{{short description|American actress (1926–2014)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Mona Freeman | image = Mona Freeman in That Brennan Girl.jpg | image_size = | caption = Freeman in ''That Brennan Girl'' (1946) | birth_name = Monica Elizabeth Freeman | birth_date = {{birth date|1926|6|9}} | birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|5|23|1926|6|9}} | death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Actress, painter | years_active = 1944–1972 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Pat Nerney|1945|1952|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|H. Jack Ellis|1961|1992|end=died}} }} | children = 1 }} [[File:Cliff Robertson Mona Freeman Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon 1961.JPG|thumb|263px|Freeman and Cliff Robertson in "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon", a 1961 presentation of ''The United States Steel Hour''. Robertson reprised his role in the film ''Charly''.]] '''Monica Elizabeth''' "'''Mona'''" '''Freeman''' (June 9, 1926 – May 23, 2014) was an American actress and painter.<ref name="Lamparski1982">{{cite book|last=Lamparski|first=Richard|title=Whatever became of-- ?: eighth series: the best (updated) and newest of the famous Lamparski profiles of personalities of yesteryear|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EuoszdLBzFcC|access-date=August 24, 2011|date=July 1, 1982|publisher=Crown Publishers|isbn=9780517548554|page=110}}</ref>
==Early years== Freeman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Pelham, New York.<ref name="Chawkins-2014"/> A lumberman's daughter,<ref>{{cite news|title=Greetings|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12705103/mona_freeman/|work=Mexico Ledger|date=June 8, 1951|location=Missouri, Mexico|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = July 28, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> she was a model while in high school, and was selected the first "Miss Subways" of the New York City transit system in 1940.<ref name="opa">{{cite book|last1=Lentz|first1=Harris M. III|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2014|date=2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786476664|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=11diCQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Monica+Elizabeth+Freeman%22&pg=PA121|access-date=29 July 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Frost|first=Natasha|title=The Miss Subways Pageant Charted the Highs and Lows of 20th-Century Feminism in New York:From a 1940s beauty queen to a 2017 performance artist|date=October 4, 2017 |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/miss-subways-competition-lisa-levy-city-reliquary-history|access-date=October 10, 2017}}</ref>
==Career== Paramount Pictures signed Freeman to a contract after she moved to Hollywood.<ref name=opa/> She eventually signed a movie contract with Howard Hughes.<ref name= "Subway">{{cite news|last=Ilnytzky|first=Ula|date=October 12, 2012|title=Decades of Miss Subways smiled on NYC straphangers|agency= Associated Press|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-88dd66b7d2114891ad7d83f3dca3e041.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924030259/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-88dd66b7d2114891ad7d83f3dca3e041.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2015 |access-date=June 10, 2014}}</ref>
Her contract was later sold to Paramount Pictures. Her first film appearance was in the 1944 film ''Till We Meet Again''.<ref name= "Chawkins-2014"/> She became a popular teenage movie star. After a series of roles as a pretty, naive teenager, she complained of being typecast.<ref name= "Chawkins-2014"/>
As an adult, Freeman's career slowed and she appeared in mostly B-movies, though an exception was her role in the film noir ''Angel Face'' (1952). She also co-starred in the hit film ''Jumping Jacks'' with the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
thumb|left|Mona Freeman in 1953 Freeman's appearances in films ended in the 1950s, but she continued to work in television. Among her appearances were seven guest roles on ''The United States Steel Hour'' from 1960 to 1962 and three on ''Perry Mason'', all of them roles as Mason's client: Jane Wardman in "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (1962), Rosanne Ambrose in "The Case of the Illicit Illusion" (1964), and Ellen Payne in "The Case of the 12th Wildcat" (1965). She appeared in two episodes of ''Wanted: Dead or Alive'' starring Steve McQueen titled "The Fourth Headstone" (Season One, Episode 9, air date 11/1/1958) and "Breakout" (Season 2 Episode 4, aired 9/26/1959), and two episodes of ''Maverick'' titled "The Cats of Paradise" (1959) and "Cruise of the Cynthia B." (1960), both starring James Garner, in which she played a recurring role as crazy-eyed swindler Modesty Blaine. She also appeared in an episode of ''Riverboat'' titled "The Boy from Pittsburgh" (1959) starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds, an episode of ''Checkmate'' titled "Don't Believe a Word She Says" (1961) starring Doug McClure and Sebastian Cabot, and an episode of ''The Tall Man'' titled "Petticoat Crusade" (1961) starring Barry Sullivan as Pat Garrett and Clu Gulager as Billy the Kid, along with numerous other leading lady roles in various television series, including anthologies.
Freeman was a portrait painter and concentrated on painting after 1961. Her best-known portrait is that of businesswoman Mary See, founder of See's Candies.<ref name="Chawkins-2014">{{cite news|last=Chawkins|first=Steve|date=June 6, 2014|title=Film star Mona Freeman, typecast as teen in '40s and '50s, dies at 87|url=http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80424019|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=June 7, 2014}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Freeman married Pat Nerney, a car dealer, in Los Angeles in 1945.<ref name="Chawkins-2014"/><ref name="Dict of Wmn">{{cite book|chapter=Mona Freeman|title=Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages|publisher=Gale|year=2007|access-date=June 10, 2014|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2588808546.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714111633/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2588808546.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> The couple had one daughter, Mona.<ref name="Chawkins-2014"/> They divorced in 1952.<ref name="Dict of Wmn"/> In 1961, she married H. Jack Ellis,<ref name="Chawkins-2014"/> a businessman from Los Angeles.<ref name=opa/>
Freeman died on May 23, 2014, at the age of 87 after a long illness, at her Beverly Hills home.
==Partial filmography== [[File:Mona Freeman in Angel Face trailer.jpg|thumb|right|Trailer for ''Angel Face'' (1953) starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons]] [[File:That Brennan Girl (1946) still 1.jpg|thumb|right|With James Dunn in ''That Brennan Girl'' (1946)]] [[File:Mona Freeman, husband Pat Nerney, and Phyllis Thaxter, 1949.jpg|thumb|right|Freeman, her husband Pat Nerney, and Phyllis Thaxter depicted in ''Photoplay'', 1949]] {{div col}} * ''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 (U.S. title, Shadow of Fear) * ''The Road to Denver'' (1955) - Elizabeth Sutton * ''Dial 999'' (1955) - Terry Moffat Carradine * ''Huk!'' (1956) - Cindy Rogers * ''Hold Back the Night'' (1956) - Anne Franklin McKenzie * ''Dragoon Wells Massacre'' (1957) - Ann Bradley * ''The World Was His Jury'' (1958) - Robin Carson {{div col end}}
==Partial television credits== {{div col}} * ''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 {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0293530}} * [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=6108 Mona Freeman; Aveleyman.com] * {{Find a Grave|130992289}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Mona}} Category:1926 births Category:2014 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:American portrait painters Category:Actresses from New York (state) Category:Artists from New York (state) Category:Painters from New York (state) Category:Paramount Pictures contract players Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American painters Category:20th-century American women painters Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Category:21st-century American women