Mary Stuart (actress)

Mary Stuart
Stuart in 1947.
Born	Mary Houchins July 4, 1926 Miami, Florida, U.S.
Died	February 28, 2002 (aged 75) New York, New York, U.S.
Years active	1941–2002
Spouse(s)	Richard Krolik (1951–66; divorced); 2 children Wolfgang Neumann (1986–2002; her death)

Mary Stuart (July 4, 1926 – February 28, 2002) was an American actress, guitarist, singer, and songwriter.

She was born as Mary Houchins in Miami, Florida to Guy M. and Mary (née Stuart) Houchins. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she graduated from Tulsa Central High School and attended the University of Tulsa before embarking on her professional career. She left home at age 17 for New York City, where her career started, and where she returned after finding Hollywood too stressful. Her eventual stage name was her mother's maiden name.

After appearing in various bit parts in several movies throughout the 1940s, Warner Brothers offered her a three-year contract in 1948. She appeared with such stars as Errol Flynn (in Adventures of Don Juan), Clark Gable (in The Hucksters), Esther Williams (in This Time for Keeps) and Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball (in The Big Street).

After her film career ended,CBS offered Stuart a role in a new undertaking that would become known as the soap opera, or daytime serial. Their first project, The First Hundred Years, was short lived. It had been canceled after just one year on the air. The executives at CBS were wary of launching a second show, but they saw a future in soaps in the person of Mary Stuart after her screen test. It was then that they commissioned a second series. Stuart was cast as housewife "Joanne Gardner". The new serial was called Search for Tomorrow and it turned out to be very successful. Stuart would become synonymous with her character. Search for Tomorrow ran for thirty-five years until 1986 when it was finally canceled. During that time she was widowed three times and went through many trials and tribulations.

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