Screen star of 1930s musical comedies Mary Carlisle, 104

Mary Carlisle, who was the object of Bing Crosby’s crooning affection in three breezy musical comedies of the 1930s, has died. She was 104.

Carlisle, who appeared in more than 50 films in the decade, died at the Motion Picture Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, a spokeswoman for the home told The Hollywood Reporter.

She also played a giggling honeymooner in Greta Garbo’s Grand Hotel (1932) and showed no favourites when it came to one of college football’s biggest rivalries back then, starring in Hold ’Em Navy (1937) and then Touchdown, Army (1938).

The 5ft 1in Carlisle displayed a cosy chemistry with Crosby in the Paramount movies College Humor (1933), Double Or Nothing (1937) and Doctor Rhythm (1938).

In their first pairing, Crosby performed Moonstruck as she looked on, and in the second he employed shadow puppets as he sang It’s The Natural Thing To Do to her. In the last, Crosby serenaded a park statue with My Heart Is Taking Lessons as Carlisle looked on nearby.

Carlisle’s co-stars also included Jack Benny (It’s In The Air), John Barrymore (Should Ladies Behave), Basil Rathbone (Kind Lady), Will Rogers (Handy Andy), Buster Crabbe (The Sweetheart Of Sigma Chi), Maureen O’Hara (Dance, Girl, Dance) and Lloyd Nolan (Tip-Off Girls).

After appearing with George Zucco and horror-film icon Dwight Frye in Dead Men Walk (1943), she retired from the movies.

Carlisle was wed to James Blakeley – an actor and film editor and head of postproduction at 20th Century Fox – from 1942 until he died in 2007.

Born Gwendolyn Witter in Boston in 1914, she was taken to Hollywood by her widowed mother. At age 14, while they were having lunch at the Universal commissary, the blue-eyed girl was spotted by producer Carl Laemmle Jr and given a screen test, though she did not sign with the studio.

After completing high school, however, Carlisle met a casting director at MGM, then showed up in uncredited roles in such films as Madam Satan (1930) – as Little Bo Peep – The Great Lover (1931) with Adolphe Menjou and then Grand Hotel.

In 1933, Carlisle received a big career boost when she was selected as a “Baby Star” – a young actress thought to be on the threshold of stardom – by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers.

After she was finished with acting, Carlisle managed an Elizabeth Arden beauty salon in Beverly Hills.

She is survived by her son James Blakeley III, and two grandchildren.

Mary Carlisle starred alongside Bing Crosby.