Carla Balenda (born Sally Bliss, November 22, 1925) is an American former film and television actress.

Early life

She was born on November 22, 1925, in

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, New York, U.S. She attended high school in Baldwin, Long Island, and participated in

summer stock theatre In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock th ...

Career

Balenda had contracts with

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

and

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, but a 1954 newspaper article noted, "she didn't really hit her stride until she was chosen to be Mickey Rooney's TV love." After being billed as Sally Bliss in "a few minor roles in RKO productions," she changed her name to Carla Balenda. She explained: "Sally Bliss was just too cute. And I'm not cute at all. That name would type me, probably in ingenue roles -- and I'm not the type." On television, Balenda portrayed Pat in ''

The Mickey Rooney Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1954-1955) and Betty Leonard on '' The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu'' (1955-1956).Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 26-27.

Filmography

Television

* ''

: Hey, Mulligan'' (1954–55) * '' The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu'' (1956) * ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...

'' (1962) * ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

'' (1963) * ''

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a full-length novel called '' Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with another ...

'' (1958–63)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balenda, Carla 1925 births Living people American film actresses American television actresses RKO Pictures contract players 20th-century American actresses People from Carthage, New York 21st-century American women