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Her two-decade career produced only a single stand-out film role but that role as the "good girl" who redeems "bad boy" Marlon Brando`s tough biker in the cult flick The Wild One (1953) put Mary Murphy at the head of the acting class for one brief shining moment. The brunet actress was born in Washington D.C. and eventually moved West where she attended University High School in Santa Monica, California in 1949. The fresh beauty was signed by Paramount Studios within a couple of years and made an insignificant debut in Bob Hope`s vehicle The Lemon Drop Kid (1951). More starlet bits came her way until being cast in her big movie. It did not, however, lead to a series of better films. She continued in the demure ingenue mode in the Vincent Price sub-horror The Mad Magician (1954) and the mediocre western Sitting Bull (1954) which starred future husband Dale Robertson. She did, however, give a good performance as the leading lady in Ray Milland`s debut as a director, A Man Alone (1955). She appeared to good advantage in The Desperate Hours (1955) but was slightly overshadowed by powerhouse stars Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy, Gig Young and Martha Scott. From then on it was dismal for Mary in such features as The Maverick Queen (1956) and Live Fast, Die Young (1958), a "Wild Ones" wannabe as a girl who tries to save her sister from a life of crime. Mary divorced Robertson in the late 50s and left the screen for a time. She resumed her career in the 60s and 70s on TV with a number of mini-movies playing matronly wives and mothers, then retired completely by the 80s.

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