Mona Freeman

Mona Freeman
300px Mona Freeman in That Brennan Girl (1946)
Born	Monica Elizabeth Freeman (1926-06-09)June 9, 1926 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	actress
Years active	1944–1972
Spouse(s)	Pat Nerney (1945–1952) (divorced) (1 child) H. Jack Ellis (1961–1992) (his death)
Children	Mona Freeman (Monie) (b. 1947)

Mona Freeman (June 9, 1926 – May 23, 2014) born as Monica Elizabeth Freeman was an American film actress who was a former child star.

Career

Mona Freeman was a model while in high school, and after becoming the first "Miss Subways" of the New York City transit system, eventually signed a movie contract with Howard Hughes. Her contract was later sold to Paramount Pictures. Her first film appearance was in the 1944 film Till We Meet Again. She became a popular teenage movie star. After a series of roles as a pretty, naive teenager she complained of being typecast.

As an adult, Freeman's career slowed and she appeared in mostly B-movies, though an exception was her role in the film noir Angel Face (1952). She also co-starred in the hit film Jumping Jacks with the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In 1952, she was called a "vest pocket Venus" by sculptor Yucca Salamunich because her proportions were the same as those of the Venus de Milo but three-quarter size.

Her daughter, Mona Freeman, "Monie", (b. 1947) became an actress as well.

Freeman's appearances in films ended in the 1950s but she continued to work in television. Among her appearances were seven guest roles on The United States Steel Hour from 1960–1962 and three on Perry Mason, all of them roles as Mason's client: Jane Wardman in the 1962 episode, "The Case of the Lurid Letter", Rosanne Ambrose in the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Illicit Illusion", and Ellen Payne in the 1965 episode, "The Case of the 12th Wildcat", with Perry himself portrayed as the title character by Ellen.

Freeman was also a portrait painter and after 1961, she concentrated on painting. Her best-known portrait is that of Mary See, founder of See's Candies.

Personal life and death

Freeman was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Pelham, New York. She married Pat Nerney, a car dealer, in Los Angeles in 1945. The couple had one daughter, Mona. They divorced in 1952. In 1961 she married H. Jack Ellis.

Mona Freeman died on May 23, 2014 at the age of 87 after a long illness at her Beverly Hills home.

Feature films

• National Velvet (1944) (uncredited)
• Together Again (1944)
• Roughly Speaking (1945)
• Junior Miss (1945)
• Danger Signal (1945)
• Black Beauty (1946)
• That Brennan Girl (1946)
• Dear Ruth (1947)
• Mother Wore Tights (1947)
• Isn't It Romantic? (1948)
• Streets of Laredo (1949)
• The Heiress (1949)
• Dear Wife (1949)
• Copper Canyon (1950)
• Branded (1950)
• I Was a Shoplifter (1950)
• Darling, How Could You! (1951)
• Dear Brat (1951)
• Jumping Jacks (1952)
• Angel Face
• Before I Wake (1954)
• Battle Cry (1955)
• The Road to Denver (1955)
• Huk! (1956)
• Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)

Television

• Wanted: Dead or Alive (2 episodes)

  "The Fourth Headstone" (1958)

  "Breakout" (1959)

• Wagon Train

  "The Monty Britton Story" (1958), as Betty Britton

• The Red Skelton Hour (2 episodes)

  "San Fernando's Singing Sensation" (1958)

  "Freddie Gets a Job" (1959)

• Pursuit

  "Calculated Risk" (1958), as Nina Hodges

• Playhouse 90 (3 episodes)

  "Sizeman and Son" (1956)

  "Three Men on a Horse" (1957)

  "The Long March" (1958)

• The DuPont Show with June Allyson

  "The Pledge" (1959), as Sandra McAllen

• Maverick (2 episodes)

  "The Cats Of Paradise" (1959), as Modesty Blaine

  "The Cruise of the Cynthia B" (1960), as Modesty Blaine

• Johnny Ringo

  "Mrs. Ringo" (1960), as Marilyn Barber

• Perry Mason (3 episodes)

  "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (1962)

  "The Case of the Illicit Illusion" (1964)

  "The Case of the 12th Wildcat" (1965)

External links

• Mona Freeman at the Internet Movie Database
• Monie Ellis, daughter, at the Internet Movie Database
• The Private Life and Times of Mona Freeman from glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen
• Mona Freeman; Aveleyman.com
• Mona Freeman at Find a Grave