Mona Freeman obit

Actress Mona Freeman Dies at 87

She was not on the list.

She played teens in such 1940s and '50s films as "The Heiress," "Junior Miss," "That Brennan Girl," "Dear Ruth" and "I Was a Shoplifter."

Actress Mona Freeman, cast as a perpetual teenager throughout the 1940s and '50s in such films as The Heiress, Junior Miss, Dear Ruth and I Was a Shoplifter, has died. She was 87.

Freeman died May 23 in her Beverly Hills home after a long illness, her daughter, actress Monie Ellis, told the Los Angeles Times.

Freeman also was a painter, whose portrait of Mary See has been displayed for years in See's Candies stores across the U.S.

Freeman played Marian Almond, the cousin of Olivia de Havilland's character who gets engaged in William Wyler's acclaimed film The Heiress (1949). In Junior Miss (1945), she starred as 13-year-old Lois Graves, who with her older sister (Peggy Ann Garner) meddle in people's love lives. And she portrayed Ziggy, who learns some terrible habits from her mother in That Brennan Girl (1946).

Freeman also starred as Miriam Wilkins, a teen who has a pen-pal romance with a soldier (William Holden) during World War II but signs her older sister's name to the letters, in Dear Ruth (1947). She then reprised the role in Dear Wife (1949) and Dear Brat (1951).

The blonde and youthful Freeman also appeared in such films as Till We Meet and Again Together Again, both released in 1944; the musical Mother Wore Tights (1947), as the daughter of Betty Grable's character; Streets of Laredo (1949), opposite Holden and Macdonald Carey; I Was a Shoplifter (1950), as a petty thief and daughter of a judge; and Otto Preminger's Angel Face (1952).

Her TV work included episodes of Maverick, Perry Mason, Wagon Train, The Millionaire and Branded. Her final onscreen credit came in the 1972 telefilm Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol. She acted in The Lux Video Theatre presentation of Christmas in Connecticut in 1956. 

Always cast as a bobbysoxer even as she approached age 30, Freeman became bored with acting and turned to portrait painting.

Born in Baltimore, Freeman worked as a teenage model in New York City and was named "Miss Subways" in 1941, the first one picked. She was signed to her first movie contract by RKO's Howard Hughes.

In addition to Ellis -- who starred as Gidget in the 1972 TV movie Gidget Gets Married -- survivors include six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Partial filmography

    Till We Meet Again (1944) - Elise

    National Velvet (1944) - Schoolgirl (uncredited)

    Here Come the Waves (1944) - Fainting Girl (uncredited)

    Together Again (1944) - Diana Crandall

    Roughly Speaking (1945) - Barbara, ages 15-20

    Junior Miss (1945) - Lois Graves

    Danger Signal (1945) - Anne Fenchurch

    Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946) - Girl (uncredited)

    Black Beauty (1946) - Anne Wendon

    That Brennan Girl (1946) - Ziggy Brennan

    Dear Ruth (1947) - Miriam Wilkins

    Mother Wore Tights (1947) - Iris

    Variety Girl (1947) - Mona Freeman

    Isn't It Romantic? (1948) - Susie Cameron

    Streets of Laredo (1949) - Rannie Carter

    The Heiress (1949) - Marian Almond

    Dear Wife (1949) - Miriam Wilkins

    I Was a Shoplifter (1950) - Faye Burton

    Copper Canyon (1950) - Caroline Desmond

    Branded (1950) - Ruth Lavery

    Dear Brat (1951) - Miriam Wilkins

    Darling, How Could You! (1951) - Amy

    The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) - Spectator (uncredited)

    Flesh and Fury (1952) - Ann Hollis

    Jumping Jacks (1952) - Betsy Carter

    Thunderbirds (1952) - Lt. Ellen Henderson

    Angel Face (1953) - Mary Wilton

    Battle Cry (1955) - Kathy - later Mrs. Danny Forrester

    Before I Wake (1955) - April Haddon

    The Road to Denver (1955) - Elizabeth Sutton

    Dial 999 (1955) - Terry Moffat Carradine

    Hold Back the Night (1955) - Anne Franklin McKenzie

    Huk! (1956) - Cindy Rogers

    Hold Back the Night (1956) - Ann Bradley

    Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957) - Robin Carson

Partial television credits

    Wanted: Dead or Alive (2 episodes)

        "The Fourth Headstone" (1958) - Jackie Harris

        "Breakout" (1959) - Margaret Dunn

    Wagon Train

        "The Monty Britton Story" (1958) - Betty Britton

    The Red Skelton Hour (2 episodes)

        "San Fernando's Singing Sensation" (1958) - Guest

        "Freddie Gets a Job" (1959) - Kathy

    Pursuit

        "Calculated Risk" (1958) - Nina Hodges

    Playhouse 90 (3 episodes)

        "Sizeman and Son" (1956) - Marie Sizeman

        "Three Men on a Horse" (1957) - Audrey Trowbridge

        "The Long March" (1958) - Betsy

    The DuPont Show with June Allyson

        "The Pledge" (1959) - Sandra McAllen

    Maverick (2 episodes)

        "The Cats Of Paradise" (1959) - Modesty Blaine

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

    Johnny Ringo

        "Mrs. Ringo" (1960) - Marilyn Barber

    United States Steel Hour

        "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon" (1961)

    Perry Mason (3 episodes)

        "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (1962) - Jane Wardman

        "The Case of the Illicit Illusion" (1964) - Rosanne Ambrose

        "The Case of the 12th Wildcat" (1965) - Ellen Payne