Mary Hatcher

Mary Hatcher
Mary Hatcher in Holiday in Havana (1949)
Born	(1929-06-06) June 6, 1929 (age 87) Haines City, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1946 - 1951
Spouse(s)	Herkie Styles Alvin Stoller (1951-1992) (his death)

Mary Hatcher (born June 6, 1929, in Haines City, Florida) is an American singer and actress whose screen career spanned the years from 1946 to 1951. During that time she appeared in eight films, mostly in credited roles and several times as leading lady.

At the time of Mary's birth, her father Frank was employed by the Polk Company, a large citrus canning firm owned by Ralph Polk Sr. When the company relocated to Tampa, Florida, the Hatcher family followed. Hatcher grew up in Tampa, attending Gorrie Elementary and Woodrow Wilson Junior High, where she often sang at student assemblies, her favorite song being "Alice Blue Gown."

Her father's employer, Ralph Polk, was impressed with young Hatcher's singing talent, and provided funds so that she could obtain professional voice training. In 1937, at age eight, she began music lessons with Frank Grasso, a popular Florida bandleader who was also musical director at WFLA radio in Tampa. Before long, she was singing for local radio broadcasts. Her first public performance was a singing engagement at a Latin-American Fiesta in Tampa in 1940.

During the early months of World War II, Hatcher sang at a number of events in Tampa to raise money for British War Relief. In 1941, her mother took her to New York City, where she performed at Carnegie Hall. While in New York, continued financial aid from Polk enabled Hatcher to obtain vocal instruction from the Juilliard School of Music.

By 1944, the Hatcher family had moved to California, and in August that year Paramount Pictures signed Mary to a seven-year contract. In 1945, Paramount "loaned" Hatcher to the Theatre Guild of New York to play the role of Laurie in a road show version of the musical Oklahoma!. In 1946, she made her first film appearance, an uncredited role as a chorus girl in M-G-M's Till the Clouds Roll By. Her first credited screen role came later that year when she played Dibs Downing in Our Hearts Were Growing Up. She had another uncredited role in the 1947 film, The Trouble with Women.