aka Dawn Arden | Mary Dawne Arden | Mery Arden
Mary Dawn Arden was an American actress who had support parts in two Eurospy films, 002 agenti segretissimi (64) and Michele Lupo’s above average Master Stroke (67), as well as turning up in Umberto Lenzi fumetti-style Kriminal (66). According the the IMDB she was born in Michigan on 3rd December, 1910, and appeared fleetingly in a number of US productions before and during the war, including William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives.
In the early sixties, she must have relocated to Italy, where she worked as a fashion model before appearing in Gianni Puccini’s L’Attico (62). She then had her best known part, as the unfortunate Peggy Peyton in Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace (64), before appearing in a handful of other productions, including Lupo’s The Revenge of Spartacus and an uncredited cameo in Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits. She had a rare starring role in Angelo Dorigo’s A… come assassino, which was hardly seen by anybody, and Master Stroke was her last European credit. By 1971, she was back in the states and had small bit parts in a couple of forgotten films, before quitting the industry
Apparently, she now heads an image consultancy group in New York, coaching executives in leadership skills preparing them for public speaking, business presentations, media interviews, road shows, and crisis management. In Japan, she developed business-training programs to help Japanese executives and G-7 translators bridge cultural and communication differences with the western world.
A few points of trivia: she was married to Arthur Hansel, who starred in the spy film Misione Apocalisse. She also appeared in the Sadistik photo novels, which preceded Kriminal.
There’s an interview with her on the US version of the Blood and Black Lace DVD