Mary Beth Hughes

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Mary Beth Hughes (November 13, 1919 – August 27, 1995) was an American film, television, and stage actress best known for her roles in B movies.

Early life and career

Born Mary Elizabeth Hughes in Alton, Illinois, Hughes' parents divorced in 1923. After the divorce, Hughes' mother, Mary Frances Hughes, moved with her only child to Washington, D.C. As a child, Hughes began acting in stage productions. While acting in a school play in the early 1930s, her performance caught the attention of Clifford Brown, a repertory theater company owner, who offered her a part in a touring production of Alice in Wonderland. While touring with another production in Brown's company, she was offered a contract from a talent scout with Gaumont-British Studios, but declined the offer to finish high school.

Upon graduating from high school in 1937, she returned to Brown's theater company where she continued to appear in various stage productions until the summer of 1938 when she relocated to Los Angeles with her mother to pursue a film career. After six months of failing to land movie roles, Hughes and her mother made plans to return to Washington, D.C. until Hughes met an agent, Wally Ross. Ross introduced Hughes to powerful William Morris agent Johnny Hyde. Hyde landed Hughes a contract with MGM, and she soon landed a small, uncredited role in the 1939 film Broadway Serenade.

Film career

After Broadway Serenade, Hughes appeared in other bit parts in films including The Women with Norma Shearer, Dancing Co-Ed with Lana Turner, and the Busby Berkeley film Fast and Furious.

In 1940, Hughes was offered a contract with 20th Century Fox. Later that year, she landed a role opposite John Barrymore in The Great Profile, a role that she later noted as one of her favorites. In 1943, Fox did not renew her contract when it expired, and the following year, Hughes began appearing as a nightclub act and she soon signed a three-picture deal with Universal Pictures.

Throughout the mid-1940s and 1950s, Hughes appeared in film and television roles including the cult classic I Accuse My Parents (which was later parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3000), Waterfront at Midnight, The Devil's Henchman, The Abbott and Costello Show, Dragnet, and Studio One.

Later years

In 1961, Hughes decided to retire from acting and began working as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office. While working as a receptionist, she also continued her appearances in nightclubs. The following year, she directed and starred in a Los Angeles production of Pajama Tops. For the rest of the 1960s, she would go on to appear in television shows like Rawhide and Dennis the Menace. In 1970, she landed a regular role on The Red Skelton Show, appearing in 11 episodes before the show ended later that year. In 1976, she again retired from show business citing that she was "tired of auditioning for sexy grandma roles".Hughes' last onscreen appearances was in the 1976 film Tanya.

In the late 1970s, Hughes opened a beauty parlor in Canoga Park, California. She closed the shop in the late 1980s and began working as a telemarketer until 1991 when she was laid off.

Personal life

As a starlet under contract with MGM, Hughes went on studio appointed dates with several actors including Lew Ayres, Franchot Tone, Mickey Rooney, and James Stewart. While under contract to Fox, she also went prearranged dates with Milton Berle and George Montgomery.

In 1940, against Fox's wishes, Hughes began a relationship with actor Robert Stack. The romance lasted a year.

After her romance with Stack ended, Hughes married actor Ted North in 1943. The couple had one son, Donald, before divorcing in 1947. In 1948, she married singer/actor David Street. The marriage ended in 1956. In 1973, Hughes married her manager, Nicky Stewart, but that marriage also ended in divorce four years later.

Death

Mary Beth Hughes died at the age of 75 on August 27, 1995 of natural causes in Los Angeles.

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