Mara Corday - Fact Sheet

Profession: Centerfold

One day on the beach, at age 15 (and beginning to blossom), she was approached by a boy who needed a model for a photo contest in the local paper. Agreeing to pose, the picture was submitted and won the contest. At 17, Marilyn's mother - eager for Marilyn to seek gainful employment, prompted her to audition at the famed "Earl Carroll Theatre" - a cabaret-restaurant which boasted: "through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world." To their delight, Marilyn was selected to join the chorus line (although secretly still underage). Now officially considering herself working in show business, she fashioned herself the name "Mara Corday" - believing it to be more exotic or glamourous. Within the first year, "Mara" graduated from the ensemble line to principal showgirl, then on to performing skits with the shows comic star, Pinky Lee. Appearing in a small theatre production of "The Time of Your Life", she was "discovered" by an influential Hollywood talent agent, Paul Kohner, and quickly signed to his agency. Mostly cast in a string of small "forgettable" roles in various television shows, it was not until Hal Wallis, a powerful producer saw Mara's photo in a magazine and screen tested her that she joined his small stable of actors in 1953. 

Click here for biography in its original context.

Mara Corday Photo Galleries	# of Pictures
Glamour	125