Andra Martin


Andra Martin is an American actress, most notable for appearing in many television series and a few movies while a contract player for Warner Bros. in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Early years

Martin was born Sandra Rehn, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Walter Rehn. She grew up near Rockford, Illinois, on her parents' farm, graduated from Monroe Center High School, and studied dramatics for two years at Northwestern University. From there, she went to New York and worked as a model while she studied acting under Lee Strasberg. She honed her acting skills in the summer playhouse at Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania.

Career

Martin's film debut came in Street of Sinners. The Lady Takes a Flyer was the first film in which she was billed as Andra Martin. That same year, she appeared in the horror film The Thing That Couldn't Die, about a 400-year-old head that uses telepathic control of various people to help him find his body. That same year, she won the Hollywood Debut Award. She was James Garner's leading lady in the 1959 film Up Periscope, and the daughter/secretary on the Perry Mason TV-series episode "The Case of the Prodigal Parent". She also played the role of defendant Arlene Ferris in the 1961 episode, "The Case of the Waylaid Wolf."
Martin played Wahleeah, a captive American Indian maiden who became the love interest of Clint Walker in Yellowstone Kelly and appeared in various television series, including Maverick in the episodes "Gun-Shy" with James Garner, "Hadley's Hunters" with Jack Kelly, "Thunder from the North" with Roger Moore. She was also a leading lady, often more than once in different roles, in series such as The Alaskans, 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, Surfside Six, Bronco, Lawman, Cheyenne, Bachelor Father, and Wagon Train, among others.

Personal life

On August 30, 1958, Martin married actor Ty Hardin in North Hollywood, California—a wedding that took place despite the objections of Warner Bros. studios, for which both of them worked. They were the parents of twin sons born in 1959.
On June 23, 1962, she married David May II, heir to a chain of department stores. They were divorced in 1968.