Actors - Mary Stuart

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	Actors - Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart (July 4, 1926 — February 28, 2002) was an American actress and singer/songwriter. She was born Mary Stuart Houchins in Miami, Florida, but grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her middle name (and eventual stage name) was her mother's maiden name.

Career

Movies

After appearing in various bit parts in several movies throughout the 1940s, Warner Brothers offered her a three-year contract in 1948. Throughout her movie career, she appeared with stars like Ronald Reagan (in The Girl from Jones Beach), Errol Flynn (in The 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).

Soap operas

After her contract was up, CBS offered her a role in a new undertaking: the daytime serial. Their first serial, The First Hundred Years, was canceled after just one year on the air. The executives at CBS were wary of launching a second show, but they saw hope in Stuart, and it was after her screen test that they commissioned a second series.

They cast her as midwestern housewife Joanne on the new serial, entitled Search for Tomorrow. The show turned out to be very successful, and Stuart became synonymous with the show and her character. The show ran for thirty-five years before it was canceled in 1986.

After taking bit roles in other soap operas, Stuart settled into a retirement, after working nearly 40 years without breaks. In 1996, she accepted the role of Meta Bauer on Guiding Light. She played the role until her death in 2002.

Singer

A singer, Stuart collaborated with Percy Faith for an album in 1956 and with Michel Legrand in 1973. A guitar player, she penned and sang songs on Search for Tomorrow.

Private life

Stuart was married to CEO of Time/Life Richard Krolik from 1951 to 1966; she gave birth to son Jeffrey in 1955 and daughter Cynthia in 1956. After her divorce, Stuart alleged in the book All My Afternoons that Krolik was frequently verbally abusive. Stuart recounted that she secretly worked on a children's book; when she told Krolik, he threw the manuscript across the room and yelled, "How do you expect to write a book if you've never read one?" The incident discouraged Stuart and she never sought out a publisher for the book.

After her divorce, Stuart cut her hair in a more modern hairstyle; her character on Search for Tomorrow was known for her bun hairdo and it necessitated a big change in storyline when she cut her hair. Stuart remained single for two decades before marrying Wolfgang Neumann in 1986.

When she died in 2002 of a stroke, it was revealed that Stuart was also suffering from gastric cancer and bone cancer.

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