Background
She was born in Chicago, Illinois but moved to San Francisco, California with her parents at a young age.
She was born in Chicago, Illinois but moved to San Francisco, California with her parents at a young age.
She also took up modeling and was named "Mission San Francisco" and "Mission California" in 1939. She was a top-five runner-up to Patricia Donnelly in the "Mission America 1939" competition. She made her feature film debut in Casanova in Burlesque (1944) and adopted her stage name, Margia Dean.
Although never under contract to a studio, most of the films, some 16 in all, she made were for the producer Robert L. Lippert.
Her first leading role was in Shep Come Home (1948) and roles followed in Red Desert (1949), Federal Bureau of Investigation Girl (1951), The Lonesome Trail (1955), Villa!! (1958) and Seven Women from Hell (1961). She also portrayed a trapeze artist in the 1961 circus tale The Big Show, which starred Esther Williams and Robert Vaughn.
Her association with Lippert had led to her being cast in The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), the first Hammer horror film. Her final film was Moro Witch Doctor (1964).
She briefly became involved in movie production, producing The Long Rope (1961) with Hugh Marlowe as well as a number of television pilots.
She has since been vice-president of a real estate firm and has worked in costume design and interior decoration.