Madlyn Rhue

Madlyn Soloman Rhue (née Madeline Roche, October 3, 1935 – December 16, 2003) was an American film and television actress.

Personal life - youth and education

Rhue was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Los Angeles High School, and studied drama at Los Angeles City College. Her professional name was an adaptation of the title of the film ''13 Rue Madeleine'' (1947).

Television career

Rhue debuted in show business at age 17 as a dancer at the Copacabana night club in New York City. From the 1950s to the 1990s, she appeared in some 20 films, including ''Operation Petticoat'', ''The Ladies Man'', ''A Majority of One'', ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (1963), ''Kenner'' (1969), and ''Stand Up and Be Counted'' (1972).

Rhue guest starred in dozens of television series, beginning with ''Cheyenne'' (1955). She played the spouse of the character portrayed by Ricardo Montalbán in a 1960 episode of ''Bonanza'', "Day of Reckoning". That year, she also played the title role of Marian Ames in the ''Perry Mason'' episode "The Case of the Wayward Wife" and appeared in ''Route 66'' Season 3 Episode 9.

Later in the 1960s, her appearances included Stagecoach West (1961), '' Rawhide'' (1963), The Defenders (1965) in Whipping Boy as Christine Knox and the classic ''Star Trek'' episode "Space Seed" (1967) where she once again appeared opposite Ricardo Montalbán (who played Khan Noonien Singh) playing his love interest Lt. Marla McGivers.

Rhue played regulars Marjorie Grant in ''Bracken's World'' (1969–70) and Hilary Madison in ''Executive Suite'' (1976–77). Other guest appearances included ''Have Gun – Will Travel'', ''Gunsmoke'', ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' (as Consuela Sandino in episode "The Dark Pool"), ''Route 66 '' (as Ara Rados in the episode, "Every Father's Daughter")'', The Untouchables'', '' The Rebel'', ''Perry Mason'', ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'', '' The Fugitive'', '' Ironside'', ''The Wild Wild West'', ''Mannix'', ''Hawaii Five-O'', '' Mission: Impossible'', '' Longstreet'', ''Fantasy Island'', ''Charlie's Angels'' (as Georgia in "Angels on the Street" in 1979) and '' Fame'' (as Angela Schwartz). She also appeared in the television movie ''Goldie and the Boxer'', and made appearances on the game show ''The Match Game'' during 1974–1976.

In the early 1960s, Rhue was injured in an automobile accident that resulted in lost teeth and a cut lower lip. She was hospitalized before returning to acting.

In 1962, Rhue married actor Tony Young and acted with him in the Western ''He Rides Tall''. They divorced in 1970.

Multiple sclerosis and later entertainment career

In 1977, Rhue was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She continued to work, including a role in ''Days of Our Lives'', but by 1985, Rhue's legs had become so weak from the multiple sclerosis that she could only get around by wheelchair. Once becoming a wheelchair user, Rhue described feelings of fear and anxiety over being unable to land on-screen work in the entertainment industry for a period of 11 months. Regarding the matter, she was quoted as stating, "It became apparent that I would have to invent a giant accident to explain the wheelchair or start telling the truth".

Despite being reliant on a wheelchair, Rhue managed to resume her entertainment career and was praised by media outlets for not allowing her health issues to overthrow her career. She played intermittent roles that did not require her to walk or stand, sometimes incorporating the wheelchair as part of the character. For example, she played a wheelchair-using ballistics expert on the CBS police-based legal drama, ''Houston Knights''. She also played a judge role in the scripted court show, ''Trial by Jury'', lasting only the 1989–90 television season. She performed the role in a wheelchair, unseen to viewers as she presided from the judge's bench. Her part as a female judge was uncharacteristic for court shows, the genre dominated by men performing the judge role to that point. She also performed a recurring role in ''Murder, She Wrote'', said to be her last television role. Angela Lansbury created a role for her when she heard that Rhue was at risk of losing her health insurance because she could no longer work enough hours.

Contrary to rumors, her illness apparently had nothing to do with her not reprising the ''Star Trek'' role of Lt. Marla McGivers in the film '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' (1982). At the time of the film's production start in late 1981, Rhue was still mobile and appearing in television roles, but hiding her diagnosis for fear of it impacting her career. Director Nicholas Meyer stated that he wrote McGivers out of his drafts of the film (with a line referencing the character's death) in order to give the Khan character additional motivation for seeking vengeance.

In 1991, in her last movie, she played a wheelchair using character in the made for television thriller ''A Mother's Justice''.

Death

Rhue eventually became completely incapacitated by multiple sclerosis and died from pneumonia at the age of 68 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, California.

Religion and politics

Rhue adhered to Judaism apart from during her marriage to Young, when she partook in Catholicism until she and he divorced.''An Interview With Madlyn Rhue'', Skip E. Lowe, 1996 She was also a registered Republican who supported the administrations of Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.

Partial filmography

References

External links

Madlyn Rhue, Television Actress, Dies at 68
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhue, Madlyn
1935 births
2003 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from Los Angeles
Actresses from Washington, D.C.
American film actresses
American television actresses
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Los Angeles City College alumni
Los Angeles High School alumni
People with multiple sclerosis
California Republicans
Washington (state) Republicans
Jewish American actresses
American Roman Catholics
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women