Mari Blanchard

Urged by her parents, she enrolled at the University of Southern California, studying international law and coming within nine units of a degree before dropping out. That path didn't lead where she hoped either. In the late 1940s, she found work as an advertising model through the Conover Agency, and at the same time caught the attention of cartoonist Al Capp. She became the inspiration for one of his characters in the Li'l Abner comic strip.

As an actress, she was American and Caucasian, with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a slim 5'5" frame. She worked steadily from 1947 to 1968, though the big breaks never quite came. Her most remembered role was in the John Wayne western comedy McLintock! (1963), where she played the cheerful town madam. That same year saw the start of the cancer that would end her life in 1970. She died the Sunday of May 10th, at 47. She was straight, and her natural figure, a 36D bra, kept her in demand as a glamour model. She was small. She was tough. And she left behind a body of work that still gets noticed.