Mara Corday, beloved by generations of classic monster movie fans as the star of Tarantula, died in February, with the news only now becoming public months later.
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The Golden Age actress, showgirl, and Playboy Playmate passed away on Feb. 9 at her home in Valencia, California. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health via The Washington Post, the cause of death was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Marilyn Joan Watts was born on Jan. 3, 1930, in Santa Monica. As a teenager, she worked as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard, where she adopted her stage name. In October 1958, she was Playboy‘s Playmate of the Month.
Mara Corday Becomes a 1950s Era Scream Queen
Corday’s breakout film role came in the 1955 sci-fi cult classic Tarantula (which was also the debut film of Clint Eastwood), starring alongside John Agar and Leo G. Carroll. The film was helmed by Jack Arnold, the director of the Universal Monster hallmark, Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Per IMDb, Corday went on to pop up in roles in sci-fi classics like The Black Scorpion (1957) and The Giant Claw (1957). She also left her mark on the Western genre, appearing in films such as Drums Across the River (1954), The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955), and Man Without a Star (1955).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, she said she was particularly proud of her turn as a fun-loving French girl in the 1954 musical comedy So This Is Paris, starring alongside Tony Curtis and Gloria DeHaven.
After the death of her husband, Richard Long, in 1974—whom she had met on the set of their 1954 film Playgirl—Corday found support from her friend and Tarantula co-star Clint Eastwood. Eastwood played a pivotal role in reviving her career, casting her in several of his films, including The Gauntlet (1977), Pink Cadillac (1989), and The Rookie (1990).
Mara Corday Shared the Screen with Clint Eastwood in One of His Most Memorable Scenes
In the 1983 Dirty Harry sequel Sudden Impact, Corday plays Loretta, a waitress at the Acorn Cafe. To warn Dirty Harry about a hold-up, she subtly signals him by pouring too much sugar into his coffee. After Harry takes down the gunmen, the last surviving criminal takes Loretta hostage.
The villain tries to decide whether to give in or risk it against Harry.
Of course, this is when Eastwood utters the iconic line, “Go ahead, make my day.”
Meanwhile, Corday admitted having a rocky relationship with her late husband.
“Richard Long was an enigma,” Corday told Western Clippings in 1996. “I divorced him 10 times the first year of our marriage, getting a lawyer and everything … and 13 times the second year. He’d plead — literally on his hands and knees, ‘Please forgive me, I don’t know why I did it, give me another chance.’ I loved him and I am still in love with him — 22 years after his death.”
Corday was predeceased by her son, Carey Long, in 2008. She is survived by her daughter, Valerie Long, and her son, Gregory Long.