 (From Old Corral collection) |  | Adele MaraReal name: Adelaide Delgado
1923 - 2010 |
Born in Michigan, Adele Mara became a pretty and perky Republic Pictures singer/dancer and supporting player and did occasional duty as a heroine and leading lady ... sometimes as a blonde and sometimes as a brunette. At Republic, she appeared in nearly four dozen films and was under a term player contract(s) for 7+ years, from April 24, 1944 through June 25, 1951. She worked in a few westerns but her best remembered Republic role was co-starring in the John Wayne SANDS OF IWO JIMA (Republic, 1949). A year earlier, she worked with Wayne in WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (Republic, 1948), portraying Gail Russell's niece. And earlier still, she had a minor bit part in the John Wayne World War II adventure, THE FIGHTING SEABEES (Republic, 1944).
Prior to her Republic contract period, Mara worked as a singer and dancer with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra. In the early 1940s, she signed with Columbia Pictures and her film work there included the female lead to Chester Morris in ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE (Columbia, 1942); she was the heiress being ransomed in the Joe E. Brown western comedy SHUT MY BIG MOUTH (Columbia, 1942); she was the heroine to Bill Elliott and Tex Ritter in VENGEANCE OF THE WEST (Columbia, 1942); and she was the owner of trading post in the Russell Hayden mountie adventure RIDERS OF THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED (Columbia, 1943).
In the early 1950s, Adele Mara retired and married Roy Huggins and the union produced three sons. Huggins was a prolific writer/producer of television shows and his credits include MAVERICK, CHEYENNE, THE ROCKFORD FILES, THE FUGITIVE, more. He passed away in 2002.
Adele Mara's brother Luis Delgado acted in TV and a few films, most of which were associated with James Garner. There's a screen capture showing Luis Delgado in his recurring role as "Officer Billings" in THE ROCKFORD FILES at Tony Sullivan's Actors Compendium website. Go to this webpage and scroll down: http://www.aveleyman.com/TVEpisode.aspx?FilmID=296&Episode=19740327
87 year old Adele Mara passed away on May 7, 2010 of natural causes at her home in Pacific Palisades, California.
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Adele Mara, her actor brother Luis Delgado, and her husband Roy Huggins:
Adele Mara: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0544711/
Luis Delgado (1925 - 2001): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0217001/
Roy Huggins (1914 - 2002): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0400403/
The Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen website includes timelines and more details on Adele Mara's film and personal life: http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/350/Adele+Mara/index.html
 (Courtesy of Minard Coons)
Above from left to right are Adele Mara (as the brunette "Elena Del Rio"), an unidentified player, and Gene Autry in a scene from TWILIGHT ON THE RIO GRANDE (Republic, 1947). This was one of Autry's five post World War II oaters for Republic. After completing these, Gene moved over to Columbia and began a long running series. In TWILIGHT, Adele Mara is the heroine, portraying a cabaret singer/dancer who is searching for her father's killer. |
