Marla English is a motion picture

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 actress from San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 who made movies in the 1950s.

English was originally signed to a contract by Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 after winning a San Diego beauty pageant. She was paid $100 per picture to appear in such films as Red Garters

Red Garters (film)

Red Garters is a 1954 film starring Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, and Jack Carson. It was a musical spoof of Westerns. The director was George Marshall....

(1954) and Rear Window

Rear Window

Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...

(1954).

She received a major break when she was cast opposite Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...

 in The Mountain

The Mountain (1956 film)

The Mountain is a 1956 dramatic film starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner. The supporting cast included Claire Trevor, Richard Arlen, William Demarest, and Anna Kashfi...

, a film which was to be made in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Marla was given a smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

 before leaving to go on location. She quickly developed a raging fever and decided to pull out of making the movie. Paramount suspended English and signed actress, Barbara Darrow, to make the film.

Parade Magazine questioned English about her decision in September 1955. She said it was a very dumb move and was unsure why she decided against making The Mountain. A close relative told the publication that English had fallen in love with Paramount actor Larry Pennell

Larry Pennell

Larry "Bud" Pennell , aka Alessandro Pennelli, is an American television and film actor.Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he is mainly a supporting actor, best known for his role as "Dash Riprock," the conceited, image-conscious, and macho Hollywood movie star courting "Elly May Clampett" in the...

. She became enraged when the studio would not give Pennell a role in the film, so they could travel to France together.

English made mostly B-movie

B-movie

A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 films throughout her career in Hollywood. Some of these include Three Bad Sisters (1956), Runaway Daughters (1956), The She Creature

The She Creature

The She Creature is a 1956 American black-and-white horror film produced by American International Pictures from a script by Lou Rusoff , produced by Alex Gordon and directed by Edward L. Cahn...

(1956), Flesh and the Spur

Flesh and the Spur

Flesh and the Spur is a 1957 Western film directed by Edward L. Cahn. The movie stars John Agar as Lucius Random, Marla English as Wild Willow, and future Mannix star Mike Connors as Stacy Tanner.-Plot:...

(1957), and Voodoo Woman

Voodoo Woman

Voodoo Woman is a horror film directed by Edward L. Cahn and released by American International Pictures.-Synopsis:A pair of treasure hunters, which includes the beautiful but ruthless Marilyn Blanchard , discover gold in the voodoo idol of a tribe of the African jungle...

(1957). In 1955 she played with John Ireland

John Ireland (actor)

John Benjamin Ireland was an actor and film director.-Biography:Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was raised in New York City from the age of 18. He started out in minor stage roles on Broadway...

 and Pennell in Hell's Horizon.

She gave up her acting career in 1956 when she became engaged to San Diego businessman A. Paul Sutherland. English was just 21 at the time.

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