Marilyn Joan Long ( Watts; January 3, 1930 – February 9, 2025), known professionally as Mara Corday, was an American actress, showgirl, model and Playboy Playmate who was a 1950s cult figure during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Early life Marilyn Joan Watts was born in Santa Monica, California, on January 3, 1930. Wanting a career in films, she came to Hollywood while still in her teens and found work as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard. Her physical beauty brought jobs as a photographer's model that led to a bit part as a showgirl in the 1951 film Two Tickets to Broadway.
Dancing One of Corday's first professional jobs was as a dancer in the Earl Carroll Revue in Hollywood. Accompanied by her mother, Corday auditioned when she was 15 years old. During the 2½ years that she was in the show, she advanced "from showgirl to actress in the sketches". This was also when she adopted the stage name Mara Corday, because it made her seem more exotic. The name Mara came from a bongo player who called her Marita when Corday was working as an usher at the Mayan Theater; the name Corday was lifted from a bottle of perfume.
Film
Corday signed with Universal-International Pictures as a contract player, where she was given small roles in various B-movies and television series. In 1954, while on the set of Playgirl, she met actor and future husband Richard Long.
Her acting roles were small until 1955, when she was cast opposite John Agar and Leo G. Carroll in the successful science-fiction film Tarantula, which has Clint Eastwood in a very brief role as a jet fighter pilot. She had two other co-starring roles in the genre, The Black Scorpion and The Giant Claw (both 1957), as well as in a number of Western films, including Man Without a Star, A Day of Fury, and Raw Edge. Film critic Leonard Maltin said Corday had "more acting ability than she was permitted to exhibit".
A few years after her husband's death in 1974, Corday's old friend Eastwood offered her a chance to return to films with a role in his 1977 film The Gauntlet. She also had a brief but significant role in Sudden Impact (1983), where she played the waitress who dumped sugar into the coffee of Det. Harry Callahan in that film's iconic "Go ahead, make my day" sequence. She acted with Eastwood again in his 1989 film Pink Cadillac, as well as in her last film, 1990's The Rookie.
Modeling Corday appeared as a pinup girl in numerous men's magazines during the 1950s and was the Playmate of the October 1958 issue of Playboy, along with model Pat Sheehan.
Television In 1956, Corday had a recurring role in the ABC television series Combat Sergeant. From 1959 to early 1961, Corday worked exclusively doing guest spots on various television series, such as Peter Gunn in the episode, “Keep Smiling”. She also guest starred with Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive in April 1960.
Personal life and death Following the 1955 death of Suzan Ball, the first wife of actor Richard Long, Corday began dating Long, and they married in 1957. Through Long's sister Barbara, Corday was a sister-in-law of actor Marshall Thompson.
In the early 1960s, Corday gave up her career to devote herself to raising a family. Widowed in 1974, she had two sons and one daughter with Long, during their 17-year marriage.
Corday had also been a friend of actor Clint Eastwood, whom she met while working for Universal Pictures.
Corday died from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease at her home in Valencia, California, on February 9, 2025, at the age of 95.
Filmography Features
Year Title Role Notes1951 Two Tickets to Broadway Showgirl / Passerby on Sidewalk Uncredited1952 Sea Tiger Lola, Hotel Proprietress Son of Ali Baba Girl on Balcony Uncredited Toughest Man in Arizona Bit Role Uncredited1953 The Lady Wants Mink Model Problem Girls Dorothy Childers Tarzan and the She-Devil Locopo Woman Uncredited Sweethearts on Parade Belle Money from Home Waitress Uncredited1954 Yankee Pasha Harem Girl Uncredited Playgirl Pam Drums Across the River Sue Francis Joins the WACS Kate Dawn at Socorro Letty Diamond1955 So This Is Paris Yvonne Man Without a Star Moccasin Mary The Man from Bitter Ridge Holly Kenton Tarantula Stephanie 'Steve' Clayton Foxfire Maria - Hugh Slater's Nurse1956 Raw Edge Paca A Day of Fury Sharman Fulton Naked Gun Louisa Jackson / Morales1957 The Quiet Gun Irene The Giant Claw Sally Caldwell Undersea Girl Valerie Hudson The Black Scorpion Teresa Alvarez1958 Girls on the Loose Vera Parkinson 1977 The Gauntlet Jail Matron1983 Sudden Impact Loretta - Coffee Shop Waitress1989 Pink Cadillac Stick Lady1990 The Rookie Interrogator #2 Final film role
Partial television credits
Year Title Role Notes1951 The Adventures of Kit CarsonLola La Vada/Janet Cronin /Juanita 3 episodes1952-1953 Craig Kennedy, Criminologist Lucille Merrill/ Mae Gibson/ Greta Varden 3 episodes1953 The Adventures of Kit CarsonMrs. Drake Episode: "Ventura Feud"Mr. and Mrs. NorthCynthia Stone Episode: "The Third Eye"1959 The Restless Gun Della Episode: "Shadow of a Gunfighter"Peter Gunn Emily - Blackmailer Episode: "Keep Smiling"Tales of Wells Fargo Ruby Episode: "The Train Robbery"The Man from BlackhawkAnnabel Episode: "Contraband Cargo" 1960 Adventures in Paradise Angel Episode: "Walk Through the Night"1961 Surfside 6 Bonnie Scott Episode: "An Overdose of Justice"
See also List of people in Playboy 1953–1959
References
External links