Sally Mansfield

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA-It's only just been announced that actress Sally Mansfield died here Jan. 28, 2001, of lung cancer. She was 77. MSTies will recall her as dutiful space girlfriend Vena Ray in episode 413- MANHUNT IN SPACE and 417- CRASH OF THE MOONS. Mansfield was a Chicago native who she studied at the Actors Company of Chicago, the Children's Summer Theatre in Chicago and Sherwood Music School. Mansfield began her career in New York City in 1945 on radio.

Her voice was heard on several soap operas and in plays and commercials. She also danced with the Don Arden Dancers at nightclubs throughout the New York area and in Las Vegas. Winning a Paramount Pictures contract in 1951, Mansfield appeared in several Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin films and in the 1956 "The Leather Saint" starring Paul Douglas and John Derek. She was also a regular on the 1957 TV series "Bachelor Father." She beat out 300 other actresses to win the role of Vena Ray in "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger."