Lynda Dummar in Melvin and Howard (1980) for which she won Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Steenburgen again impressed audiences and critics alike with her stunning performance as the strong-willed turn-of-the-century mother in Ragtime (1981).
Steenburgen is a notable patron of arts. She is also an active supporter of humanitarian causes. She has two children from her previous marriage to actor Malcolm McDowell. Since 1995 she has been married to actor Ted Danson, and the couple is living in the Los Angeles area.- Actress
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Mary Kate Schellhardt grew up in an artistic family. Always in acting class, Mary Kate studied in Chicago at the Piven Theatre Workshop where she developed through the Viola Spolin techniques in theatre games.
At the age of 13, she was discovered by casting director Gail Levin, during a nationwide search for the role of "Ellen Grape" in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). Landing the role, her film career began. During her final two years of high school, she shot Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995), Apollo 13 (1995) and The Great Mom Swap (1995), traveling to film sets in Austin, Los Angeles, and the San Juan Islands.
Determined to lead a normal life outside of her film work, Mary Kate was in plays in high school when she wasn't working professionally. Helplessly in love with the craft, both on screen and on stage, and wanting further knowledge of it, Mary Kate attended Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, an acting conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
After graduation, Mary Kate moved to Los Angeles and began working in television and film once more. She lived in the artistic mecca of Brooklyn for three years and relocated to Los Angeles from New York in 2014. Currently (2014), she splits her time between the coasts, looking to secure footing in the different arenas of stage, film and television.- Actress
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Maryann Plunkett was born on 31 October 1952 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Little Women (2019), Blue Valentine (2010) and The Squid and the Whale (2005). She has been married to Jay O. Sanders since 1 October 1991. They have one child.- Actress
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The lovely, cheery, continuously upbeat All-American mom from the classic Happy Days (1974) TV sitcom had fervent desires of becoming an actress while growing up in her obscure Minnesota town. Born Marian Ross (with an "a") on October 25, 1928, she grew up in her native state and, at one time, worked as a teenage au pair in order to earn money for drama lessons at the MacPhail Center in Minneapolis. The family eventually relocated to San Diego (she was in her late teens) and Marion attended and graduated from Point Loma High School.
Changing her stage moniker to Marion (with an "o") Ross because it read classier to her, the young hopeful enrolled at San Diego State College and appeared in the theater department's various productions. Graduating in 1950, Marion worked in summer theater in and around the San Diego area, including the Old Globe Theatre.
Marion managed to land a Paramount Studio contract with the assist of an old college professor and found a few unbilled parts to play as various actress, tourist and girlfriend types in a variety of films such as The Glenn Miller Story (1954), Secret of the Incas (1954), Sabrina (1954) and Pushover (1954). At the same time, she won a regular role as the Irish maid "Nora" in the Victorian-TV comedy Life with Father (1953) which ran a couple of seasons and was headed by Leon Ames and Lurene Tuttle. This program happened to be the first live color series for network Hollywood TV.
Not your conventional leading lady type, Marion landed slightly larger parts in such movies as The Proud and Profane (1956), Lizzie (1957), Teacher's Pet (1958) and Operation Petticoat (1959), but any and all attempts to move further up the Hollywood film ladder proved a long-lasting frustration.
Marking her Broadway debut in 1958 with a role in "Edwin Booth" starring José Ferrer, Marion nevertheless continued to focus on TV work. Throughout the 1960s, she appeared in a fairly steady amount of shows, both comedies and dramas, including Father Knows Best (1954), Rawhide (1959), Route 66 (1960), The Outer Limits (1963), The Felony Squad (1966) and The Brady Bunch (1969).
By the end of the decade, however, Marion was still disillusioned, but now she was divorced from her husband of 18 years, Freeman Meskimen, and struggling to raise two children. Middle-aged stardom came to her (in her 46th year) with the nostalgic sitcom series Happy Days (1974), which arrived on a wave of 50s popularity triggered by the huge box-office reception to the film American Graffiti (1973). The show starred "Graffiti" lead Ron Howard and co-starred Henry Winkler as "The Fonz". Marion was ideally paired with Tom Bosley, who expertly played her beleaguered hubby. The series became a certifiable hit and Marion's ever-pleasant "Marion Cunningham" the new, slightly blended version of Lucille Ball's ditzy and Barbara Billingsley's pristine perfect moms. Two Emmy nominations came Marion's way during the show's long tenure (ten seasons).
Following the demise of such an exalting hit, many actors often find themselves either resting on their laurels or witnessing a sad decline in their career. Not Marion. She continued to pursue her career assertively and challengingly and the critics kept taking notice. She earned terrific reviews for her recurring The Love Boat (1977) role in 1986, and enjoyed standard guest turns on Night Court (1984), MacGyver (1985), Burke's Law (1963) and (the revived) "Superman".
One of Marion's finest hours on TV occurred with her role as the obstinate, iron-willed Jewish matriarch in the Brooklyn Bridge (1991) series, which neatly deflected any broad, daffy stereotype she might have incurred from her Happy Days (1974) role. Irritating yet ingratiating at the same time, Marion's fine interpretation garnered the veteran actress two more Emmy nominations. Sadly, a lack of viewership triggered an abrupt cancellation and deep disappointment in Marion.
While never making a strong dent in films, an excellent supporting turn for Marion came in the form of her moving portrayal of Shirley MacLaine's loyal housekeeper and confidante in The Evening Star (1996), the long-awaited sequel to the Oscar-winning Terms of Endearment (1983). Critics predicted an Academy Award nomination for the actress but, surprisingly, it did not pan out.
Other films over the years have included Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970); Grand Theft Auto (1977), which starred Happy Days (1974) son Ron Howard (who also made his directorial debut); and, more recently, Music Within (2007) and the silly spoof Superhero Movie (2008).
During her post-"Happy Days" years, Marion reinvigorated her career on the stage. As a result, she earned renewed acclaim and respect for her roles in "Arsenic and Old Lace" (which brought her back to Broadway), "Steel Magnolias", "Long Day's Journey Into Night", "The Glass Menagerie", "Pippin" and "Barefoot in the Park", among others. She also toured with her one-woman show as poet Edna St. Vincent Millay entitled "A Lovely Light".
On TV, Marion found recurring flinty-like roles on That '70s Show (1998) (as Grandma Forman), Touched by an Angel (1994) (a fifth Emmy nomination), The Drew Carey Show (1995), Gilmore Girls (2000) (as Gloria Gilmore), and Brothers & Sisters (2006), as well as guest parts on "Nurse Jackie," "Grey's Anatomy," "Anger Management," "Two and a Half Men," "Hot in Cleveland," "Chasing Life" and "The Odd Couple." Primarily involved in voice work into the millennium, she as provided voices for such animated shows as "Family Guy," "King of the Hill," "Scooby-Doo!" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," while also voicing the recurring roles of Grandma SquarePants in SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) and Mrs. Lopart in Handy Manny (2006).
Into her nonagenarian years and still active, Marion was more recently featured in the old-fashioned comedy/fantasy Angels on Tap (2018). The ever-vital octogenarian continues to reside at her country-style home she calls the "Happy Days Farm" in California's San Fernando Valley.- Marion Bailey was born on 5 May 1951 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Vera Drake (2004), Mr. Turner (2014) and Allied (2016).
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Long before there was Olivia Pope or Annalise Keating, there was DiDi Bannister on the ABC soap opera Edge Of Night (1981-84). As played by Mariann Aalda, the smart and spirited young attorney became a prototype for the professional African-American female characters that began to proliferate on network TV, earning her accolades and numerous awards from the African-American community. After graduating from Southern Illinois University and the Negro Ensemble Company conservatory training program where Laurence Fishburne and Robert Townsend were classmates, Aalda joined NYC's Off-Center Theatre Company as a sketch comedy writer and performer and toured the country with The Proposition improv troupe with Charlie Adler...before joining Edge Of Night as one of the first African-American daytime contract players and soap opera heroines. When the NY-based show went off the air, she moved to LA where she was quickly cast on the HBO dramedy, First & 10, in the recurring role of Ellen Parker, the long-suffering coach's wife, opposite OJ Simpson. From there, her sitcom career took off in numerous recurring and guest-starring roles, including the memorable turn opposite Meshach Taylor on Designing Women as his yuppie-from-hell girlfriend, Lita Ford. She was also a series regular on the CBS sitcom, The Royal Family, as Elizabeth Royal-Winston, the daughter of Redd Foxx and Della Reese. She later returned to daytime in the recurring role of the "tragically disfigured" Lena Hart, Sherrie Saum's mom on the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach. More recently, she has appeared on the NBC hit, The Blacklist and starred in the short film Gumbo on AMC's ALLBLK-TV. She returned to her comedy roots as co-producer and star in the 25-episode web series, Talk To Me, Ginger!, based on her performance art character, Adult Sex-Ed Evangelist & Mojo Motivator, Dr. Ginger, who is also the protagonist of her solo show, Gettin' Old Is a Bitch...But I'm Gonna Wrestle That Bitch to the Ground!, which has sold out shows in New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and broke a 30-year box office record at the 2019 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC. In 2021, she was invited to perform an excerpt at the Silver Sirens Redefining Aging Summit in Sydney, Australia.. Heralded as an influencer in the positive aging movement for changing the narrative on older women, she was recognized by AARP' in a video tribute as an Age Disruptor; is a prolific podcast guest on shameless aging; is a sought-after pro-age moderator on the popular audio app, Clubhouse, and has a TEDx Talk, Ageism Is a Bully...Stand Up to It!- Mary Kay Adams was born on 12 September 1962 in Middletown, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for Guiding Light (1952), Babylon 5 (1993) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).
- Maria Alba was born on 19 March 1910 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She was an actress, known for Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932), Kiss of Araby (1933) and El código penal (1931). She was married to Richard Jamar Burk. She died on 26 October 1996 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Mary Anderson was born on 3 April 1918 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She was an actress, known for Lifeboat (1944), Wilson (1944) and Gone with the Wind (1939). She was married to Leon Shamroy and Leonard Marion Behrens. She died on 6 April 2014 in Burbank, California, USA.
- Mary Alice was born on 3 December 1936 in Indianola, Mississippi, USA. She was an actress, known for The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Awakenings (1990) and Malcolm X (1992). She died on 27 July 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
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Mary Arden was born on 30 July 1933 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Blood and Black Lace (1964), A... For Assassin (1966) and Los marcados (1971). She was married to Arthur Hansel. She died on 13 December 2014 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.- Actress
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Maria was born in Port Hueneme, California at the Naval Base. Her parents are Joel (dermatologist) and Marilyn (therapist) of Duluth, MN. She attended Chester Park Elementary and Marshall High School in Duluth MN and went on to attend Bates College (Lewiston, ME), University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and received a degree in Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She started stand-up in Minneapolis at the age of 19 at Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret and 10 years later, made her first appearance on the Tonight Show!- Mary Badham was born on 7 October 1952 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She is an actress, known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Let's Kill Uncle (1966) and The Twilight Zone (1959). She has been married to Richard Wilt since 1975. They have two children.
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Marina Benedict is an American actress best known for her role in the Golden Globe nominated series Flesh and Bone as Toni Cannava; Prison Break: Resurrection as A & W; Gotham as Cherry; ER as Lois Landry; Torchwood: Miracle Day as Charlotte Wills; and Burn Notice as Colonel Oksana Zhirkov. Benedict was the lead singer in BMG's pop group 5 NY that toured throughout Europe and received a Billboard Top 40 hit in Germany. Benedict attended the Cornish College of the Arts. Benedict became an instructor at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in 2003.
Marina was born in Seattle, Washington. She is best known for her roles as Charlotte Wills in Torchwood (2006 - 2011), Flesh and Bone (2015) & Prison Break: Resurrection (2017). A winner of many awards for various performances, she is also an accomplished singer, dancer and stage actress. Marina went on to land the lead role in independent feature film "The Spirit", before returning home to study at the Cornish College of the Arts' dance department. Marina went on to appear in the 1999 TV show, Wasteland & from 2000-2001, she began gaining popularity for her role as Lola in the TV sitcom Nikki.- Actress
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Maria Bello was born on 18 April, 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Kathy, a nurse and teacher, and Joe Bello, a contractor. She is of Italian and Polish descent. Maria went to Villanova University, majoring in political science. She had every intention of becoming a lawyer, but she took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She discovered she was very good at it, and she was soon cast in small off-Broadway plays, such as "The Killer Inside Me", "Small Town Gals With Big Problems" and "Urban Planning". She later guest-starred on episodes of The Commish (1991), Nowhere Man (1995), Misery Loves Company (1995), and Due South (1994). She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996) as "Mrs. Smith" (they remembered her from her performance in a failed pilot that was a remake of the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958)). The show was canceled after eight weeks on the air. Then came a spot on ER (1994) as "Dr. Anna Del Amico", in which she guest-starred on the final three episodes of the third season. The show's producers were so impressed with her that they asked her back as a regular on the series.- Director
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Maria Beatty was born in Caracas, Venezuela.- Actress
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Marisa Berenson was born on 15 February 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Cabaret (1972), Barry Lyndon (1975) and Cinéman (2009). She was previously married to Aaron Richard Golub and Jim Randall.- Actress
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Marisa Tomei was born on December 4, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York, to Patricia "Addie" (Bianchi), a teacher of English, and Gary Tomei, a lawyer, both of Italian descent. Marisa has a brother, actor Adam Tomei. As a child, Marisa's mother frequently corrected her speech as to eliminate her heavy Brooklyn accent. As a teen, Marisa attended Edward R. Murrow High School and graduated in the class of 1982. She was one year into her college education at Boston University when she dropped out for a co-starring role on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns (1956). Her role on that show paved the way for her entrance into film: in 1984, she made her film debut with a bit part in The Flamingo Kid (1984). Three years later, Marisa became known for her role as Maggie Lawton, Lisa Bonet's college roommate, on the sitcom A Different World (1987).
Her real breakthrough came in 1992, when she co-starred as Joe Pesci's hilariously foul-mouthed, scene-stealing girlfriend in My Cousin Vinny (1992), a performance that won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Later that year, she turned up briefly as a snippy Mabel Normand in director Richard Attenborough's biopic Chaplin (1992), and was soon given her first starring role in Untamed Heart (1993). A subsequent starring role -- and attempted makeover into Audrey Hepburn -- in the romantic comedy Only You (1994) proved only moderately successful.
Marisa's other 1994 role as Michael Keaton's hugely pregnant wife in The Paper (1994) was well-received, although the film as a whole was not. Fortunately for Tomei, she was able to rebound the following year with a solid performance as a troubled single mother in Nick Cassavetes' Unhook the Stars (1996) which earned her a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She turned in a similarly strong work in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), and in 1998 did some of her best work in years as the sexually liberated, unhinged cousin of Natasha Lyonne's Vivian Abramowitz in Tamara Jenkins' Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Marisa co-starred with Mel Gibson in the hugely successful romantic comedy What Women Want (2000) and during the 2002 movie award season, she proved her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar win was no fluke when she received her second nomination in the same category for the critically acclaimed dark drama, In the Bedroom (2001). She also made a guest appearance on the animated TV phenomenon The Simpsons (1989) as Sara Sloane, a movie star who falls in love with Ned Flanders. In 2006, she went on to do 4 episodes for Rescue Me (2004). She played Angie, the ex-wife of Tommy Calvin (Denis Leary)'s brother Johnny (Dean Winters). At age 42, Marisa took on a provocative role in legendary filmmaker Sidney Lumet's melodramatic picture Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), in which she appeared nude in love scenes with costars Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Marisa then took on another provocative role as a stripper in the highly acclaimed film The Wrestler (2008) opposite Mickey Rourke. Her great performance earned her many awards from numerous film societies for Best Supporting Actress, a third Academy Award nomination, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Many critics heralded this performance as a standout in her career.- Actress
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Mary grew up in the small beach community of Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Mary graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she earned her BFA in acting, and was also awarded the Stella Adler Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting.
Mary made her Broadway debut in "Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me" in 2006, for which she won the prestigious Theatre World Award. Mary also stared as rookie cop "Deputy Kimball" in Reno 911 on Comedy Central, and in the Fox feature film "Reno 911: Miami."
She has performed in several shows on Comedy Central-- appearing regularly on the network in "Crossballs," Contest Searchlight w/Dennis Leary and "The Daily Show w/Jon Stewart." Mary has appeared in numerous TV pilots, including CBS' "Rubbing Charlie" (starring Scott Wolfe), a FOX sitcom starring James Caan and Jill Clayburgh, the role of "Connie" in CBS' "Welcome to New York" with Christine Baranski, and a co-starring role with Cheri Oteri in the sitcom pilot, "Loomis." Mary has appeared as a guest star on "Normal People" (FOX TV pilot with Tori Spelling), and "Talk To Me" (ABC sitcom w/Kyra Sedgwick). She has done guest spots on MTV's "Apt. 2F," NBC's "ED" & "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" & "The Howard Stern Show" on E!. As a writer/performer Mary created 25+ original characters in the NBC sketch comedy pilot, "Live On Tape". But Mary is no stranger to the legitimate stage.
She trod the boards in the very UN-legitimate role of "Vixen Fox" (a porn star) in Elaine May's off-Broadway comedy "Adult Entertainment" with Danny Aiello and Jeannie Berlin at the Variety Arts Theatre in NYC. Other theatre roles include "Portia" in the Moonwork production of "Julius Caesar" in New York City, and "Victoria Fitch" in the musical "Palm Beach." She wrote and starred in the one-woman off-Broadway show "Judy Speaks" at the Ars Nova Theatre in New York City, and at Playhouse Merced in CA. She also wrote/starred in a series of one-acts for her alter-ego, the 1940s B-movie star Janet Lamé, who made her small screen debut on NBC's variety show "Late Friday." She has also performed her other one-woman shows "The Very Mary Birdsong Show" & "The Respectable Race" in L.A. at the HBO/WB Workspace and in New York @ PSNBC. Other film credits include "Beer League" (w/Artie Lange), "Pizza," "Le Chase," "Above Freezing," "Let It Snow," "In God's Hands," (starring Peter Sarsgaard) and "The Last Request" (starring Danny Aiello.)- Actress
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Lively, buxom character actress Mary Boland made a name for herself playing vacuous or pixilated motherly types during the 1930s. One of her most memorable performances was as the addle-brained Mrs. Rimplegar of Three Cornered Moon (1933), who gives away her family fortune to a swindler because he seemed like 'such a nice young man'. She also made a series of popular homespun comedies under contract to Paramount, in which she co-starred opposite Charles Ruggles. She was notable as a social snob in Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), the oversexed and alcoholic Countess DeLave in The Women (1939) and as Mrs. Bennet in MGM's classic Pride and Prejudice (1940). For all her scatty or matronly character roles in the movies, Mary Boland had once been a star comedienne on Broadway.
Born in Philadelphia, the daughter of traveling actor William A. Boland (who happened to be on tour at her birth), she was educated at Sacred Heart Convent in Detroit. At 25, Mary appeared in her first play, 'Strongheart', and was on Broadway two years later in 'The Ranger', with Dustin Farnum. She started in silent films in 1915, her debut being Thomas H. Ince's 'The Edge of the Abyss'. After a wartime interval, entertaining troops on the Western Front during World War I, she made a return to the stage and had notable successes with the comedies 'Clarence' (1919-20,with Alfred Lunt) as Mrs.Wheeler, 'Meet the Wife' (1923-24,with a young Humphrey Bogart) and 'Cradle Snatchers' (1925-26), starring as Susan Martin. These performances established her as one of theaters foremost comediennes, ideally cast as dithery wives and mothers, or social climbers.
Mary's film career ended in 1950 and she appeared in her last play, 'Lullaby', in 1954. She retired to live out the rest of her days in her suite at the Essex House in New York.- Actress
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Dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures", Mary Brian started life as Louise Byrdie Datzler. She was born in Corsicana, Texas, and went to high school in Dallas. Her widowed mother had big plans for young Louise and took her to California in 1923, with the intention of getting her into the film business. After several unsuccessful attempts, a bathing beauty competition in Long Beach resulted in a second-prize letter of introduction to Herbert Brenon at Paramount and the girl with the dark brown curls and blue/gray eyes wound up being screen-tested for the role of Wendy in Peter Pan (1924), co-starring Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston (with whom she would form lifelong friendships). She not only got the part but a five-year contract with Paramount (1925-30) and a new name.
In 1926 she became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, which further enhanced her popularity. During the next few years she played ornamental leads and second leads as adolescent heroines, co-eds and ingénues. Many of those early silent features no longer exist today (Paris at Midnight (1926), among others), though surviving reels of some, like The Air Mail (1925), can still be accessed at the Library of Congress. Mary effortlessly made the transition from silents to talkies, co-starring with Gary Cooper as a feisty schoolmarm on the frontier in The Virginian (1929). One of her biggest hits was as Gwen Cavendish in the urbane comedy The Royal Family of Broadway (1930), with Ina Claire and Fredric March. A thinly disguised caricature of the private lives of the Barrymore dynasty, it hit the mark to the extent that Ethel Barrymore even threatened to sue Paramount. Mary acted three times opposite W.C. Fields, first as his daughter in Running Wild (1927), later reprising her role for The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934) (the third was Two Flaming Youths (1927), another lost film).
Signing up for another four-year contract, Mary was one of the all-star cast in the musical Paramount on Parade (1930) and then was given another good part in the first talkie version of The Front Page (1931). However, she was dropped from her contract (alongside her more illustrious colleagues Fay Wray and Jean Arthur) when Paramount began to forsake innocence and charm in favor of glamour and sophistication. From 1932 Mary freelanced and also performed occasionally in vaudeville at the Palace Theater. Arguably her last good picture was the romantic comedy Hard to Handle (1933), with James Cagney as a grifter (hilariously promoting grapefruit diets, spoofing his infamous scene with Mae Clarke in The Public Enemy (1931)). In 1936 Mary went to England, where she co-starred opposite Cary Grant in The Amazing Adventure (1936). She then made several pictures for Poverty Row companies such as Majestic and Monogram, including the low-budget potboiler I Escaped from the Gestapo (1943).
Mary's motion picture career faded after 1937 and she turned towards the stage. In 1940 she went on tour with "Three after Three" , alongside Simone Simon and Mitzi Green and later entertained American troops in the South Pacific as part of the USO. In the 1950's, she enjoyed a brief resurgence on television as the mother of a "Gidget"-type teen in the syndicated sitcom Meet Corliss Archer (1954). After the death of her second husband, the film editor George Tomasini, Mary spent her retirement fulfilling a lifelong passion for portrait painting.- Pretty and charming brunette actress Marilyn Louise Brown was born on March 9, 1953 in San Jose, California. Her parents were Donald Bernard Brown and Vivian Brown. Marilyn was of mixed Engish, Irish, Sicilian, and Scottish descent. Her father named her after his favorite actress Marilyn Monroe. She was the sister of actor Barry Brown and writer James Brown. Brown had a very high near genius IQ. She started studying tap dancing, modern dance, and acting at an early age. Marilyn and her brother Barry both made their film debuts in uncredited bit roles in the 1958 motion picture "In Love and War." Brown had small roles in the lowbrow mid 70s drive-in exploitation comedies "Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy" and "The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza." Outside of her sparse movie credits, Marilyn also acted in a few off-off-Broadway stage productions. Alas, Brown was a painfully shy and troubled woman who had problems with drug abuse and alcoholism throughout most of her life. Marilyn committed suicide at age 45 on July 22, 1998 by jumping off a Los Angeles freeway overpass; she was married and had one child at the time of her tragic death.
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Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, comedienne, singer, and model. Monroe is of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent. She became one of the world's most enduring iconic figures and is remembered both for her winsome embodiment of the Hollywood sex symbol and her tragic personal and professional struggles within the film industry. Her life and death are still the subjects of much controversy and speculation.
She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson at the Los Angeles County Hospital on June 1, 1926. Her mother, Gladys Pearl (Monroe), was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, to American parents from Indiana and Missouri, and was a film-cutter at Consolidated Film Industries. Marilyn's biological father has been established through DNA testing as Charles Stanley Gifford, who had been born in Newport, Rhode Island, to a family with deep roots in the state. Because Gladys was mentally and financially unable to care for young Marilyn, Gladys placed her in the care of a foster family, The Bolenders. Although the Bolender family wanted to adopt Marilyn, Gladys was eventually able to stabilize her lifestyle and took Marilyn back in her care when Marilyn was 7 years old. However, shortly after regaining custody of Marilyn, Gladys had a complete mental breakdown and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and was committed to a state mental hospital. Gladys spent the rest of her life going in and out of hospitals and rarely had contact with young Marilyn. Once Marilyn became an adult and celebrated as a film star, she paid a woman by the name of Inez Melson to look in on the institutionalized Gladys and give detailed reports of her progress. Gladys outlived her daughter, dying in 1984.
Marilyn was then taken in by Gladys' best friend Grace Goddard, who, after a series of foster homes, placed Marilyn into the Los Angeles Orphan's Home in 1935. Marilyn was traumatized by her experience there despite the Orphan's Home being an adequate living facility. Grace Goddard eventually took Marilyn back to live with her in 1937 although this stay did not last long as Grace's husband began molesting Marilyn. Marilyn went to live with Grace's Aunt Ana after this incident, although due to Aunt Ana's advanced age she could not care properly for Marilyn. Marilyn once again for the third time had to return to live with the Goddards. The Goddards planned to relocated and according to law, could not take Marilyn with them. She only had two choices: return to the orphanage or get married. Marilyn was only 16 years old.
She decided to marry a neighborhood friend named James Dougherty; he went into the military, she modeled, they divorced in 1946. She owned 400 books (including Tolstoy, Whitman, Milton), listened to Beethoven records, studied acting at the Actors' lab in Hollywood, and took literature courses at UCLA downtown. 20th Century Fox gave her a contract but let it lapse a year later. In 1948, Columbia gave her a six-month contract, turned her over to coach Natasha Lytess and featured her in the B movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948) in which she sang three numbers : "Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy", "Anyone Can Tell I Love You" and "The Ladies of the Chorus" with Adele Jergens (dubbed by Virginia Rees) and others. Joseph L. Mankiewicz saw her in a small part in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and put her in All About Eve (1950) , resulting in 20th Century re-signing her to a seven-year contract. Niagara (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) launched her as a sex symbol superstar.
When she went to a supper honoring her in the The Seven Year Itch (1955) , she arrived in a red chiffon gown borrowed from the studio (she had never owned a gown). That same year, she married and divorced baseball great Joe DiMaggio (their wedding night was spent in Paso Robles, California). After The Seven Year Itch (1955) , she wanted serious acting to replace the sexpot image and went to New York's Actors Studio. She worked with director Lee Strasberg and also underwent psychoanalysis to learn more about herself. Critics praised her transformation in Bus Stop (1956) and the press was stunned by her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller . True to form, she had no veil to match her beige wedding dress so she dyed one in coffee; he wore one of the two suits he owned. They went to England that fall where she made The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) with Laurence Olivier , fighting with him and falling further prey to alcohol and pills. Two miscarriages and gynecological surgery followed. So had an affair with Yves Montand . Work on her last picture The Misfits (1961) , written for her by departing husband Miller, was interrupted by exhaustion. She was dropped from the unfinished Something's Got to Give (1962) due to chronic lateness and drug dependency.
On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe's day began with threatening phone calls. Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn's physician, came over the following day and quoted later in a document "Felt it was possible that Marilyn had felt rejected by some of the people she had been close to." Apart from being upset that her publicist slept too long, she seemed fine. Pat Newcombe, who had stayed the previous night at Marilyn's house, left in the early evening as did Greenson who had a dinner date. Marilyn was upset he couldn't stay, and around 7:30pm she telephoned him to say that her second husband's son had called her. Peter Lawford also called Marilyn, inviting her to dinner, but she declined. Lawford later said her speech was slurred. As the evening went on there were other phone calls, including one from Jose Belanos, who said he thought she sounded fine. According to the funeral directors, Marilyn died sometime between 9:30pm and 11:30pm. Her maid unable to raise her but seeing a light under her locked door, called the police shortly after midnight. She also phoned Ralph Greenson who, on arrival, could not break down the bedroom door. He eventually broke in through French windows and found Marilyn dead in bed. The coroner stated she had died from acute barbiturate poisoning, and it was a 'probable suicide' though many conspiracies would follow in the years after her death.- Music Artist
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Marilyn Manson was born Brian Hugh Warner on January 5, 1969 in Canton, Ohio, to Barbara Jo (Wyer) and Hugh Angus Warner. He has German and English ancestry. During his childhood, one of his neighbors molested him several times until the young Brian broke down one day and told his mother what happened. As an only child, he would often get into mischievous activities such as adventure through his grandfather Jack Warner's sex toys, shoot his BB gun with his cousin Chad, and create sex magazines to sell to his classmates. His parents raised him as an Episcopalian, and he attended the religious private Heritage Christian School. It was there that he became fueled with hate towards Christanity. During his tenth grade year, he convinced his parents to let him attend a public school.
After he graduated from high school, he and his parents moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida because his father got a better job there. He studied journalism and theater at the local community college called Broward, and being some place new and feeling lonely, he wrote poems and short stories. After being fired from his last job at a record store, he became entertainment journalist for a local magazine. He interviewed several famous musicians including Trent Reznor from the band "Nine Inch Nails". Along with his job and writing, he would also frequently go to rock clubs. He soon decided to create his own band.
With musical influences from Ozzy Osbourne and KISS, he recruited other musicians with the same interests and started the band called "Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids". He got the name Marilyn Manson as a combination from the names of the movie star Marilyn Monroe and the psycho killer Charles Manson. The band's name would later officially change to just Marilyn Manson, and most of the original band members would leave and be replaced, too. Manson reunited with Trent Reznor and had his band tour with "Nine Inch Nails". Reznor would also produce Marilyn Manson's first three albums (Portrait of an American Family, AntiChrist Superstar, and Mechanical Animals) and an E.P. (Smells like Children). "Mechanical Animals" is Marilyn Manson's most successful album to date. With the success, Manson became a controversial celebrity, because the anti-Christian message in his songs, and Satanist 'Anton Szandor LaVey' deemed Manson a Reverend for the Church of Satan. Also with fame, Manson started to mingle with other celebrities, and began a romantic relationship with the actress Rose McGowan. They became engaged, but broke off the relationship in 2001.
He then fell in love with the burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, and soon became engaged. They had a fairy tale, non-denominational wedding in a castle in Ireland. Meanwhile, Manson came out with two more albums (Holy Wood, and the Golden Age of Grotesque), and a best of album (Lest We Forget: The Best Of...). He also dabbled into acting by being in such movies as Jawbreaker (1999), Party Monster (2003) and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004). He continues to make music and act in movies.- Marilyn Buferd was born on 30 January 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Queen of Outer Space (1958), Maracatumba... ma non è una rumba! (1949) and The Unearthly (1957). She was married to Milton Stevens, Hans E. Orton and Franco Barbaro. She died on 27 March 1990 in Austin, Texas, USA.
- Marylouise Burke was born on 20 January 1941 in Steelton, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for I Love You Phillip Morris (2009), Sideways (2004) and Meet Joe Black (1998).
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Marilyn Burns was born Mary Lynn Ann Burns on May 7, 1949 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Drama. Marilyn was one of the original scream queens, remembered primarily for her role in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). She played Sally Hardesty, a teenager who travels with her brother and some friends to the cemetery where her grandfather was buried to investigate reports of grave vandalism, and then encounters an insane, murderous family, including the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.
Her follow-up appearance was in Eaten Alive (1976), where she played a vacationer who unwittingly stumbles upon a hotel managed by a maniac who feeds his guests to his crocodile. Marilyn earned her scream queen status by starring in other horror movies; Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981) and Future-Kill (1985). She appeared in the television miniseries Helter Skelter (1976) about the real-life trial of Charles Manson and his family. She played Linda Kasabian, a member of the Manson Family whose testimony helped lead to the convictions of the cult leader and many of his followers.
Marilyn had an uncredited cameo as Sally Hardesty in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), and made a cameo appearance as Verna Carlson in Texas Chainsaw (2013). However, aside from these roles and occasional appearances at horror conventions, she lived a relatively quiet life out of the spotlight in the Houston area in her later years. Marilyn Burns died at age 65 in her sleep on August 5, 2014 and was found in her Houston, Texas home by family members, the cause was an apparent heart attack, although not specified.- Actress
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At Warner Brothers, tiny, five feet tall Marion Byron was nicknamed (and occasionally billed as) "Peanuts". She was a cute and vivacious soubrette who featured in early, long forgotten musicals, with titles like Show of Shows (1929), Broadway Babies (1929) and Playing Around (1930). Marion began her performing career as a teenage showgirl in Los Angeles and got her first break in films as leading lady to Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). In a biographical form, she was required to submit at First National, she answered the question of how she got her first screen opportunity with: "By mistake".
In the early 30's, Marion's regular screen assignments included the usual assortment of feisty maids, college girls, friends of the heroine, flappers and chorines, which were reserved for those deemed 'second leads'. Though stardom eluded her, she was briefly popular in lightweight comedies, notable examples being the Michael Curtiz-directed The Matrimonial Bed (1930) and Mervyn LeRoy's quirky Jewish farce The Heart of New York (1932) (which sported comic duo Smith & Dale as eccentric matchmakers 'Schnapps and Strudel'). Already by 1933, Marion's roles had diminished to uncredited bits and walk-ons. Her last film was as a nurse in Five of a Kind (1938), the story of the Dionne Quintuplets, scripted by her husband, the screenwriter Lou Breslow.- Mary Therese Cadorette was born on March 31, 1957 and is is an American actress best known for playing John Ritter's live-in girlfriend, flight attendant Vicky Bradford on the short-lived 1984 Three's Company (1976) spinoff, Three's a Crowd (1984).
Cadorette was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, United States. She started taking dance classes when she was five years old and later entered dance competitions. She gives credit to her love of dance for her career milestones. She was Miss Connecticut in the 1975 Miss America pageant. She graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1979, after which she performed in dinner theatres and with the USO. She also spent three and a half years on Broadway as an understudy in the musical "42nd Street". In 1990, she landed the recurring role of Margaret Turner on Night Court (1984). She owned her own restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1990's, Mary's Lamb, that was frequented by many celebrities.
Mary has been in a few films, Stewardess School (1986), and The Rat Pack (1998) among them. During the 1980s, she was also seen on a number of game shows, including The $25,000 Pyramid (1974), Super Password (1984), and Body Language (1983).
In 1999, she left California and moved back home to Connecticut to take care of her mother who had suffered a stroke. Her mother died eight years later. She and two friends, whom she had known since they were in dance school as children, decided to take up dancing again after many years. They formed the "The Chapeau Rouge Dance Project" encouraging former (and older) dance students to attend classes in the dance studio that they have rented.
She was formerly married to Michael Eisen in 1982. Later, she married William Harris (born March 16, 1948), and went by the name Mary Cadorette-Harris. Her husband died on October 15, 2010.
In March 2011, Cadorette directed and choreographed "Hairspray" at Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Connecticut. In March 2012 she directed "42nd Street" at Glastonbury High School with some of the original choreography.
She teaches at ''Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts'' Tap and Ensemble Class in Hartford, CT. She also owns and runs an antique store called "Nug and Bug Antiques & Collectibles, located at 114 West Granby Rd Granby, CT 06035.
On November 1, 2015, she married her 7th grade sweetheart Michael Daly and now goes by the name Mary Cadorette-Daly. - American character actress famed for roles as mothers. Born in a Philadelphia suburb as Mary Kennevan, she became a schoolteacher, but soon gave it up for work as an actress in touring companies. She married actor William Carr and toured extensively with his company. After the turn of the century, he became involved in film production as both an actor and director, and he brought Mary and their six children into the film business with him. Mary made her film debut in 1916, but it was her appearance in Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920) which made her a success in movies. It was a tremendous success due in large part to her touching portrayal of a poverty-stricken mother. She followed it with similar roles in scores of films throughout the silent period. A fallow period arrived with the talkies, and Carr found herself nearly destitute, but publicity about her status rallied help to her cause and she found help and occasional work. She spent her later years appearing infrequently, often in films directed by her son Thomas Carr. She died at the age of 99 in November 1973.
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She was the standard prototype of the porcelain-pretty collegiate and starry-eyed romantic interest in a host of Depression-era films and although her name may not ring a bell to most, Mary Carlisle enjoyed a fairly solid decade in the cinematic limelight.
The petite Boston-born, blue-eyed blonde was born on February 3, 1914, and brought to Hollywood in 1918, at age 4, by her mother after her father passed away. The story goes that the 14-year-old and her mother were having lunch at the Universal commissary when she was noticed by producer Carl Laemmle Jr., who immediately gave her a screen test. Her age was a hindering factor, however, and Mary completed her high school studies before moving into the acting arena. An uncle connected to MGM helped give the young hopeful her break into the movies as a singer/dancer a few years later.
Mary started out typically as an extra and bit player in such films as Madam Satan (1930), The Great Lover (1931) and in Grand Hotel (1932) in which she played a honeymooner. The glamorous, vibrant beauty's career was given a build-up as a "Wampas Baby Star" in 1933 and soon she began finding work in films playing stylish, well-mannered young co-eds. Although she performed as a topline actress in a number of lightweight pictures such as Night Court (1932) with Anita Page, Murder in the Private Car (1934) starring Charles Ruggles, and It's in the Air (1935) alongside Jack Benny, she is perhaps best remembered as a breezy co-star to Bing Crosby in three of his earlier, lightweight '30s musicals: College Humor (1933), Double or Nothing (1937) and Doctor Rhythm (1938). In the last picture mentioned she is the lovely focus of his song "My Heart Is Taking Lessons". Her participation in weightier material such as Kind Lady (1935) was often overshadowed by her even weightier co-stars, in this case Basil Rathbone and Aline MacMahon.
Disappointed with the momentum of her career and her inability to extricate herself from the picture-pretty, paragon-of-virtue stereotype, Mary traveled and lived in London for a time in the late '30s. Following her damsel-in-distress role in the horror opus Dead Men Walk (1943) with George Zucco and Dwight Frye, Mary retired from the screen, prompted by her marriage to James Blakeley, a flying supervisor, the year before. The Beverly Hills couple had one son. Her husband, a former actor who also appeared in '30s musicals with Crosby as a dapper second lead (e.g., in Two for Tonight (1935)), later became an important executive (producer, editor, etc.) at Twentieth Century-Fox.
In later years Mary managed an Elizabeth Arden Salon in Beverly Hills and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her husband passed away in 2007. Mary herself lived to the ripe old age of 104 on August 1, 2018.- Music Artist
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Mariah Carey was born in Long Island, New York on March 27, 1969. Her parents are Patricia Hickey (Irish-American) and Alfred Roy Carey (African-American/Venezuelan). Mariah attended Greenlawn's Harborfields High School. In June 1990, Mariah made her debut with her self-titled album, Mariah Carey which entered at #73, but on August 4, 1990 it reached #1. Her 1990 self-titled debut album went multi-platinum and spawned an extraordinary four consecutive #1 singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry," and led to Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist. Her 1993 album titled Music Box went ten-times platinum. On September 30, 1995, she made music history. Her single "Fantasy" from her 1995 Daydream album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female artist to accomplish a number one debut in the U.S. Her other Daydream's single "One Sweet Day" remained for 16 weeks at the top of the charts. She is the only artist since The Beatles to have so many #1 singles and albums. With "Heartbreaker", the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow and also her 14 #1 single, she became the only artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s, and with "Heartbreaker" at its 60th week atop the Billboard's charts, she pushed ahead of The Beatles's 59-week record as the only artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart.
Following "Heartbreaker," her second single "Thank God I Found You" also from her Rainbow album became her 15th #1. "We Belong Together" from her 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi became her 16th #1 single and was also her first #1 without any guest artists since her song "My All" (also a #1 single) captured the top spot in May 1998. The single "Don't Forget About Us" also from her 2005 album Emancipation of Mimi became her 17th #1 single, tying her with Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Three more Grammy Awards were gained from The Emancipation of Mimi album. She is the most successful selling female artist in music history and is the only female artist to have the most #1 singles and albums and also holds the record for straight #1 singles and albums each year. Along with numerous awards and incredible vocal range, she also composes all of her own material, with the exception of song covers.
In April 2008, the single "Touch My Body" became her 18th #1 single, pushing her ahead of Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Now she is the only artist since The Beatles to have as many number one singles and the only singer alive likely to succeed them.- Mary Grace Canfield was born on 3 September 1924 in Rochester, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Green Acres (1965), Pollyanna (1960) and The Best of Broadway (1954). She was married to John Theodore Bischof and Charles Orlebar Carey, Jr.. She died on 15 February 2014 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
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Mary Carver was born on 3 May 1924 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Arachnophobia (1990), Simon & Simon (1981) and The Rockford Files (1974). She was married to Joseph Sargent. She died on 18 October 2013 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.- Actress
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Mary Castle was born on 22 January 1931 in Pampa, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for The Lawless Breed (1952), Stories of the Century (1954) and Gunsmoke (1953). She was married to Edward Frezza, Wayne Cote and William Grant. She died on 29 April 1998 in Palm Springs, California, USA.- Actress
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Marilyn Chris was born on 19 May 1938 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for The Honeymoon Killers (1970), Trees Lounge (1996) and Loving Couples (1980).- Actress
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Mary Chieffo (she/her) is a queer actor/producer known internationally as the Klingon Commander turned Chancellor L'Rell on the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Discovery, returning as her iconic character for the highly popular Star Trek Online.
After playing numerous Shakespeare roles including the titular characters in King Lear and Macbeth, Chieffo received her BFA from Juilliard in 2015, along with the prestigious Elizabeth Smith Voice and Speech Prize and the Saint-Denis Prize for "Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Drama."
Mary is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Recent acting credits include guest star roles on NCIS, Girls5eva, and leading roles in Bespoke Plays' staged readings of Heretics by Ellie Pyle in New York, Analogue by Christine Boylan, Lady Face and Systems by Madi Goff in Los Angeles.
Mary is a member of The Road Theatre Company, Impro Theatre LAB Ensemble (narrative improvisation), as well as a frequent guest collaborator with all-female/genderqueer Ripley Improv.
When she wasn't covered in prosthetics and speaking Klingon, Mary produced, wrote, and starred as Iago in Operation Othello - a feminist, gender, and color-conscious VR adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello alongside Viola Davis and Julius Tennon's JuVee Productions in the spring of 2018 (Official Cannes XR and Raindance XR Selection). She has since developed her female interpretation of the notorious villain for Iago: The Green-Eyed Monster, a Musical AR Experience co-created with Josh Nelson Youssef in collaboration with JuVee and Verizon, premiering at Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022 (Webby Award WINNER Metaverse, Immersive & Virtual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2023, Tribeca X Finalist).
Mary also stars in the short film Every Morning, a queer sci-fi love story, written by and co-starring her partner Madi Goff (Women In Media Parity In Action Badge, River Bend Film Fest WINNER Spirit of the Fest Award, Indie Short Fest WINNER Best Acting Duo, Best Original Score, Outstanding Achievement LGBTQ+ Short, LA Independent Women Film Awards WINNER Best Composer). Chieffo served as executive and creative producer on the film in partnership with Dr. Erin Macdonald's LGBTQ+ owned Spacetime Productions.- Actress
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Born and raised in Minnesota, Marisa Coughlan attend the University of Southern California where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Theater, after studying in Paris during her junior year.
She married Stephen Wallack, whom she had known since they were teenagers in Minneapolis, at a private estate in Pasadena, California on November 1, 2008. They have four children together.- Mariclare Costello was born on 3 February 1936 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Ordinary People (1980), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) and Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971). She was previously married to Allan Arbus.
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American lyric soprano and actress, best known on screen as the voice of Princess Aurora in Walt Disney's animated feature Sleeping Beauty (1959). A beautiful blue-eyed blonde, Mary was born of Italian ancestry, the daughter of John and Hazel Costa. She trained at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, made a few early radio appearances on Edgar Bergen's show and was 'discovered' at the age of 22 by the composer Walter Schumann, who recruited her for the part of Princess Aurora. The film took six years to make and was released in 1959. Schumann never got to see the finished product. He had died the year before, aged just 44.
Costa married Hollywood director Frank Tashlin in 1953 and appeared that same year in his screwball farce Marry Me Again (1953) at RKO. She did a couple of TV guest spots and then played a gangster's moll opposite Rory Calhoun in the entertaining film noir The Big Caper (1957). Her last noted performance on screen was as Henrietta 'Jetty' Treffz (1818-1878), the first wife of composer Johann Strauss (played by Horst Buchholz) in the biopic The Great Waltz (1972).
Costa made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Violetta in La Traviata in 1964. She went on to international stardom as a famous diva, performing at many of the great concert halls and opera houses throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Named a Disney Legend in 1999, Costa was awarded a National Medal of Arts at the White House in January 2021 "for her extraordinary talent, inspiration, and contribution to the operatic arts. Her stellar career includes performances in 38 operatic roles."- Actress
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Marianne Leone was born on 2 January 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for The Three Stooges (2012), Goodfellas (1990) and Joy (2015). She has been married to Chris Cooper since 8 July 1983. They have one child.- Actress
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Diminutive, blond character comedienne whose strident voice and nervy manner made her the perfect foil to Lucille Ball's madcap antics on TV, at first, occasionally, on I Love Lucy (1951) (as "Betty Ramsay" and "Evelyn Bigsby"), then on a regular basis on The Lucy Show (1962) and Here's Lucy (1968) (as "Mary Jane Lewis"). Mary Jane started her show business career on the stage with the civic theatre in her hometown, Muncie, Indiana. After briefly acting with the Guild Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio, she joined the local radio station WLW and embarked on a lengthy career as a radio actress. Her marriage to fellow actor Jack Zoller was followed by a move to Los Angeles in 1939.
During the 1940's and 1950's, Mary Jane became one of a company of much in-demand voice actresses (along with performers Lurene Tuttle, Howard Duff and Bea Benaderet, whom she befriended), comedy inevitably being her forte. She acted on "The Mel Blanc Show" (1946), as the love interest "Leila Ransom" on "The Great Gildersleeve" (1950), "Blondie" (1950), "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1950), the family friend on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), and the voice of basset hound "Cleo", owned by Jackie Cooper, on The People's Choice (1955) (1955-56). Her best-known pre-Lucille role was as "Daisy Enright", the nemesis of "Our Miss Brooks", which starred Eve Arden and Gale Gordon (both on radio and, subsequently, on TV). Mary Jane re-enacted the part for three seasons in the television series, produced by Desilu.
In 1960, Mary Jane got married for the second time, using her newly married name for her character on The Lucy Show (1962), produced by new hubby Elliott Lewis. By 1965, Mary Jane had replaced Vivian Vance, who retired from the show, as Lucy's neighbor. For most TV audiences, Mary Jane will be fondly remembered as Lucy's cheerful ally and confidante in their various joint endeavors at setting up pompous banker Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon). Despite other changes in the cast, Mary Jane's role carried over into the next incarnation of the Desilu franchise, Here's Lucy (1968).
After her death in August 1999, Lucie Arnaz eulogized her mother's friend Mary Jane, as being the antithesis of the dizzy blonde she portrayed on screen and as a fun-loving and joyous spirit.- Actress
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Mary Crosby was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Bing Crosby and Kathryn Grant. She received her Actor's Equity card, at the age of four, and made her first professional appearances, in the company of her siblings, in her father's popular Christmas-season TV specials of the 60s and 70s. After graduating from high school at age 15, she entered the University of Texas at Austin, where she became a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. Ms. Crosby may be best-known for her role as "Kristin Shepard" on the now legendary television drama series, Dallas (1978). Ms. Crosby feature film credits include Henry Jaglom's Eating (1990), The Ice Pirates (1984), Tapeheads (1988), The Legend of Zorro (2005) and more recently, Jaglom's Queen of the Lot (2010), in which she played Peter Bogdanovich's wife. She followed that with Just 45 Minutes from Broadway (2012) and, most recently, The M Word (2014). Ms. Crosby has many stage credits to her name, including "The Seagull" ( Nina), "As You Like It", "Two Gentleman of Verona" and "Romeo and Juliet". Ms. Crosby's many television credits include the ABC miniseries, Hollywood Wives (1985), North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986) and Stagecoach (1986), with Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Ms. Crosby resides on a ranch, outside of Los Angeles, with her family, husband Mark Brodka and their two sons.- Marianne studied theatre at Catholic Univ. and NY's Circle in the Square and also got a degree Broadcast Journalism at the Univ. of Maryland. Her first love being comedy she was head writer, producer and performer with DC's satirical troupe, Gross National Product and co-created their Scandal Tours. She has been featured regularly on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" as Hillary Clinton, Martha Stewart and Sarah Palin and on Frank Caliendo's show as "Hillary' and "Martha." She has been hosting TV talk, reality, style and game shows for over 10 years, including "Live! with Regis", "Landscapers Challenge" for HGTV, entertainment spoof "Hollywood Tonight" for VH-1 and several live shows for Game Show Network (see resume for full details.) She also co-hosted GSN Radio with husband, Bob Goen. Marianne's acting credits also include "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Big Love." She also writes, performs and produces theatre and spoken word at various LA venues.
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Marie Currie was born on 30 November 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Rosebud Beach Hotel (1984) and The Mike Douglas Show (1961).- Mary Bond Davis was born on 3 June 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Coming to America (1988), Hook (1991) and Jeffrey (1995).
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Mary Dees was born on 3 June 1911 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Cornelius William Foster. She died on 4 August 2004 in Lake Worth, Florida, USA.- Actress
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Marieh Delfino is a Venezuelan-American actress. From her first starring role in the cult Saturday morning hit, All About Us (2001), to her intense performance in the blockbuster, Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003). Gracing National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 (2006) as the sexy and comedic genius "Gerri Farber", while simultaneously appearing as Shawn Reaves ("Bob Crane Junior")'s shy girlfriend, in the critically-acclaimed Auto Focus (2002), starring 'William Defoe' and Greg Kinnear, Marieh Delfino constantly keeps us guessing. Her extraordinary upbringing could be the catalyst of her camaleónico ability to effortlessly and elegantly take on such a variety of roles. Marieh has always excelled in the arts, studying classical piano and modern dance since the age of 8, but mostly concentrating on intensive theater. However, contrary to the typical art kid cliché, Marieh esforzado in athletics and managed to make the honor roll every year at her academically cut-throat high school in Miami, Florida. So scholastically accomplished was she, that she was chosen out of thousands of high school kids as the one student representing her state as its "National Young Leader". Crowned a merit scholar, she was chosen to visit Congress in Washington D.C. to attend banquets and debates, essentially acting as a politician for a week. There, she met with congressmen and women as well as President Bill Clinton, where they engaged daily in educational discussions on various "current events".
Adding to her previous acting achievements, Marieh starred in David E. Kelley's Boston Public (2000), as the tough Queens-bred hard-ass turned straight-A student, "Denise DeMarcos". Her character was faced with the decision to get an abortion at the ripe young age of 17, making her particular story-arch a very compelling and haunting subject matter. Such a heart-wrenching topic was only made indisputable by the mesmerizing and frail evoking performance Marieh single-hábilmente delivered. Her uncanny and limitless ability to jump into characters has allowed Marieh to soar above preconceived notions, thus making her truly believable as an All-American girl-next-door as well as a troubled teen of any ethnic background. That, in itself, is a very rare trait seldom found in one person. Marieh will be seen in the starring role in Zerophilia (2005), a lighthearted comedy about a boy coming-of-age where, upon entering his sexual prime, he finds that he has turned into a woman. Simultaneously, she will also be seen as a trashy Cuban teenager, alongside sister Majandra Delfino, in the much anticipated Wim Wenders vehicle, Don't Come Knocking (2005), starring Sam Shepard, Tim Roth and Jessica Lange. Here, Marieh showcases her knack for dialects as well as her repeating camaleónico resolve.- Actress
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Mary Doran was a graduate of New York's Columbia University where she excelled in drama classes. Having abandoned initial aspirations of becoming a teacher, the wavy-haired, blonde then attended the respected Ned Wayburn Dancing Academy - like countless other hopeful actresses - to learn tap dancing. She first appeared on stage in 'Betsy' (1926), a rare flop by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (and Rodgers & Hart), then in the hit 'Rio Rita'. While on Broadway, she was spotted by MGM talent scouts. Her film career lasted just eight years, from the beginning of her contract in 1928 to 1936. She briefly featured as a leading lady in at least one major film: The Broadway Melody (1929). After that, her name descended to the lower depths of the cast list, though she did have a funny bit in the Harold Lloyd screwball comedy Movie Crazy (1932). From the mid-30's, Mary was relegated to bit parts and 'quota quickies' and called it a day.- Actress
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Once you saw her, you would not forget her. Despite her age and weight, she became one of the top box office draws of the sound era. She was 14 when she joined a theater group and she went on to work on stage and in light opera. By 1892, she was on Broadway and she later became a star comedienne on the vaudeville circuit. In 1910, she had a hit with 'Tillie's Nightmare' which Mack Sennett adapted to film as Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) with Charles Chaplin. Marie took top billing over a young Chaplin, but her film career never took off and by 1918, she was out of films and out of work. Her role in the chorus girls' strike of 1917 had her blacklisted from the theaters. In 1927, MGM screenwriter Frances Marion got her a small part in The Joy Girl (1927) and then a co-starring lead with Polly Moran in The Callahans and the Murphys (1927) (which was abruptly withdrawn from circulation thanks to objections of Irish-American groups over its depiction of gin-guzzling Irish). Her career stalled and the 59-year old actress found herself no longer in demand. In the late 1920s she had been largely forgotten and reduced to near-poverty. Despite her last film being a financial disaster, Irving Thalberg, somewhat incredibly, sensed her potential was determined to re-build her into a star. It was a slow return in films but her popularity continued to grow. But it was sound that made her a star again. Anna Christie (1930) was the movie where Garbo talks, but everyone noticed Marie as Marthy. In an era of Harlow, Garbo and Crawford, it was homely old Marie Dressler that won the coveted exhibitor's poll as the most popular actress for three consecutive years. In another film from the same year, Min and Bill (1930) she received a best actress Oscar for her dramatic performance. She received another Academy Award nomination for Emma (1932). She had more success with Dinner at Eight (1933) and Tugboat Annie (1933). In 1934, cancer claimed her life.- Actress
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Born in January, 1901, Mary Eaton was one of 'The Seven Little Eatons' famous in the '20s and '30s. In fact, she received the greatest fame of her fellow performing brothers Joseph Eaton and Charles Eaton and sisters Pearl Eaton and Doris Eaton. Sister Evelyn was a stage manager and brother Robert was never lured into the business. The star of both the 1920 and 1922 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies, blond Mary was Florenz Ziegfeld's backup in case his biggest star, Marilyn Miller, proved too recalcitrant. Eaton later replaced Miller as Eddie Cantor's leading lady in the phenomenally successful Broadway hit_Kid Boots (1923)_ and again in 1927 in Sunny. But Mary was a natural for talking picture stardom and was teamed with an aging Broadway juvenile, Oscar Shaw, in the Marx Brothers_The Cocoanuts (1929)_. She followed that up in the lead role of the all star cast_Glorifying the American Girl (1929)_. However, fame fades quickly and the Eaton family found themselves unwanted by the end of the '30s, on stage and on film. Mary, Pearl and Charles turned to alcohol. Mary married three alcoholics and died young of severe cirrhosis of the liver in 1948 aged 47. Pearl was murdered in her Manhatten Beach apartment in 1958 aged 60. The crime has never been solved. Charles died in 2004, aged 94. Doris died in 2010, aged 106.- Marie Eline was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 27, 1902. She got her start in the film business at age 7 with the Thanhouser Co. in New York with A 29-Cent Robbery (1910), which came out the year after she signed the contract. She was one of the few actresses who played the lead role in her very first film (her sister, Grace Eline, also had a part in the film). Marie proved to be an incredibly versatile player for such a young child, easily shifting between playing female and male children and, in one film-- The Judge's Story (1911)--she even played a Black boy. She was so popular with critics and audiences alike that, unlike most actors at Thanhouser, she was mentioned by name by the company and even given a nickname: "The Thanhouser Kid". Critics praised her "naturalness" and audiences flocked to her pictures, which played no small part in Thanhouser's success as a major film production studio.
In 1913, at the ripe old age of 11, she decided to broaden her horizons by conquering Broadway, appearing in at least one play. That same year Thanhouser took her out of "kid" roles and put her in its prestigious "Princess Films" division. Unfortunately, her popularity waned and she made fewer and fewer pictures. She finally left Thanhouser in 1914 and went back to the stage. She later signed with World Films, for whom she made Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914). She remained in the theater for several years, then in 1919 she signed with the low-budget National Film Corp. in Los Angeles.
She and her sister toured extensively in stock and vaudeville into the 1920s. She married in 1922 and had one child, a girl. She died in Longview, Washington on January 3, 1981, while visiting her daughter. - Actress
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She carried the Olympic flame at Empúries for the Barcelona Olympic Games (1992), upon its arrival from Greece. She was 15.
The first film which she starred in was El Largo Invierno (1992), at the hands of Jaime Camino. Other highlights of her earlier film titles are La Cuidad de los Prodigios ( Mario Camus ) ; Only Human ( Teresa de Pelegrí, Dominic Harari ) El prado de las estrellas ( Mario Camus ) The most important thing in life is not being death ( Olivier Pictet , Marc Recuenco ) She is remembered as Miriam when she starred in Al Salir de Clase (1997-1999), a TV series about the lives of a group of teenagers in Madrid.
Los Hombres de Paco / Paco's Men (2005-2009) catapulted her into international stardom and fame, with her character Silvia Castro Leon. It created a new fan-base, and countless forums and websites (in many languages) dedicated to her character Silvia and the love story between Silvia and Pepa . . However, to great dismay of the series and her character's fans, Marián Aguilera left the show in 2009 to allow herself to grow , going to drama school to experience and rediscover herself as an actress. After those years ,she began working on several classic and contemporary theatre plays. She re-appeared in the series' final season a few times as an illusion/imagination (or perhaps a ghost) to Paco, and after that, performed the role of the forensic doctor in the series 'Homicidios' .
For her performance in Los Hombres de Paco, she was nominated Best TV Actress at the 60th Fotogramas de Plata . Internationally, AfterEllen.com also placed her character Silvia Castro in its list of Top 50 Lesbian/Bisexual Characters in March 2010.- A gentle redhead with a peaches and cream complexion, Marilyn Betty Erskine had a notably early start in show biz, perhaps encouraged by her father Robert, who presided over the New York City Credit Bureau. By the age of three, Marilyn was active on the airwaves at a Buffalo radio station. Between 1948 and 1960, she featured on numerous nationwide radio shows, including The Cavalcade of America, Radio City Playhouse and Let's Pretend. She had extensive theatrical experience from the age of eleven, appearing on and off-Broadway in plays like The Primrose Path, Our Town and The Linden Tree. In later years, she recalled an incident while performing in The Shining Hour, which starred Jane Cowl and had Marilyn playing the role of ingénue: "I was supposed to trip lightly down a flight of stairs and get on with the dialogue. But-on the top stair I tripped and fell the whole flight right into the arms of Miss Cowl. Personally, I think mine was an entrance that never has been topped!"
Marilyn began acting on the screen in 1949, though films offered her little more than small supporting roles. A possible highlight may have been the part of Eddie Cantor 's wife Ida in The Eddie Cantor Story (1953). She fared rather better on television where she managed to amass an impressive resume in anthology drama appearances between 1953 and 1962. She also had a recurring role in the short-lived CBS sitcom The Tom Ewell Show (1960) as the star's wife Fran. Towards the close of her career, Marilyn had featured roles in Perry Mason (1957) and Ironside (1967), both starring Raymond Burr.
Marilyn's first husband (for all of two months) was the distinguished director and producer Stanley Kramer. She was subsequently married for five years to a Dr. Samuel Eugene Neikrug. Her third husband, Charles William Curland, was a senior partner in the Los Angeles insurance firm of Curland, Moss & Meltzer. They had two children. Curland died in 2012. - Actress
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Mary Faber was born in Greenville, North Carolina, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Parks and Recreation (2009), Kidding (2018) and The Brink (2015).- Mary Fickett was born on 23 May 1928 in Bronxville, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for All My Children (1970), The Nurses (1965) and Kathy O' (1958). She was married to Allen Fristoe, Jay Leonard Scheer and James Congdon. She died on 8 September 2011 in Callao, Virginia, USA.
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Mary Field was born on 10 June 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Ball of Fire (1941), Shadows on the Stairs (1941) and The Prince and the Pauper (1937). She was married to Allan Douglas and James Madison Walters II. She died on 12 June 1996 in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.- Actress
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Mary Fuller's entrance into motion pictures was quite accidental. She was with a theatrical troupe that was on its way to tour the South in 1908 when, during a short stopover in New York City, the company broke up. Stranded, Mary made her way to the Vitagraph film studio looking for a job and, with her experience and attractiveness, was put to work in action and comedy one-reelers. By 1914 she had achieved enough recognition for Edison to give her the lead in a serial, which was a big hit. Universal Pictures took notice of her, and she headed west. However, two years later she just packed up and walked away from Hollywood. She made one picture in 1917, then disappeared. A magazine writer found her in 1924, living in Washington, DC, with her mother. She said that she had tired of the hard work involved in making pictures, that she had invested her money and was living comfortably. She mentioned that she was thinking of going back to making films, but soon after the interview was published, she disappeared again. Nothing was ever heard from her until 1973, when it was discovered that she had died, of natural causes, in a Washington, DC, mental hospital. No one had ever been able to find out for certain what happened to her between her 1924 interview and her death in 1973.- Actress
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Mary Pat Gleason was born on 23 February 1950 in Lake City, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Intolerable Cruelty (2003), The Crucible (1996) and A Cinderella Story (2004). She died on 2 June 2020 in Burbank, California, USA.