Mary Carlisle
| Mary Carlisle | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | February 3, 1912 or February 3, 1914 (sources differ) |
| Occupation | Actress singer dancer |
| Years active | 1923–1943 |
| Spouse(s) | James Blakeley (1942–2007; his death) |
| Children | 1 |
Mary Carlisle (born February 3, 1912 or February 3, 1914; sources differ) is a retired American actress, singer and dancer. Raised in Boston, Massachusetts, she starred in several Hollywood films in the 1930s, having been one of 15 girls selected as WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1932. Her first major role was in the 1933 film College Humor with Bing Crosby. The two went on to perform together in two additional films, Double or Nothing (1937) and Doctor Rhythm (1938). Carlisle retired from her acting career shortly after her marriage in 1942, with Dead Men Walk (1943) being her final film credit.
Mary Carlisle was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Born into a religious family, she was educated in a convent in Back Bay, Boston after her family moved to that neighborhood when she was 6 months old. Some time after her father's death when she was four years old, Carlisle and her mother relocated to Los Angeles.
Carlisle's uncle, who lived in California, gave her the opportunity to appear in the Jackie Coogan silent movie Long Live the King in 1923. She was uncredited.
Carlisle was discovered by studio executive Carl Laemmle, Jr. at the age of 14 while she was eating lunch with her mother at the Universal Studios commissionary. Carlisle, at 5 feet tall, with blonde hair, dimples and big, round blue eyes, was praised for her angelic looks, and Laemmle offered her a screen test. Though she passed the test and started doing extra work at Universal, she was stopped by a welfare officer who noticed that she was underaged and had to finish school first.
After completing her education two years later, she headed to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio for work in movies. The casting director asked if she could dance; when she replied that she could, he arranged for an audition to take place a couple of days later. Carlisle, who had lied about her good dancing abilities, took a one-day basic tap dancing lesson, won the part along with future star Ann Dvorak and appeared briefly in one film. She signed a one-year contract with MGM in 1930 and was used as a back-up dancer.
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