Julie Adams

For other people named Julie Adams, see Julie Adams (disambiguation).

Julie Adams (born Betty May Adams; October 17, 1926 – February 3, 2019) was an American actress, billed as Julia Adams in her early career, primarily known for her numerous television guest roles.^[2] She starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Bend of the River (1952), opposite James Stewart; and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). On television, she was known for her roles as Paula Denning on the 1980s soap opera Capitol, and Eve Simpson on Murder, She Wrote.

Julie Adams
Adams in 1953
Born	Betty May Adams (1926-10-17)October 17, 1926 Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.
Died	February 3, 2019(2019-02-03) (aged 92) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Betty Adams Julia Adams
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1946–2019[1]
Spouses	Leonard Stern ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1953)​ Ray Danton ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1981)​
Children	2
Website	julieadams.biz

Early years

Julie Adams was born Betty May Adams on October 17, 1926, in Waterloo, Iowa, the daughter of Arkansas-born parents Esther Gertrude (Beckett) and cotton buyer Ralph Adams.^[3] Her family moved a great deal; the longest she lived in one town was eight years in Blytheville, Arkansas. In 1946, at the age of 19, she was crowned "Miss Little Rock" and then moved to Hollywood, California, to pursue her acting career.^[4] Adams worked as a part-time secretary and began her film career in B movie Westerns.^[5]

Career

Adams and Jack Kelly in Maverick

Film

She used her real name until 1949, when she began working for Universal-International, the same studio where she met future stars such as James Best, Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis.^[6] She then became "Julia" and eventually "Julie". In 1954, she explained the latter change, "The studio picked Julia, but I never have felt comfortable with it. I just like the name Julie better, and the studio has given me permission to make the change."^[7]

Her first movie role was a minor part in Red, Hot and Blue (1949), followed by a leading role in the Lippert Western The Dalton Gang (1949). Adams was featured as the beautiful ichthyologist Kay Lawrence in the horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).^[8]

She co-starred in 1950s films opposite some of Hollywood's top leading men, including with James Stewart in 1952's Bend of the River, with Rock Hudson in The Lawless Breed (1953) and One Desire (1955), with Tyrone Power in The Mississippi Gambler (1953), with Glenn Ford in The Man from the Alamo (1953), with Charlton Heston in The Private War of Major Benson (1955), with Dan Duryea in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957) and with Joel McCrea in The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959).

Adams co-starred with Rory Calhoun, known for his role in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), in the film The Looters (1955), the story of a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains. Part of the picture was filmed about Tarryall Creek at what is now Eleven Mile State Park in Park County in central Colorado. The advertising poster reads: "Five desperate men ... and a girl who didn't care ... trapped on a mountain of gale-lashed rock!"^[9]

Adams was famously menaced in the 1954 horror classic Creature from the Black Lagoon

She also starred in 1957's Four Girls in Town, a romantic comedy about four young women competing for the leading role in a new movie, featuring an international cast. She appeared with Elvis Presley in the musical-comedy Tickle Me (1965). Adams thought highly of her co-star, noting: "Despite his status as a superstar singer and stage performer, Elvis took his acting very seriously. He was always prepared, and did a good job in the roles he was given. When he did his musical numbers in Tickle Me, sometimes walking from table to table in a nightclub set, he did them perfectly in one take."^[10]

Television

Adams on The Andy Griffith Show (1962)

On television, Adams appeared on The Andy Griffith Show portraying Mary Simpson, a county nurse and romantic interest of Sheriff Andy Taylor in a 1962 episode. She also made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, perhaps the most notable being the 1963 episode, "The Case of the Deadly Verdict", when she played Janice Barton, Mason's only convicted client during the show's nine-year run on CBS. In 1963, she starred in "The Case Of Lovers Leap". In 1964, she played Janice Blake in "The Case of the Missing Button". In 1965, she played the role of defendant Pat Kean in "The Case of the Fatal Fortune". Adams appeared on The Rifleman as a dubious vixen and romantic interest of lead character Chuck Connors.^[11]: 355 She guest-starred in five episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, three of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and two of Maverick, "The White Widow" and "The Brasada Spur", both with Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick.^{[11]: 304–305} She also guest starred in an episode of "Mannix" in 1967 called "Then the Drink Takes the Man."

More guest-star roles in popular television series followed, including One Step Beyond; The Big Valley, in its classic episode "The Emperor of Rice'";^[11]: 36 McMillan & Wife; Police Woman; The Streets of San Francisco; The Incredible Hulk; Cannon; Quincy, M.E.; Too Close for Comfort; and Cagney & Lacey. Adams co-starred with James Stewart in all 24 episodes of The Jimmy Stewart Show on NBC in 1971–1972. Stewart played a professor, and Adams played his wife.^[12] She was cast in the recurring role of real estate agent Eve Simpson for ten episodes of CBS's Murder, She Wrote.^[8]

Appearances

Adams joined three other cast members from Creature from the Black Lagoon for a 50th anniversary celebration of the film at Creaturefest in November 2003. The festival was held at Wakulla Springs, just south of Tallahassee, Florida, where underwater scenes were filmed in 1953.^[13]

In August 2012, she was a guest of honor at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention held at the Shrine Auditorium. (She attended the same convention in May 2012.) She also appeared at the CineCon Classic Film Festival on August 31, 2012, at the Loews Hollywood Hotel. She was a scheduled guest at The Hollywood Show in Chicago, September 7–9, 2012. An additional book signing was held at Century Books in Pasadena, California, on September 20, 2012. On October 13, 2012, she was back in Berwyn, Illinois, for a book signing party.

In October 2012, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Creature from the Black Lagoon as one of 13 classic horror films to screen to honor the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures. The film was shown (in 3D format) on October 16 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.^[14] After the screening, Adams appeared on stage for a Q&A session where she shared personal memories of her role in the film, as well as several other career projects on which she had worked.

Personal life and death

Adams was married to screenwriter Leonard B. Stern from 1951 to 1953.^[15][16] She was then married to actor-director Ray Danton from 1954 until their divorce in 1981. They had two sons: Steven Danton, an assistant director; and Mitchell Danton, a film editor.^[17][18]

Adams died on February 3, 2019, in Los Angeles, California, aged 92.^[19][20]

Awards

In 1999, Adams received a Golden Boot award for her work in Westerns. She was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in 2000. At CineCon in 2011, Adams was honored with a Film Career Achievement Award.^[21] In 2012, she won the Rondo Award for the Monster Kid Hall of Fame at the annual Wonderfest in Louisville, Kentucky.^[22]

Filmography

Features

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Red, Hot and Blue	Starlet	Uncredited
	The Dalton Gang	Polly Medford
1950	Hostile Country	Ann Green
	Marshal of Heldorado	Ann	as Betty Adams
	Crooked River	Ann Hayden	as Betty Adams
	Colorado Ranger	Ann	as Betty Adams
	West of the Brazos	Ann Greene
	Fast on the Draw	Ann
	For Heaven's Sake	Joe's Mother	Scenes deleted
1951	Bright Victory	Chris Paterson	Credited as Julia Adams
	Hollywood Story	Sally Rousseau / Amanda Rousseau	Credited as Julia Adams
1952	Finders Keepers	Sue Kipps
	Bend of the River	Laura Baile	Credited as Julia Adams
	The Treasure of Lost Canyon	Myra Wade	Credited as Julia Adams
	Horizons West	Lorna Hardin	Credited as Julia Adams
	The Lawless Breed	Rosie McCoy	Credited as Julia Adams
1953	The Mississippi Gambler	Ann Conant	Credited as Julia Adams
	The Man from the Alamo	Beth Anders	Credited as Julia Adams
	The Stand at Apache River	Valerie Kendrick
	Wings of the Hawk	Raquel Noriega	Credited as Julia Adams
1954	Creature from the Black Lagoon	Kay Lawrence	Credited as Julia Adams
	Francis Joins the WACS	Captain Jane Parker
1955	Six Bridges to Cross	Ellen Gallagher
	The Looters	Sheryl Gregory
	One Desire	Judith Watrous	credited as Julia Adams
1956	The Private War of Major Benson	Dr. Kay Lambert
	Away All Boats	Nadine MacDougall
1957	Four Girls in Town	Kathy Conway
	Slaughter on Tenth Avenue	Daisy 'Dee' Pauley
	Slim Carter	Clover Doyle
1958	Yancy Derringer	Amanda Eaton
	Tarawa Beachhead	Ruth Campbell
1959	The Gunfight at Dodge City	Pauline Howard
1960	Raymie	Helen
1962	The Underwater City	Monica Powers
1965	Tickle Me	Vera Radford
1971	The Last Movie	Mrs. Anderson
1974	McQ	Elaine
1975	The Wild McCullochs	Hannah McCulloch
	Psychic Killer	Dr. Laura Scott
1976	The Killer Inside Me	Mother
1978	Goodbye, Franklin High	Janice Armer
	The Runaways	Mother
	The Fifth Floor	Nurse Hannelord
1984	Champions	Emma Hussey
1988	Black Roses	Mrs. Miller
1990	Catchfire	Martha
2006	World Trade Center	Allison's Grandmother
2011	Carnage	Secretary
2018	The Lucky Southern Star	Grandma	Short, last film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Your Show Time		as Betty Adams
1955–1957	Lux Video Theatre	Catherine / Henrietta Smith / Jane
1956	Studio One	Anne
1957	Climax!	Coleen
1958	Playhouse 90	Janice Ohringer
1958	Zane Grey Theatre	Julie Brand
1958–1960	Goodyear Theatre	Betty Fordham / Marion Ewell
1958	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Carol Longsworth	Season 3 Episode 39: "Little White Frock"
1958	Letter to Loretta	Milly / Paula McGill
1959	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Peg Valence	Season 5 Episode 9: "Dead Weight"
1959	Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond	Helen Archer	Episode: "Epilogue"
1959	The Gunfight at Dodge City	Pauline Howard
1959	The Man and the Challenge	Linda Webb
1959	The Alaskans	Clara
1959–1960	Maverick	Wilma White / Belle Morgan
1959–1964	77 Sunset Strip	Anne Kenzie / Norma Kellogg / Miriam Galbraith / Marie La Shelle / Margot Wendice
1960	Cheyenne	Irene Travers
1960	The Rifleman	Nora Sanford
1960	Tate	Mary Hardin
1960	Markham	Stacey Winters
1960	Wrangler	Eve Browning
1960	Michael Shayne	Beatrice Drake
1960–1961	Hawaiian Eye	Gloria Matthews / Sara Crane
1960–1962	Checkmate	Jean Damion / Janet Evans
1961	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Phyllis Kendall	Season 6 Episode 15: "Summer Shade"
1961	Bonanza	Helen Layton	Episode: "The Courtship"
1961	Outlaws	Juill Ramsur
1961	Surfside 6	Julie Owens / Merilee Williams
1962	The Andy Griffith Show	Mary Simpson
1962	The Dick Powell Show	Robin
1962	Dr. Kildare	Ginny Nelson
1963	The Gallant Men	Captain Meg Thorpe
1963	Arrest and Trial	Eleanor
1963	Perry Mason	Patricia L. Kean / Janice Blake / Janice Barton / Valerie Comstock
1964–1965	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Joanne Clay / Ellen Yarnell
1965	Twelve O'Clock High	Lieutenant Betty Russo
1965	Burke's Law	Carla Cabrial
1965	The Long, Hot Summer	Leona Mills
1966	The Virginian	Marian Clay
1966–1967	The Big Valley	Janet Masters / Edna Wesley
1967	The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.	Julia Douglas
1967	Insight	Jessica
1967–1973	Mannix	Edie Reynolds
1968	Ironside	Norma Howard
1968	The Outsider	Laura Carlvic
1968–1973	The Mod Squad	Nancy Ryan / Samantha Semple
1969	My Friend Tony
1969	General Hospital	Denise Wilton
1969	The F.B.I.	Denise Kriton
1969–1972	The Doris Day Show	Louise Rusk / Karen Carruthers
1969–1975	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Lee Morgan / Claire Berwick
1970	Dan August	Patricia Fairley
1970–1971	The Bold Ones: The New Doctors	Lynn Craig
1971	The Young Lawyers	Alice Graham
1971	The Trackers	Dora Paxton	TV Movie
1971–1972	The Jimmy Stewart Show	Martha Howard
1972	Night Gallery	Gay Melcor	Segment "The Miracle at Camafeo"
1972–1975	Cannon
1973	Go Ask Alice	Dorothy	TV Movie
1973	Search	Jeanette Lewis
1974	Lucas Tanner	Mrs. Walker
1975	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Mrs. Avery Walker
1975	Caribe	Mrs. Bladell
1975	The Streets of San Francisco	Judith
1975	Ellery Queen	Jennifer Packard
1976	Medical Center	Ellie Wilke
1976	Six Characters in Search of an Author	The Mother	TV Movie
1977	McMillan & Wife	Dorothy Wininger
1977	This Is the Life
1977–1982	Quincy, M.E.	Dr. Chris Winston / Sharon Ross / Mrs. Daniels
1978	Police Woman	Eleanor Simpson
1978	The Incredible Hulk	Ellen
1980	Trapper John, M.D.	Lorrie Malcolm
1981	Vega$	Margaret Sorenson
1981–1982	Code Red	Ann Rorchek	19 episodes
1981; 1984	Too Close for Comfort	Sylvia Walker	2 episodes
1982	Cagney & Lacey	Helen Granger	Episode: "Better than Equal"
1984–1986	Capitol	Paula Denning	3 episodes
1987–1993	Murder, She Wrote	Eve Simpson	10 episodes
1993	Beverly Hills, 90210	Grandma Arlene Beevis	2 episodes
	The Conviction of Kitty Dodds	Margaret	TV Movie
1997	Diagnosis: Murder	Edie Reynolds Fallon	Episode: "Hard-Boiled Murder"
1999	Melrose Place	Mrs. Damarr
	Sliders	Old Maggie Beckett
2000	Family Law	Bonnie
2006	Cold Case	Dottie Mills
	Lost	Amelia	Episode: "A Tale of Two Cities"
2007	CSI: NY	Betty Willens	Episode: "Boo"
2008	Lost: Missing Pieces	Amelia	Episode: "The Envelope"