Mary Mara, a character actress who appeared on television shows such as “Nash Bridges”, “Dexter” and “ER” over a career spanning more than 30 years, has died in upstate New York. She was 61.
The death was announced by New York State Police, who said the body of Ms. Mara was found Sunday morning in the St. Lawrence River near Cape Vincent, NY, near the Canadian border, and a preliminary investigation suggested she had drowned while swimming.
She lived in Cape Vincent.
Ms. Mara was born on September 21, 1960 in Syracuse, NY, to Roger Mara, the former director of special events for the New York State Fair, and Lucille Mara, an accountant. Her brother Roger, a puppeteer, told The San Francisco Examiner in 1996 that he and Mary were encouraged by their mother’s flair for the stage.
After graduating from Corcoran High School in Syracuse, Ms. Mara attended San Francisco State University and later earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Yale School of Drama. Throughout her career, she was involved in theater, most notably in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Twelfth Night” with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Goldblum and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, in 1989.
That same year, she got her first on-screen credit, in the television movie “The Preppie Murder,” based on the true story of the murder of a young woman in New York. In 1992, she appeared in “Love Potion No. 9” and “Mr. Saturday Night,” which starred Billy Crystal as an accomplished stand-up comedian. Mrs. Mara played his estranged daughter.
Her other films were the 2008 horror film ‘Prom Night’.
She was perhaps best known for her recurring roles on “ER,” in which she played a patient, Loretta Sweet, from 1995-96, and on “Nash Bridges,” in which she played Inspector Bryn Carson from 1996-97.
She once said that she thought her character was overshadowed by the male detectives played by Don Johnson and Cheech Marin in the latter show.
“It’s a male-dominated show with Don and Cheech the principals,” she told The Post-Standard of Syracuse in 1999. Although the show’s writers “started writing really well for me about halfway through the season,” she added, producers “were worried I would stand out too much.”
Ms. Mara later appeared in “Dexter”, “Ray Donovan”, “Bones”, “Star Trek: Enterprise” and other shows. Her last credit was in the 2020 movie “Break Even”.
In a statement, Ms. Mara’s manager, Craig Dorfman, described her as “electric, funny and a real individual.”
Her survivors are a stepdaughter, Katie Mersola, and two sisters, Martha Mara and Susan Dailey, according to Variety.
The Associated Press contributed coverage.
