Meri Welles

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Birth Name: Mary Janet Carsey

Born: 27 February 1937 Died: 27 August 1973

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 7"

Relationship Status: Married

Partner: Michael Myer Moses

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Description: Meri WELLES was born Mary Janet Carsey in Dallas, Texas, on February 27, 1937. His father, Charles, was a car salesman. Meri was the middle child of a family of three children consisting of two girls and a boy. When she was about 18 years old, in 1955, Meri married Gene Arthur Cates with whom she had a child, Michael T. Cates However, their marriage was short-lived and the bright lights of Hollywood attracted Meri out of Texas to Los Angeles. His first brilliant shot was in a small role in Roger Corman's La petite boutique des horreurs (1960). During filming, she met and fell in love with one of producer Roger Corman's favorit Meri WELLES was born Mary Janet Carsey in Dallas, Texas, on February 27, 1937. His father, Charles, was a car salesman. Meri was the middle child of a family of three children consisting of two girls and a boy.
When she was about 18 years old, in 1955, Meri married Gene Arthur Cates with whom she had a child, Michael T. Cates However, their marriage was short-lived and the bright lights of Hollywood attracted Meri out of Texas to Los Angeles.
His first brilliant shot was in a small role in Roger Corman's La petite boutique des horreurs (1960). During filming, she met and fell in love with one of producer Roger Corman's favorite actors, Mel Welles (aka Ira W. Meltcher) and on May 29, 1959, the couple got married in Los Angeles, California.
The following year, she appeared in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. When Mel Welles moved to Europe to find work, Meri Welles also left. In Rome, she worked as an extra in Cleopatra (1963) and appeared in some television Greek tragedies for a major channel. She also appeared as an extra in The Pink Panther (1964). After the fiasco of her union with Mel Welles, she returned to Hollywood and landed a small role in Madame Adler's House (1964) with Shelley Winters.
In 1964, Joseph Levine announced that he planned to make a biopic about Jean Harlow with Carroll Baker. Budget producer Bill Sergent Jr. jumped in to announce the filming of his own biopic on Jean Harlow.
"The next day, Sargent and his team started a crazy race to make them first on the screens.
“They auditioned dozens of actresses before signing two relatively unknown artists.
“Finding their dramatic abilities below their physical criteria, Bill Sargent sent them a drama teacher who prescribed 8 hours of classes per day for a month.
“The producer paid for the lessons and advanced $200 a week in wages to each of the girls for their small expenses.
"One of his contenders for the role of Harlow, the statuesque blonde Meri Welles had caught Bill Sergent's attention by washing Elizabeth Taylor's back in a scene from 'Cleopatra.' She had also caused a little sensation in Hollywood several months earlier by going to the staff office to request an audition for the role of one of Polly Adler's prostitutes in 'Mrs. Adler's House...' That day, she wore a sweater dress that barely reached the middle of her thighs and nothing else, no skirt, shoes or tights. She got the role.”
Weeks later, Bill Sergent Jr. hired Carol Lynley to portray Jean Harlow.
Unable to get a foothold in Hollywood, Meri Welles studied drama with Lee Strassberg and Sanford Meisner but she had trouble finding work.
On August 29, 1970, she married Michael Myer Moses in Riverside, California. At that time, she had dropped her stage name and had become Mary Carsey again. In 1971, she appeared in the theatrical version of Cabaret in Desert Hot Springs, California.
In 1972, she was back in Texas to returning acting. When Betty Hutton did not appear in a dining theatrical production of "Here Today" in Lubbock, Texas, Mary Carsey took her place for the rest of the tour. Meri Welles died later in the year, on August 27, 1973 at the age of 36. An internet source says she had a heart attack. She left behind two adopted sons from her previous marriages and her remains were cremated on Halloween 1973.

Her only contribution to the western was an episode of The Deputy, entitled The Deal (1959), in which she played a woman. ... (more)