We started the year off with “Worth a Million,” learning about the careers of several of the cast members from How to Marry a Millionaire. This show debuted in 1957 and aired for two years. Today we focus on Merry Anders.
According to imdb.com, the plot of the show is “Motherly Mike, ditzy but sexy Loco, and sensible Greta move to the big city to find themselves wealthy men to turn into husbands. After the first year Greta gets married with Gwen the new roommate in this syndicated series.”
Merry Anders, who played Mike, also had a small part as a model in the 1953 Marilyn Monroe movie that the series was based on.
Anders was born Merry Anders in Chicago in 1934. When she was 15, she and her mother visited Los Angeles for two weeks and never left. Former actress Rita Leroy encouraged her to begin a modeling career, and Anders studied acting at the Ben Bard Playhouse. A talent scout spotted her there, signing her to a film contract for 20th Century Fox in 1951.
Her first film was Golden Girl that same year. She continued with small roles on the big screen and various offers on television before being offered a cast role in It’s Always Jan in 1955. When it was canceled, she took the part of Mike on How to Marry a Millionaire. Her next cast role came a decade later on Dragnet.
Anders was married to John Stephens, a producer, but they separated after four months. He was abusive, and when she found out she was pregnant, she divorced him.
By 1968 it was clear that her career was in a rut, and she accepted a job as a receptionist at Litton Industries. Her last role was a two-part Gunsmoke story which aired in 1971. In 1972, she officially retired from acting. She became a customer relations coordinator at Litton where she remained for another twenty years.
She shared that she had a couple of years where she only grossed about three thousand dollars, and she couldn’t make a living. She said, “her dad wrote her a letter and said, ‘Get out of that movie business, get yourself a decent job, girl!’ I was divorced and it’s hard to raise a child, have a nice home, put up the appearance of success, drive a car in perfect running shape and everything when you’re on unemployment.”
In 1986 Anders married again, this time to engineer Richard Benedict and they were together until his death in 1999. Anders passed away in 2012, but no cause was shared. Before her retirement, she was in 45 big-screen films including Three Coins in the Fountain, Desk Set, and Airport. Add another 46 television shows including The Ann Sothern Show; Richard Diamond, Private Detective; Bonanza; Perry Mason; and Get Smart. Overall, she racked up 91 credits in two decades which is impressive. I hope she enjoyed her life after acting and was able to share lots of great stories with her family and friends.
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