Born Marilyn Watts in January 1930, brunette beauty Mara Corday's career went the way of many of the other 'pinup girls' of the 40's and 50's. She started as a showgirl and then as a theater actress in Hollywood. The pin-up career came next. Her easy-going nature, mixed with a sultry charm, led to her becoming a favorite model for famous photographers such as Peter Gowland and Bruno Bernard.

She typified the ease and natural beauty that made the pin-up era what it was, but she had two things going against her--she was neither buxom nor blonde. This, it seems, put a limit on her budding acting career. For the rest of the 1950's Corday starred in a series of B-grade movies like "Tarantula," "The Black Scorpion," and "The Giant Claw," never seeming to get the big breaks of her blonde haired counterparts. In October 1958, Corday was Playboy's co-Playmate of the Month. Corday dropped out of the acting/modeling scene in the 1960's for a life of domestic bliss. Today, Corday has her own spot in cyberspace: www.maracorday.com, where she has dozens of pin-up shots for sale.