Mara Corday Dies: ‘Tarantula’ Cult Film Star & ‘Playboy’ Playmate Was 95

Mara Corday, the showgirl, Playboy Playmate and cult movie star of Tarantula, has died at age 95.

The Golden Age actress died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease on Feb. 9 at her home in Valencia, California, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Her cause of death was listed on a death certificate obtained by The Washington Post.

Born Jan. 3, 1930 in Santa Monica, Marilyn Joan Watts began working as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard as a teenager, where she adopted her stage name. She was also Playboy‘s October 1958 Playmate of the Month.

Following several small roles in B-rated movies, Corday’s breakout came in the 1955 Jack Arnold-helmed sci-fi cult classic Tarantula, starring alongside John Agar and Leo G. Carroll.

Corday also appeared in sci-fi titles The Black Scorpion (1957) and The Giant Claw (1957), as well as westerns like Drums Across the River (1954), The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955) and Man Without a Star (1955).

Following the 1974 death of husband Richard Long, whom she met on the set of their 1954 film Playgirl, Corday’s friend and Tarantula co-star Clint Eastwood helped her revive her career with roles in his movies The Gauntlet (1977), Sudden Impact (1983), Pink Cadillac (1989) and The Rookie (1990).