Mary Beth Hughes
was born in historic Alton, Illinois on November 13, 1919. A
lovely, young lady, standing 5'4", with classic good looks,
and a great ability to emote the most subtle facial
expressions. Many film reviewers do
not understand why she received second billing opposite
Henry Fonda in "The Ox-Bow Incident", even though she only
says a few lines. However, her facial expressions are
priceless, and convey an entire conversation of passion,
turmoil and betrayal, as she looks at Henry Fonda. One can vocalize lines
and someone else can say anything they want to with their
eyes. Mary Beth Hughes has such eyes as they are very
expressive. She has the essence of innocence and naughtiness
all at the same time, whereby she can change her look in an
instant and it all looks so natural. Mary Beth Hughes
started acting in High School. Inspired by her Grandmother
who was a one time actress. Mary Beth began acting in
Repertoire Theater in her late teens, then began appearing
in films in 1938 (There is no credit information about her
1938 films--so my guess is she was an *extra* in
them). Mary Beth soon moved to
Los Angeles, California to be in 20th Century Fox's B-stable
from 1940-1943 where she played the role of both good and
bad girls / women. During that time and while young and
touring alone and in groups, she was accompanied by her
mother, Fosetti Lucas Hughes. Mary Beth Hughes only
achieved starlet status even in the height of her acting
career. She appeared in 60+ films spanning from
1939-1977. She was the star in many of these films and/or
received second billing. The 60+ films is not counting her
radio, TV, and extra work(from her early acting days). Mary
Beth worked her buns off!! Due to her lovely
looks, and probably a good press agent, many movie magazines
featured her glorious face, and she remained in the eyes and
hearts of fans for many years to come. In the middle 1950's,
she decided to get involved with other performance venues
besides film, and began to act and sing in fancy night
clubs, TV commercials (appearing as Clara Appleby on the Red
Skelton Show) and occasionally appeared in drive-in movie
feature films (remember drive-ins?). Ms. Hughes was still
quite beautiful in her 50's. Check her out in Stephanie
Rothman's 1974 film, 'Working Girls'. She plays
the small part of Mrs. Borden who wants to hire someone to
kill her husband. That's no face lift. She kept herself
looking young, lovely, and shapely! In the 1970's, she
would get still get acting work, but mostly in films shown
in small towns. To help pay her bills, she performed at
second-class nightclubs--singing and playing electric bass.
It wasn't a very happy time for her because her audience
would rather booze and gab then listen to her. So she quit,
got an agent, and landed lead billing in B films, 'Hows
Your Love Life?' and 'Tanya'. Later, Mary Beth
had hoped to get a steady part in a TV series, but due to
inactivity, she was becoming ill. She resumed her nightclub
work in upscale Southern California bistros--where she was
often asked if she was the mother of Mary Beth Hughes. One
might guess that her more popular films were when she was
younger, and people seeing her singing in the 1970's could
not make the 'computerized aging advancement' in their
minds. And so, Mary Beth still looked like herself, only
older. In the late 80's through the early 90's, she worked
at a telemarking company called Teletech in Sherman Oaks,
CA. Ms. Hughes was married
three (3) times. She probably met Ted(Michael) North during
the film shoots of "Men on Her Mind" and/or "The Oxbow
Incident". Hughes and North were married 1943-47 when they
got divorced. She later married singer David Street, but he
died in 1971 of natural causes. In the interim of married
life (I do not know when) she dated actor Robert Stack for
about 18 months. Then she married Nick (Nicky) Stewart in
'73 who became her personal manager. Stewart about 9 years
older than she and probably loved cats as much as Mary Beth,
as they lived with many of them in Mary Beth's humongous,
ranch home in Sepulveda, California. I discovered Mary Beth
Hughes from a late night film I saw on a PBS station. It was
'The
Great Flamarion'
where she stars opposite 'the man everyone loved to hate' in
Hollywood, Erich Von Stroheim, and B-movie actor,
Dan Duryea. Most video
stores/shoppes that review this film have it all wrong.
Flamarion is NOT an evil magician. The most accurate review
of that film is on the Blockbuster.com website. Of course, I
will give you my own review of the film. In fact, I will
tell you about the film in it's entirety on another page(tho
it'll take quite a while for me to type it all
up). Most remember Mary Beth
Hughes as being a hard-boiled blonde. That was probably not
her natural hair color. I believe her true hair color was a
very, light brown or dark blonde. Personally, I like how her
hair looks in the 'Ox-Box Incident' and 'The Great
Flamarion'--as her hair color looks natural. In 'Man with a
Horn' and the 'Michael Shayne Dectective Series', Mary Beth
has a hard and artificial look. However, no doubt is in my
mind that she did her hair in specification to what the male
producers of the show(s)/film(s) wanted. Mary Beth Hughes
remains known as a cult icon/actress...which is everlasting
fame unto itself. She died on August 27,
1995. She was 76. Her only child, Donald
North, was last known to be scuba diving and selling
high-end underwater equipment. ---W.
Ballard
Information on Mary
Beth Hughes is extremely limited and so are images of her. I
researched her hometown (Alton, IL) in Autumn 2000, hoping
that the local paper or library would have newspaper
clippings or information, but no. I have my own stash of
Mary Beth Hughes images which are not for sale, but you can
download them for your own educational and eye-candy
purposes. Please return to this
site as I am continually researching Mary Beth's life and
work. As meager tid-bits of info are discovered--or are
submitted by readers--they will be added. Most of the photos on
this page are from the film, "The Ox-Bow Incident". The four
(4 ) with her hair down are from, "Man With a Horn". Other
photos will be coming eventually on other pages. If anyone knows any
other info about Mary Beth which I did not cite, or if you
want to share/send/give me photos of her(understand that I
cannot pay you anything-not even a penny!) please email me , as I
would like to include your MBH gems. Thank you very
much, ---W. Ballard Photos
of Mary Beth |
Posters with Mary Beth Mary
Beth stories from Readers Visit
historical Alton, IL - Mary Beth's birth
place.
I feel that is why she received second billing.
She would have been a great and very wealthy silent film
star, like Mary Pickford had she been born 20 years earlier
or had the status of film star Ann Margret in the 1960's, if
she'd been born 20 years later.
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Created November 2000. Last Updated 1/9/11
© W. Ballard, All Rights Reserved
