Although some reference sources cite Mari Blanchard's birth year as 1927 or 1932, she was actually born on April 13, 1923, in Long Beach, California. A polio victim at age nine, Blanchard's health eventually improved enough that she ran away from home and joined a circus in her teens. She then attended the University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara State College. In the late 1940s, Blanchard became a successful print model and film extra; however, after a producer saw her in an advertisement for bubble bath, she began to have some limited success as an actress on the "big screen." From 1950 to 1951, 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 Universal was Back at the Front, followed by the 1953 romantic adventure The Veils of Bagdad in which she co-starred with Victor Mature. One of Blanchard's more memorable film roles, however, was her portrayal of a Venusian queen, Allura, in the 1953 comedy Abbott and CostelloGo to Mars. She then starred in 1954 in Destry, a Western with Audie Murphy, reprising a character whom Marlene Dietrich had played in the story's original 1939 version, Destry Rides Again, but changing the character's name from "Frenchy" to "Brandy." Some other films of the 1950s in which she is featured include Son of Sinbad, The Cruel Tower, Stagecoach to Fury, She Devil, No Place to Land, Machete, and Karasu. Following her work on these films, Blanchard began to focus increasingly on performing on television, although she did appear in a few other films in the 1960s, including a small but flamboyant role as Camille in McLintock!, directed by Andrew MacLaglen and starring John Wayne. On television, in 1955, Blanchard appeared in "Escape From Fear", an episode of the series Climax!. In 1959 she co-starred with Cesar Romero on the series Rawhide in "Incident of the Stalking Death" In 1962, she then guest-starred as murder victim Irene Chase in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Melancholy Marksman." In 1961, she played Countess Van Hohenstein in season 3, episode 39, "The Positive Negative", of 77 Sunset Strip.
Personal life
Blanchard was married three times: to lawyer Reese Hale Taylor, Jr. ; George Shepard ; and to photographer Vincent J. Conti. Retiring from film work after the release of McLintock! in 1963, Blanchard continued to perform on a few television series until her failing health finally forced her to end her career. Her last credited performance was in 1968, playing the part of Madame Gamar on the series It Takes a Thief. Diagnosed with cancer in 1963, she struggled with the disease in those final performances and during her remaining years. On May 10, 1970, she died in Woodland Hills, California; and in accordance with her wishes, her remains were cremated and scattered at sea.
