# Mary Sinclair > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mary_Sinclair > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mary_Sinclair.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sinclair > Source revision: 1336864808 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For other people, see [Mary Sinclair (disambiguation)](/source/Mary_Sinclair_(disambiguation)). **Mary Sinclair** (born **Ella Delores Cook**; November 15, 1922 – November 5, 2000) was an American television, film and stage actress and “a familiar face to television viewers in the 1950s”[1] as a performer in numerous plays produced and broadcast live during the early days of television. Sinclair was also a painter and had in her youth been a Conover model. Her husband, for a time, was Broadway producer and director, [George Abbott](/source/George_Abbott).[2] ## Early life and modelling Sinclair was born Ella Delores Cook and raised in [San Diego, California](/source/San_Diego,_California).[3][4][5] As a young woman she began modelling in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), and in 1944, she left [Hollywood](/source/Hollywood,_Los_Angeles) for [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), where she modelled for the Conover agency and acted in summer stock. "I was the arty type," she recalled in a 1951 interview with *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. "I wanted to go to New York and be a real actress.”[2][1] ## Acting career In New York City, she became friends with theater producer [Hal Prince](/source/Hal_Prince) and theater producer, playwright and director [George Abbott](/source/George_Abbott), her senior by thirty-five years, whom she married in April 1946 and divorced in 1951.[2] And in the 1940s, she began to acquire experience as a freelance television actress, appearing on 36 programs in two years.[1] But it was [CBS](/source/CBS) board chairman [William S. Paley](/source/William_S._Paley) who singled Sinclair out, in 1951, by giving her a seven-year contract with [CBS](/source/CBS), one of the first acting contracts granted by the network.[2] *The New York Times* reported that she was the first dramatic actress "to enter video's incubator for hatching its own stars."[1][6] ### Television After acting on 36 TV programs in two years as a freelance, in 1951, Sinclair signed a long-term contract with CBS, becoming the first person to join what an article in *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)* termed "video's incubator for hatching its own stars."[7] " Ms. Sinclair usually played sweet, goody-goody characters on television. But not long after signing with [CBS](/source/CBS), she played quite different parts on three successive evenings: a vicious singer, a spiteful flapper and a libidinous shrew."[1] "She was dazed by the number of men she had to kiss on-screen and said, 'I average two strangers a week.'"[1] Sinclair starred in the live drama programs popular in the 1950s such as *[Playhouse 90](/source/Playhouse_90)*, *[Westinghouse Studio One](/source/Westinghouse_Studio_One)*, and *The [U.S. Steel Hour](/source/U.S._Steel_Hour)*. She had guest roles on early series including *The Untouchables*, *Peter Gunn*, and *[Woman with a Past](/source/Woman_with_a_Past)*.[2] And she starred in productions of *[Wuthering Heights](/source/Wuthering_Heights)*, *[The Scarlet Letter](/source/The_Scarlet_Letter)* and *[Little Women](/source/Little_Women)*;[citation needed] also on the *[Sherlock Holmes](/source/Sherlock_Holmes_(1954_TV_Series))* television series with British actor, [Ronald Howard](/source/Ronald_Howard_(British_actor)).[citation needed] On November 14, 1950, Sinclair co-starred in "The Brush Off", an episode of *[Suspense](/source/Suspense_(American_TV_series))*.[8] She was nominated for a [Primetime Emmy Award](/source/4th_Primetime_Emmy_Awards) in 1951.[citation needed] In total, Sinclair played in more than one hundred and twenty television shows and films during her career.[citation needed] ### Film The one major motion picture that Mary Sinclair acted in was *[Arrowhead](/source/Arrowhead_(1953_film))* made in 1953, starring [Charlton Heston](/source/Charlton_Heston), [Brian Keith](/source/Brian_Keith) and [Katy Jurado](/source/Katy_Jurado), with [Jack Palance](/source/Jack_Palance) as an Apache chief, in which she played Lela Wilson. [Paramount](/source/Paramount_Pictures) wanted her to appear in other films but she explained that she preferred working in television and returned to [New York](/source/New_York_City).[2] ## A shift in focus to painting In the 1960s, as her television career faded, although attending the [Actors Studio](/source/Actors_Studio) in [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), headed by [Lee Strasberg](/source/Lee_Strasberg),[9] and appearing on the stage, Sinclair, in the main, retired from acting, and devoted most of her creative energies to painting. She studied with artist [Fleur Cowles](/source/Fleur_Cowles) and specialized in oil canvases of flowers and animals, and portraits of friends.[1][2][10] ## Sojourn in Europe and a return After leaving the U.S. and living in Italy for a few years, in the 1970s she returned to [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), where she directed local theater productions. Later she moved to [Phoenix, Arizona](/source/Phoenix,_Arizona) and lived there until her death in 2000 at the age of seventy-seven.[10][2] ## Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1953 Arrowhead Lela Wilson 1974 Alice Goodbody ## See also - *[Golden Age of Television](/source/Golden_Age_of_Television)* - *[4th Primetime Emmy Awards](/source/4th_Primetime_Emmy_Awards)* - *[Studio One](/source/Westinghouse_Studio_One)* - *[Playhouse 90](/source/Playhouse_90)* - *[CBS](/source/CBS)* - *[Memories (The Twilight Zone)](/source/Memories_(The_Twilight_Zone))* - *[Sherlock Holmes](/source/Sherlock_Holmes_(1954_TV_series))* - *[The Web](/source/The_Web_(1950_TV_series))* - *[List of *Tales of the Unexpected* episodes](/source/List_of_Tales_of_the_Unexpected_episodes)* ## References 1. *New York Times* obit by Eric Page (November 13, 2000). "Mary Sinclair, 78, Television Actress of the 50s". 1. *Los Angeles Times* obit. "Mary Sinclair: Model and 1950s Television Actress". November 9, 2000. 1. San Diego, California birth records for 1922 1. ["TV Actress Mary Sinclair, Former Wife of Mr. Abbott, Dead at 78"](https://playbill.com/article/tv-actress-mary-sinclair-former-wife-of-mr-abbott-dead-at-78-com-93198). *Playbill*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220525191024/https://www.playbill.com/article/tv-actress-mary-sinclair-former-wife-of-mr-abbott-dead-at-78-com-93198) 2022-05-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-01-17. 1. Archives, L. A. Times (2000-11-09). ["Mary Sinclair; Model and 1950s Television Actress"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-09-me-49294-story.html). *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved 2025-01-17. 1. [Moviefone](http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/mary-sinclair/1830521/biography) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120404121214/http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/mary-sinclair/1830521/biography) 2012-04-04 at the Wayback Machine 1. Adams, Val (April 8, 1951). ["A TV Star is born"](https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/08/archives/a-tv-star-is-born-cbs-moves-to-develop-a-stable-of-actors.html). *The New York Times*. p. 107. Retrieved March 18, 2023. 1. ["Air Attractions"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76770128/the-boston-globe/). *The Boston Globe*. November 14, 1950. p. 19. Retrieved April 30, 2021. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com) 1. [Actors Studio](/source/Actors_Studio) Archives housed at 432 West 44th Street, New York, New York 10036 1. Playbill. com obit by Kenneth Jones, November 14, 2000 *TV Actress Mary Sinclair, Former Wife of Mr. Abbott, Dead at 78* ## External links - [Filmography by Genre](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0801681/filmogenre) - [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/14/arts/mary-sinclair-78-television-actress-of-the-50-s.html) - [Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-09-me-49294-story.html) - [Mary Sinclair](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0801681/) at IMDb - [Mary Sinclair](http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;cc=wiarchives;type=simple;rgn=Entire%20Finding%20Aid;q1=Mary%20Sinclair;view=reslist;subview=detail;sort=freq;didno=uw-whs-tape00339a) at the [University of Wisconsin](/source/University_of_Wisconsin)'s [Actors Studio audio collection](https://web.archive.org/web/20140502211533/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-tape00339a) - [Rusty White's Film World](https://rustywhitesfilmworldobituaries.blogspot.com/2010/04/november-2000-film-world-obituaries.html) - [Playbill](https://web.archive.org/web/20121021102654/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/56746-TV-Actress-Mary-Sinclair-Former-Wife-of-Mr-Abbott-Dead-at-78) - [Moviefone](https://web.archive.org/web/20120404121214/http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/mary-sinclair/1830521/biography) - [The Suspense of Suspense](https://jamesbawden.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mary Sinclair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sinclair) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sinclair?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.