Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Who Are Those Gals? ~ Abby Dalton

 

Gladys Marlene Wasden was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 12, 1932. Gladys worked as a model and a dancer at the Sands Hotel in her hometown and at the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood. She made her onscreen debut for Roger Corman in “Rock All Night” (1957), followed by “Teenage Doll” (1957), “Carnival Rock” (1957), “The Saga of the Viking Women” as Desir, the leader of a group of women who take to the high seas in search of their missing men and “Stakeout on Dope Street” (1958).

She also kept busy with guest-starring turns on such shows as ‘Have Gun — Will Travel’, ‘Rawhide’, ‘Maverick’, ‘The Rifleman’ and ‘Mike Hammer’ before landing on the CBS comedy Hennesey. She played Martha Hale, a Navy nurse and girlfriend of Jackie Cooper’s doctor character and received an Emmy nomination in 1961. She portrayed the scheming winery heiress Julia Cumson on the primetime soap “Falcon Crest”.

Dalton was always fun to have on game shows; in addition to ‘The Hollywood Squares’, she was a frequent player on ‘The $25,000 Pyramid’, ‘Password’, ‘Match Game’ and ‘Body Language’.

Married to entrepreneur Jack Smith for 60 years, her daughter, Kathleen Kinmont, was married to Lorenzo Lamas (her mom introduced them). She and Smith also had two sons Matthew and John.

Dalton died in Los Angeles, California on November 23, 2020 at the age of 88.

DALTON, Abby (Gladys Marlene Wasden) [8/15/1932, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. – 11/23/2020, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.] – theater, film, TV actress, singer, married to businessman Jack David Smith (1960-198?), mother of producer, writer, actor Matthew David Smith [1963-    ], Kathleen Kinmont (Kathleen Kinmont Smith) [1965-    ], John Smith, married to musician Joe Mondragon [1920-1987] (198?-19??).

Buck and the Magic Bracelet – 1997 (Ma Dalton)

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