Actress Adele Mara dies at 87

Adele Mara, a film and television actress whose many credits included the 1949 John Wayne film "Sands of Iwo Jima," died Friday of natural causes at her home in Pacific Palisades, said her son, John Huggins. She was 87.

Born April 28, 1923, in Highland Park, Mich., Mara started dancing as a youth and was discovered by bandleader Xavier Cugat, her son said. She moved with her parents to Philadelphia to dance with Cugat's band, then moved to Hollywood and began working in movies regularly in the 1940s.

Her other credits included "Angel in Exile" in 1948 and films starring Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

In 1953, she married Roy Huggins, a writer and producer who created such hit television shows as "77 Sunset Strip," "Maverick" and "The Fugitive." He died in 2002.

"My father kept bringing her out of retirement to be in his TV shows," John Huggins said. Her television credits included roles in "Maverick" and "77 Sunset Strip."

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Adele Mara and John Wayne in "Sands of Iwo Jima."