Donna Martell

Donna Kay Martell (born December 24, 1927) is an American former actress who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s.

Donna Martell
Martell in The Lineup
Born	(1927-12-24) December 24, 1927 (age 97) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Los Angeles City College
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1947–1963, 1983
Spouse	Gene Corso (1953–1996) (his death)
Children	3[1]

Early years

Born on December 24, 1927, in Los Angeles, California, to Louis and Margaret de Maria,^[2] Martell was active in athletics in high school and attended Los Angeles City College.^[3]

Career

Martell began her film career in 1947 when she was cast in the Republic Pictures western Apache Rose, starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. She continued making appearances throughout the late 1940s, signing a contract with Universal Studios.^[4] In 1951, Columbia Pictures signed her to play the female lead opposite Gene Autry in The Hills of Utah.^[5]

By the time the 1950s arrived, Martell's career shifted towards television. She portrayed Marie DiPaolo in The Bob Cummings Show^[6] and appeared in shows such as Shotgun Slade,^[3] Cavalcade of America, The Range Rider, Bat Masterson and Cheyenne.^[7]

Martell was also in Project Moonbase (also known as Project Moon Base), a 1953 black-and-white science-fiction film directed by Richard Talmadge. The film is unusual for its time in both attempting to portray space travel in a "realistic" manner, and for depicting a future in which women hold positions of authority and responsibility equal to men; in the script Martell's character, Briteis (pronounced “bright-eyes”), is a colonel who has made the first orbital flight around the Earth four years earlier and outranks her fellow male astronaut, a major. Colonel Briteis' given name is never stated.

Martell's acting career officially ended in 1963, but made a brief comeback in the 1983 TV movie Grace Kelly, playing the part of Mrs. Edie Austin, a friend of the Kelly family who, along with her husband Russell Austin, was instrumental in advancing the real-life relationship between Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco.^[8][9] Donna Martell appeared in a television episode of Hopalong Cassidy as a Mexican sister trying to save her wrongfully accused brother.

Personal life

Martell married professional baseball player^[3] Gene Edgar Corso on June 27, 1953.^[10] The couple had three children.^[11] Corso pre-deceased his wife in 1996.

Awards

Martell was presented with one of the 2002 Golden Boot Awards for her contributions to western television and cinema.^[12]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	Apache Rose	Rosa Vega
	Twilight on the Rio Grande	1st telephone operator	Uncredited
	Robin Hood of Monterey	Lolita
	The Lost Moment	Pretty Girl	Uncredited
	Secret Beyond the Door	Young Mexican girl	Uncredited
1948	The Woman from Tangier	Flo-Flo
	The Saxon Charm	Flower girl	Uncredited
	Mexican Hayride	Girl	Uncredited
1949	Illegal Entry	Maria
	Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff	Betty Crandall
1950	I Was a Shoplifter	Sales clerk	Uncredited
	Peggy	Contestant
	Kim	Haikun	Uncredited
1951	The Hills of Utah	Nola French
	Elephant Stampede	Lola
1952	Last Train from Bombay	Nawob's daughter
	The Golden Hawk	Emilie Savonez
1953	Project Moonbase	Colonel Briteis
	Give a Girl a Break	Janet Hallson
1954	The Egyptian	Lady in waiting	Uncredited
1955	Ten Wanted Men	Maria Segura
	Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing	Suchen
	Last of the Desperados	Felice
1957	Hell on Devil's Island	Giselle Renault
	House of Numbers	Lois	Uncredited

Television

• The Adventures of Kit Carson (1952-1953) five characters in seven episodes
• Death Valley Days (1952) "She Burns Green" - Rosie Winters; (1955) "The Valencia Cake" - Charlita
• The Lineup (1955) "Girl Safecrackers"
• G.E. Summer Originals (1956) "Blizzard Bound"
• The West Point Story (1957) two different episodes
• The Lineup (1958) "The Pawn Ticket Case"
• Cheyenne (1960) as Maria, in television episode "Home Is the Brave" - Maria Prescott
• 77 Sunset Strip (1961) "Hot Tomale Caper", Two-part episode - Maria Rodriguez
• Tales of Wells Fargo (1961, Episode: "John Jones") - Zita Lopez
• Hawaiian Eye (1962) "Pursuit of a Lady - Maria Orello
• Bonanza (1963) "Toy Soldier" Esther Callahan

References

1. Parla, Paul; Mitchell, Charles P. (2000). Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir, and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s. McFarland. ISBN 9780786407019.
2. "1930 U.S. Census". Familysearch.org. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
3. "Not Only is Donna Martell Good Actress But She's an Expert at Handling Horses". The Miami Herald. Florida, Miami. June 12, 1960. p. 173. Retrieved May 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Interview with Donna Martell". Western Clippings. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
5. "Donna Martell Wins Autry Lead". Valley Times. California, North Hollywood. April 16, 1951. p. 10. Retrieved May 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 630–631. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
7. "Donna Martell". Republic Pictures. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
8. Wilkerson, Tichi; Borie, Marcia (1984). The Hollywood Reporter: The Golden Years. New York City, NY: Coward-McCann. p. 290. ISBN 0698112504.
9. Taraborrelli, J. Randy (John Randall Anthony) (2003). Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0759527903.
10. "Certificate of Registry of Marriage". Familysearch.org. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
11. "Gene Corso". Baseball Reference.com. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
12. "The Golden Boot Awards". b-westerns.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.

External links

• Donna Martell at IMDb