Actress Mara Corday Passes Away at 96 in Valencia Home

Mara Corday, the celebrated Hollywood starlet of the 1950s, passed away at 96 from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease at her home in Valencia, California.

Born Marilyn Watts on January 3, 1930, to parents Emerson Watts and Shirley Wood, she adopted the name Mara for its exotic appeal and chose Corday, inspired by a perfume brand.

Her family endured financial hardships during the Depression era, shaping her early life.

As a child, Corday’s outgoing personality and vivid imagination led her to spend entire days with her elder brother Richard at local movie theaters for just a nickel, memorizing nearly every line from the films she watched.

These Depression-era theater visits ignited her passion for cinema, fueling her dreams of a career in show business.

In 1958, Corday graced Playboy as one of the magazine’s Playmates of the Month for October.

Through Hollywood agent Paul Kohner, Corday landed TV roles in The Adventures of Kit Carson and Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, and starred in films like Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) and Problem Girls (1953).

She gained prominence opposite John Agar in the 1955 sci-fi film Tarantula and appeared in The Giant Claw and The Black Scorpion in 1957.

While filming The Giant Claw, Corday, newly pregnant, hid her condition from colleagues to secure her role, as reported by The Washington Post.

In 1957, Corday married actor Richard Long, with whom she had three children: Carey, Valerie, and Greg.

Her marriage to Long was turbulent, as she revealed in Westerns Women, stating, “I divorced him ten times the first year of our marriage, getting a lawyer and everything, and thirteen times the second year. He’d plead — literally on his hands and knees, “Please forgive me, I don’t know why I did it, give me another chance.”

Richard Long limited Corday’s career during their marriage, which ended with his death in 1974.

Clint Eastwood’s mentorship significantly revitalized Corday’s career, casting her in the 1977 action thriller The Gauntlet and expanding her opportunities after her early success in science fiction films.

Eastwood’s influence allowed Corday to explore diverse genres, moving beyond sci-fi into Westerns and other films, including Sudden Impact (1983).

Corday and Eastwood shared a close friendship, fostering a collaborative and supportive working relationship, as noted by The Washington Post.

This friendship likely opened doors for continued work within Eastwood’s circle, as highlighted on Facebook, leading to roles in Pink Cadillac (1989) and The Rookie (1990), her final film credits.

The Washington Post reported that Corday’s three children, Carey, Valerie, and Greg, survive her, though a complete list of survivors could not be confirmed, as efforts to reach her family were unsuccessful.