Actress. Born Mary Laura Briley, to a father of Swedish, Scottish and Irish descent, who was an auto engineer, she was raised in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. Her first inkling of becoming a performer was during her teens, initially as a singer and after her graduation from the University of Michigan from where she studied Journalism and Political Science, she joined the Vanguard Playhouse in Detroit. While singing in a Detroit nightclub, she was discovered by a Hollywood agent and given a screen test. This led to her being put under contract with Universal Studios and by the mid 1960s, she had displayed her beauty in a wide range of TV programs including "The Twilight Zone," "The Richard Boone Show," "I Spy," "Dr. Kildare" and "The Fugitive." She moved onto motion pictures and had a sultry role opposite James Caan in the Howard Hawks film "Red Line 7000" and further credits with "Chamber of Horrors" (1966), "A Covenant of Death" (1967), and "Gunn" (1967). She was formerly married to actor Brian Kelly ("Flipper") and Academy Award-winning composer Maurice Jarre. She was the mother of screenwriter Kevin Jarre. She died from heart failure.
Actress. Born Mary Laura Briley, to a father of Swedish, Scottish and Irish descent, who was an auto engineer, she was raised in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. Her first inkling of becoming a performer was during her teens, initially as a singer and after her graduation from the University of Michigan from where she studied Journalism and Political Science, she joined the Vanguard Playhouse in Detroit. While singing in a Detroit nightclub, she was discovered by a Hollywood agent and given a screen test. This led to her being put under contract with Universal Studios and by the mid 1960s, she had displayed her beauty in a wide range of TV programs including "The Twilight Zone," "The Richard Boone Show," "I Spy," "Dr. Kildare" and "The Fugitive." She moved onto motion pictures and had a sultry role opposite James Caan in the Howard Hawks film "Red Line 7000" and further credits with "Chamber of Horrors" (1966), "A Covenant of Death" (1967), and "Gunn" (1967). She was formerly married to actor Brian Kelly ("Flipper") and Academy Award-winning composer Maurice Jarre. She was the mother of screenwriter Kevin Jarre. She died from heart failure.
Bio by: C.S.
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