Margia Dean

Margia Dean was an American actress and beauty contest winner who worked in Hollywood films from the 1940s into the early 1960s, playing 30 leading roles and 20 smaller parts. Born in Chicago and raised in San Francisco, she began acting on stage at seven and won a national Shakespeare contest as Juliet. She made her feature debut in Casanova in Burlesque (1944) and took her stage name. Although she never signed a studio contract, she worked at Republic, Columbia and Paramount, made many films for 20th Century Fox and about 16 for Lippert Pictures, where she was called Queen of Lippert. Her first lead came in Shep Comes Home (1948), and she starred in the Western Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958). Her Lippert connection led to The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Hammer's first horror film. She retired from acting, her last film being Moro Witch Doctor, and later created Margo Productions and produced The Long Rope (1961).