Mari Blanchard

Short Biography

Born Mary Blanchard on April 13, 1923 (some sources cite 1927 and 1932 as her date of birth) in Long Beach, California, Mari Blanchard was a beautiful blonde actress who almost exclusively appeared in B movies. At the age of nine, she contracted a crippling case of polio but fought back against her illness and was walking again by age eleven. Blanchard attended the University of Southern California in the 1940s and was a law student for a period of time. In 1950, she was discovered by a producer who had seen her in a bubble bath ad. In the 1940s, Blanchard was a successful print model and film extra, and her beautiful features made her a natural for films. She was signed to a Paramount contract in 1950 but didn't remain with the studio for long. Blanchard soon found success as an actress. From 1951 to 1952, she took small roles in a number of films at MGM, RKO, and Paramount, until she was signed by Universal-International in 1952. Her first film at the studio was Back at the Front (1952; with Tom Ewell and Harvey Lembeck). Throughout her film career, Blanchard excelled at playing bad girls and ladies of ill-repute. She concentrated her efforts primarily in comedies and westerns but acted in a variety of film genres. In the early to mid 1950s, she dated a string of men, including Greg Bautzer, once Joan Crawford's paramour. After a couple of brief marriages in the early 1960s, she dated Mel Torme before marrying photographer Vince Conti in 1966.After being diagnosed with cancer in 1963, Mari Blanchard abandoned her career upon the release of McLintock! (1963; with John Wayne and Yvonne De Carlo). While remaining retired from films, she acted in several TV programs when her cancer went into remission. Sadly, her cancer returned and, after a long struggle, Mari Blanchard passed away at age 47 on May 10, 1970. She was survived by her third husband and her mother.