Meri Welles
| Meri Welles | |
|---|---|
 Meri Welles.jpg Welles in Alfred Hitchcock Presents | |
| Born | Mary Janet Carsey February 27, 1937 Dallas, Texas, USA |
| 💀Died | August 27, 1973 (aged 36) Dallas, Texas, USAAugust 27, 1973 (aged 36) |
| 💼 Occupation |
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| 📆 Years active | 1959–1973 |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Gene Arthur Cates (m. 1955; div. 1959) Mel Welles (m. 1959; div. 1962) Ray Malone (m. 1962; died 1970) Michael M. Moses (m. 1970; div. 1971) |
| 👶 Children | Michael Timothy Cates Kevin Welles |
| 👪 Relatives |
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Meri Welles (born Mary Janet Carsey; February 27, 1937 – August 27, 1973) was an American actress and singer whose career spanned from the 1960s to the early 1970s.
She starred in many Hollywood films, including six iconic roles in The Little Shop of Horrors (1960, with Mel Welles), The Devil Is a Woman (1962, with Penny Wise) and The Pink Panther (1963). She successfully traded on her glamorous persona and exotic looks, and became one of the era's highest-paid actresses.
Life and career
Mary Janet Carsey was born on February 27, 1937, to Charles Brown Carsey (1904–1990) and Ethel Rowena Pierce (1914–2002) in Dallas, Texas. She had two brothers, Eric (born December 7, 1939) and James (born January 27, 1941), and two sisters, Sally (born December 21, 1943) and Lucille (born October 10, 1948); her siblings are famous actors.
In 1955, she married Gene Arthur Cates, had son Michael Timothy Cates (born October 14, 1956), and divorced on May 25, 1959.
In 1958, Welles was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 21.
On May 29, 1959, she married Mel Welles, adopted her son Kevin Welles (born December 6, 1958, in Brussels, Belgium), and divorced on September 2, 1962.
On September 7, 1962, she married Ray Malone until his death on April 18, 1970.
On August 29, 1970, she married Michael M. Moses and divorced on January 31, 1971.
She died on August 27, 1973, of a heart attack and drowning in Dallas, Texas, while filming her final film Penny and Randall (1973), a Christmas-musical film that was filmed in McAllen, Texas, before being released on December 21, 1973, as a posthumous release.
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Role | Film Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | The Little Shop of Horrors | Leonora Clyde | The Filmgroup | as Merri Welles; film debut |
| 1961 | The Ladies Man | Working Girl | Paramount Pictures | |
| 1962 | Two Weeks in Another Town | Lew Jordan's wife | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | uncredited |
| Lo sceicco rosso | Izmir | Explorer Film '58 | as Mary Welles | |
| 1963 | Cleopatra | Cleopatra's Handmaiden | Twentieth Century Fox | uncredited |
| Il successo | Tatiana | Cinétel | as Mery Welles | |
| The Pink Panther | Monica Fawn | Mirisch G-E Productions | as Meri Wells | |
| 1964 | A House Is Not a Home | Lorraine | Embassy Pictures | |
| My Kitty Bombay | Penny Cillin | Paramount Pictures | ||
| 1966 | Mike Henry in Tarzan and the Valley of Gold | Ethel | Allfin A.G. | uncredited |
| 1970 | Cauliflower Cupids | Nookie North | Starlite Films | as Meri Carsey Welles |
| 1973 | Penny and Randall | Viola | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | final film role |
Television
- The Deputy - "The Deal" (1959) as Woman
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents - "Madame Mystery" (1960) as Lois
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents - "The Greatest Monster Them All" (1961) as Lara Lee
- The Tab Hunter Show - "Girl Overboard" (1961) as Diana
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents - "A Secret Life" (1961) as Kathleen Perry
- The New Steve Allen Show - "October 1, 1964" (1964)
- The Meri Welles Show (1965–1972)
External links
- Meri Welles on IMDb
- Meri Welles at Find a GraveLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 23: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
