Quick Facts
| Intro | American actress | ||
| A.K.A. | Adelaida Delgado | ||
| Was | Actor Film actor | ||
| From | United States of America | ||
| Field | Film, TV, Stage & Radio | ||
| Gender | female | ||
| Birth | 28 April 1923, Highland Park | ||
| Death | 7 May 2010, Pacific Palisades (aged 87 years) | ||
| Family |
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Biography
Adele Mara (April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010), born Adelaida Delgado, was an American actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s and on television in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1940s, the blonde actress was also a popular pinup girl.
Early years
Mara was born in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents.
Dancing
Mara danced as part of bandleader Xavier Cugat's show as well on two episodes of Maverick entitled Seed of Deception and The Spanish Dancer.
Film
One of Mara's early roles was as a receptionist in the Three Stooges film I Can Hardly Wait featuring Curly Howard. Other films include The Vampire's Ghost, Wake of the Red Witch starring John Wayne, Angel in Exile (leading lady), Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne in which she was John Agar's love interest, California Passage (leading lady), and Don Siegel's Count the Hours (supporting role).
Mara and Leslie Brooks played the sisters of Rita Hayworth's character in the Fred Astaire film You Were Never Lovelier. In the film Alias Boston Blackie (1942), she plays the leading female role as the sister of an escaped and wrongfully accused convict.
Television
In 1958, Mara played Maria Costa in the Bat Masterson episode "Double Showdown". In 1961, Mara appeared as a nurse with Cesar Romero on CBS's The Red Skelton Show in a sketch titled "Deadeye and The Alamo". About this time, she guest-starred on the NBC Western series, The Tall Man, as well as three episodes of Maverick and episodes of Laramie and Tales of Wells Fargo.
Personal
Mara was married to screenwriter/series creator/producer/novelist Roy Huggins and appeared as the leading lady in three episodes of his 1957 television series Maverick. They had three sons, Thomas in 1960, John in 1961, and James Patrick in 1963.
Mara's brother, Luis Delgado (1925–1997) played small, often uncredited roles in films and TV, especially in the projects of his close friend James Garner, for whom Delgado also worked as a personal assistant.
Death
Mara died of natural causes on May 7, 2010.
Selected filmography
- Honolulu Lu (1941) as Debutante (uncredited)
- Navy Blues (1941)
- You Were Never Lovelier (1942) as Lita Acuna
- Alias Boston Blackie (1942) as Eve Sanders
- Blondie Goes to College (1942) as Babs Connelly
- Shut My Big Mouth (1942)
- Crime Doctor (1943) as Nurse (uncredited)
- Redhead from Manhattan (1943) as Check Girl (uncredited)
- Riders of the Northwest Mounted (1943) as Gabrielle Renaud (uncredited)
- Reveille with Beverly (1943) as Evelyn Ross
- Call of the South Seas (1944) as Aritana
- Atlantic City (1944) as Adele - Barmaid
- The Fighting Seabees (1944) as Twinkler Tucker - Jitterbugger (uncredited)
- Faces in the Fog (1944) as Gertrude
- Thoroughbreds (1944) as Sally Crandall
- Girls of the Big House (1945) as Harriett
- Song of Mexico (1945) as Carol Adams
- The Tiger Woman (1945) as Sharon Winslow
- Bells of Rosarita (1945) as Patty Phillips
- Flame of Barbary Coast (1945) as Marie (uncredited)
- The Vampire's Ghost (1945) as Lisa
- Earl Carroll Vanities (1945) as Chorine (uncredited)
- Grissly's Millions (1945) as Maribelle
- The Inner Circle (1946) as Geraldine Travis alias Gerry Smith
- I've Always Loved You (1946) as Senorita Fortalega
- The Magnificent Rogue (1946) as Sugar Lee
- The Invisible Informer (1946) as Marie Ravelle
- The Last Crooked Mile (1946) as Bonnie
- Night Train to Memphis (1946) as Constance Stephenson
- Traffic in Crime (1946) as Silk Cantrell
- Passkey to Danger (1946) as Renee Beauchamps
- The Catman of Paris (1946) as Marguerite Duval
- A Guy Could Change (1946) as Bernice
- Exposed (1947) as Belinda Prentice
- Blackmail (1947) as Sylvia Duane
- Robin Hood of Texas (1947) as Julie
- The Trespasser (1947) as Deedee
- Web of Danger (1947) as Peg Mallory
- Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947) as Elena Del Rio
- Wake of the Red Witch (1948) as Teleia Van Schreeven
- Night Time in Nevada (1948) as Joan Andrews
- Angel in Exile (1948) as Raquel Chavez
- I, Jane Doe (1948) as Marga-Jane Hastings
- The Gallant Legion (1948) as Catalina
- Campus Honeymoon (1948) as Bessie Ormsbee
- The Main Street Kid (1948) as Gloria
- Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) as Allison Bromley
- Rock Island Trail (1950) as Constance Strong
- California Passage (1950) as Beth Martin
- The Avengers (1950) as Maria Moreno
- The Sea Hornet (1951) as Suntan Radford aka Golbraid
- Count the Hours (1953) as Gracie Sager - Max Verne's girlfriend
- The Black Whip (1956) as Ruthie Dawson
- Back from Eternity (1956) as Maria Alvarez, an airplane stewardess
- Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) as Maria Fiorillo
- The Big Circus (1959) as Maria 'Mama' Colino
