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Steele, Karen

Born March 20, 1931;
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Died March 12, 1988;
Kingman, Arizona, USA

Maverick Actor

Karen Steele began her career in 1953, but her breakout role was to come as Virginia in 1955's "Marty" with Ernest Borgnine. Apparently, director Delbert Mann mistook her for another actress he had intended to cast in the role.[1]

In 1957, she met director Budd Boetticher on the set of "Decision at Sundown," who quickly became her favorite director. She appeared in several of his projects, one of which was Maverick's intended pilot, "Point Blank." The two began dating and nearly married. In 1964, she dated Jack Kelly after his separation form his wife, May Wynn.[2]

She continued in TV and films throughout the 1960s and early '70s, and was well-known for her role as Eve McHuron, one of Mudd's Women on Star Trek in 1966. In 1970, she shared the small screen again with her "Point Blank" co-star Mike Connors in the Mannix episode "Harlequin's Gold."[1]

She became active in a number of charitable causes and lost work due to her commitment to tour U.S. military bases and hospitals overseas. She moved to Arizona in 1970, where she married Dr. Maurice Ruland. After being bedridden for a few years in the mid-1980s, she died of cancer at the age of 58.[2]