Laura Devon

Laura Devon was born May 23, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois. Her birth name has been given as either Mary Lou Briley or Mary Laura Briley. Her father was identified in the press as Merrill Devon, an automotive engineer, and her mother as Velma Prather. Devon attended school in Chicago and Grosse Pointe. In 1954, Devon gave birth to her only child, Kevin, who would become a noted screenwriter. After performing in amateur theatricals and light opera, her first professional part was a lead in a production of The Boy Friend at the Vanguard Playhouse in Detroit. In 1962, Devon married Brian Kelly, son of Justice Harry F. Kelly, then a member of the Michigan Supreme Court and a former Michigan governor. Kelly was a fellow actor and, a month after their wedding, he and Devon appeared together on stage in Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic at the Laguna Beach Summer Theater. Two years later, he was to become well known for his role as Porter Ricks on the TV series Flipper. They divorced in January 1966. ==Screen career==

In 1961, Devon was discovered by Bob Goldstein of 20th Century Fox while she was singing at the London Chop House in Detroit. In addition, Devon appeared in five feature-length commercial films, playing Rusty Sartori in Goodbye Charlie (1964), Julie Kazarian in Red Line 7000 (1965), Marie Champlain in Chamber of Horrors (1966), Rosemary in A Covenant with Death (1967) and Edie Hart in Gunn (1967). ==Singing career==

Devon released only one professional recording, a single: "I Like the Look" (A side)/"Dreamsville" (B side). Both songs were composed by Henry Mancini and were featured in the film Gunn, Devon's last film. She can be heard on the soundtrack to the 1975 film Mr. Sycamore, performing the song "Time Goes By", written by her then husband, Maurice Jarre, and lyricist Paul Francis Webster. ==Marriage==

Devon was married and divorced four times. Her second marriage produced one child, Kevin, born in 1954. Her third husband was actor Brian Kelly, from 1962 to 1966, during which time he was starring in the television series Flipper. In 1967, she married film composer Maurice Jarre and retired from acting. Jarre adopted Devon's then 13-year-old son, giving the future screenwriter and actor his better known name, Kevin Jarre. Devon and Jarre divorced in 1984. ==Later life and death==

Devon died of heart failure in Beverly Hills on July 19, 2007, aged 76. ==Selected filmography==

• The Twilight Zone (1963) (Season 4 Episode 7: "Jess-Belle") as Ellwyn Glover • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (Season 1 Episode 27: "Death and the Joyful Woman") as Kitty Norris • The Fugitive (1963 TV series) (1966) (Season 3 Episode 23: "The Chinese Sunset") as Penelope Dufour • Gunn (1967) (film) as Edie Hart • The Invaders (1967) (Season 1 Episode 11: "The Betrayed") as Susan Carver ==See also==