Mary Carlisle

Mary Carlisle
Born	February 3, 1912 (1912-02-03) (age 97) Boston, Massachusetts
Years active	1930 – 1943
Spouse(s)	James Blakeley

Mary Carlisle (born February 3, 1912) is a retired American actress and singer.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she was a star of Hollywood films in the 1930s, having been one of fifteen girls selected as "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1932. The archetypal blonde, Mary Carlisle was brought to Hollywood at the age of four by her recently widowed mother. While eating lunch with her mother at the Universal Pictures commissary, Mary was spotted by Carl Laemmle, Jr. and offered a screen test. Carlisle was interested, but decided to finish school before launching her film career. Carlisle finally stepped in front of the cameras in 1930, appearing in her first film, Madame Satan, directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

She subsequently freelanced in eighteen movies, alternating between supporting and leading roles. She co-starred in three films with Bing Crosby: College Humor, Double or Nothing and Doctor Rhythm.

In 1934, Carlisle was featured opposite Ralph Bellamy and Fay Wray in Once to Every Woman, based on a story by A.J. Cronin. She also starred with Robert Armstrong and Richard Cromwell, for Producers Releasing Corporation, in Baby Face Morgan (1942).

During Carlisle's first decade in Hollywood, her mother became the second wife of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Carlisle herself married New York socialite James Blakely, an erstwhile film actor who later became an executive producer at 20th Century-Fox. Blakely died on January 30, 2007.

Mary Carlisle retired from films in 1942. Seven years later, she began a second career as the manager of the Elizabeth Arden Salon in Beverly Hills, California. Carlisle recently received a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Of the fifteen girls selected as "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1932, only Carlisle and Gloria Stuart survive. Barbara Kent also survives, but was chosen as a "WAMPAS Baby Star" in 1927.^[1]

References

External links

• Mary Carlisle at the Internet Movie Database
• Mary Carlisle at Allmovie
• Photographs of Mary Carlisle

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