Jack Arnold’s movie made an actress who worked alongside stars like James Stewart, Rock Hudson and Elvis Presley an icon of fantasy horror
Julie Adams (born Betty May Adams) was a television and film actress who was born in Waterloo, Iowa, on October 17, 1926, and during the following years moved constantly with her family. At that time, his longest stay in a city was eight years in Blytheville, Arkansas. Before beginning her acting career, Adams worked as a secretary. In 1946, at the age of 19, she was crowned Miss Little Rock and moved to Hollywood (California) to become an actress.
The actress used her birth name until 1949, when she began working at Universal Pictures, the same studio where she met celebrities such as James Best, Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. She first adopted the name Julia, which was chosen by the movie studio, but as Adams was not comfortable with that new name finally Universal allowed her to change it to Julie.
Julie Adams in ‘The Woman and the Monster’.
His film debut was with a small role in ‘Red, Hot and Blue!’ (1949), a musical comedy directed by John Farrow. The same year he achieved his leading role in the western ‘The Dalton Gang’, directed by Ford Beebe. During the following regular years her appearances in western series B. One of her most remembered roles in the cinema was that of Kay Lawrence in the horror and science fiction film ‘The Woman and the Monster’ (1954), directed by Jack Arnold , which enshrined it throughout the world. Considered a cult film, for ‘The Woman and the Monster’ she became an iconic figure in fantasy cinema, joining other actresses such as Fay Wray in ‘King Kong’ (1933) or Evelyn Ankers in ‘The Werewolf’ (1941). The image of the sea monster and the beautiful maiden is one of the most remembered of the genre and served as an influence in titles such as ‘Jaws’ (1975), by Steven Spielberg, or the most recent ‘The shape of water’ (2017), by Guillermo del Toro.
Throughout the 50s Julie Adams starred in several films with well-known actors such as James Stewart in ‘Far Horizons’ (1952), Rock Hudson in ‘History of a Condemned’ (1953), directed by Raoul Walsh, Tyrone Power in ‘The Mississippi Player’ (1953), Glenn Ford in ‘The Alamo Deserter’ (1953), Charlton Heston in ‘The Private War of Major Benson’ (1955), Dan Duryea in ‘Slaughter on Tenth Avenue’ ( 1957), Joel McCrea in ‘The Gunfight at Dodge City’ (1959) or ‘Make me tickle’ (1965), in which he starred alongside Elvis Presley.
Julie Adams and James Stewart in ‘Far Horizons’.
In the 60s and 70s she turned more towards television: In 1962 she played the nurse Mary Simpson in the series’ The Andy Griffith Show. He also appeared in four episodes of ‘Perry Mason’. Adams acted in the series ‘The Man with the Rifle’ as a character who becomes the romantic passion of the protagonist Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors). The actress appeared in five episodes of ’77 Sunset Strip ‘and three episodes of’ Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ and two of ‘Maverick’. Her other guest star appearances include the series’ McMillan & Wife ‘,’ Police Woman ‘,’ The Streets of San Francisco ‘,’ The Incredible Hulk ‘,’ Cannon ‘,’ Quincy, ME ‘, and’ Cagney & Lacey ‘. Adams co-starred with James Stewart on the NBC series’ The Jimmy Stewart Show ‘from 1971 to 1972. He also played the recurring role of real estate agent Eve Simpson in ten episodes of the CBS series’ Murder, She Wrote. ‘. In 2011 he published his autobiography ‘The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections From the Black Lagoon’, which he wrote with his son Mitchell Danton.
Adams was married twice, to screenwriter Leonard B. Stern between 1951 and 1953 and to actor / director Ray Danton in 1954, from whom she divorced in 1981. Adams and Danton first worked together on the film ‘The Looters’ (1955), and later in ‘Tarawa Beachhead’ (1958) and in a 1972 episode of the television series ‘Night Gallery’. Danton also directed the movie ‘Psychic Killer’ (1975), in which Adams starred. From this second marriage their two children were born, Steven Danton (1956), assistant director, and Mitchell Danton (1962), editor. After her divorce, the actress entered into a romantic relationship with screenwriter Ronald M. Cohen, which lasted until his death in 1998.
His last cinematographic work was putting the voice-over in the original version of the film ‘A Wild God’ (2011) by Roman Polanski. The actress passed away in Los Angeles on February 3, 2019, at the age of 92.
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