Mercedes Shirley

Despite only a single film credit to her resumé, actress Mercedes Shirley enjoyed a long and fruitful career on television and in the legitimate theater. She appeared on Broadway with Grace Kelly and Raymond Massey in The Father, and with Paul Newman and Karl Malden in Desperate Hours, while she also performed extensively in stock and was an instructor at the Secret Rose Theater in Hollywood, the Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. On television, she had a recurring role on The Cara Williams Show, and guested on Playhouse 90, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, The Mod Squad, and Trapper John, M.D. Her lone film credit was a supporting role in Defenseless. Shirley died in 1999 at the age of 71.