Michele Carey (born Michele Lee Henson; February 26, 1942 – November 21, 2018)[1][2] was an American actress who was best known for her role as Josephine "Joey" MacDonald in the 1966 Western film El Dorado. She appeared in movies and guest-starred in television series in the 1960s and 1970s.

Michele Carey
Carey in trailer for El Dorado (1966)
Born
Michele Lee Henson

(1942-02-26)February 26, 1942
DiedNovember 21, 2018(2018-11-21) (aged 76)
EducationFort Collins High School
Occupations
Years active1964–1986
Known for
Spouse
Fred G. Strebel
(m. 1999; died 2011)
Children1

Early life and education

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Carey was born on February 26, 1942, in Annapolis, Maryland, to Stanley Willard Henson, Jr., and Thelma Burnell Henson; her father was working as a wrestling instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy. The family soon moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where her father continued his medical studies. Carey was a piano prodigy who won a national contest at the Chicago Music Festival at age 13, and performed with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra.[3][4]

Career

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After graduating from high school, she was signed by the John Robert Powers Agency and moved to Los Angeles in 1964 with her son to pursue a modeling career.[3] She enjoyed success as a model, but she was more interested in acting. Aided by her beauty and trademark long, wild hair, she soon caught the eye of Hollywood producers.[4] In 1964, she made her first television appearance on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a receptionist.

The following year, she did more television work, had a small part in the classic beach party film How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), and acted in her first major film, the 1966 Western El Dorado, produced and directed by Howard Hawks, as high-spirited troublemaker Josephine "Joey" MacDonald, acting alongside John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan. Carey went on to co-star in films such as the Elvis Presley vehicle Live a Little, Love a Little (1968), The Sweet Ride (1968), and Dirty Dingus Magee (1970), starring Frank Sinatra (in which she played an anachronistically miniskirted Indian girl) and the offbeat Disney dramedy Scandalous John (1971) with Brian Keith.

On television, she appeared in guest-starring roles on episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Mission Impossible (1969), It Takes a Thief (1970), and three episodes of The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Feathered Fury", 1967 and the two-part "The Night of the Winged Terror", 1969), the December 1969 episode "Tug-of-War" on The F.B.I., Starsky and Hutch, and Alias Smith and Jones. Carey played the title role in the 1972 Gunsmoke episode "Tara", appeared in the second The Six Million Dollar Man pilot film (1973), and co-starred with Angie Dickinson and Roy Thinnes in the Dan Curtis TV movie The Norliss Tapes that same year. In 1977, she played Belle on one episode of Man from Atlantis. She provided the recurring female computer voice in A Man Called Sloane (1979–80). Carey retired from acting in 1984, but made a brief comeback in the film In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro (1986), which was her last performance. She also appeared as Crystal in a 1982 episode of the television series The Fall Guy.

Personal life

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Carey was briefly married to her son's (her only child) father in 1961. She was married again in the early 1970s to the man who would adopt her son. She was also briefly married in the early 1990s to a businessman in New Mexico. Carey's last marriage was with businessman Fred G. Strebel in 1999, and she resided with him in Hillsborough and Rancho Mirage. Strebel died on December 28, 2011.[5]

Death

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Carey died at the age of 76 on November 21, 2018, of natural causes in Newport Beach, California. Her father, who had been the oldest living NCAA wrestling champion, died earlier the same year. Her mother died in 2016. She was preceded in death by her only child Kevin Troy Schwanke.[1][2]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Film Role Notes
1965 The Spy with My Face Maggie
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini Michele (uncredited)
1966 El Dorado Josephine 'Joey' MacDonald Western film
1968 The Sweet Ride Thumper Stevens
Live a Little, Love a Little Bernice
1969 Changes Julie
1970 Five Savage Men Alice McAndrew Western film
Dirty Dingus Magee Anna Hot Water
1971 Scandalous John Amanda McCanless
1977 The Choirboys Ora Lee Tingle
1985 In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro Ginny Hansen Action film
1988 The Stay Wake (as Michelle Carey) Horror film

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1964 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Maggie Episode: "The Double Affair"
1965 Wendy and Me Roberta
Rita Talbot
Rita Talbot
Episode: "The Wendy Mob"
Episode: "Danny's Double Life"
Episode: "Wendy's Five Thousand Dollar Chair"
Burke's Law Bianca Andrade Episode: "Balance of Terror"
1966 T.H.E. Cat Julie Roth Episode: "The Ring of Anasis"
1967 Run for Your Life Margo Episode: "Tell It to the Dead"
1967-1969 The Wild Wild West Gerda Sharff
Laurette
Episode: "The Night of the Feathered Fury"
Episode: "The Night of the Winged Terror: Part I"
Episode: "The Night of the Winged Terror: Part II"
1969 The Name of the Game Evelyn 'Evvy' Trager Episode: "Blind Man's Bluff"
Mission: Impossible Lisa Episode: "The Brothers"
The F.B.I. Meredith Schaeffer Episode: "Tug-of-War"
1970 It Takes a Thief Sharon Foster Episode: "Nice Girls Marry Stockbrokers"
1971 Alias Smith and Jones Betsy Jamison Episode: "A Fistful of Diamonds"
1972 Gunsmoke Tara Hutson Episode: "Tara"
Love, American Style Mildred (segment "Love and the Impressionist") Episode: "Love and the First Kiss / Love and the Impressionist / Love and the Super Lover"
1973 The Norliss Tapes Marsha Sterns Television film
Savage Allison Baker Television film
The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War Cynthia Holland Television film
Adam's Rib Diana Episode: "For Richer, for Poorer"
1974 Dirty Sally Dolly Episode: "Right of Way"
1977 Delta County, U.S.A. Jonsie Wilson Television film
Man from Atlantis Belle Episode: "C.W. Hyde"
1977-1978 Starsky & Hutch Nikki
Catlin
Episode: "Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty"
Episode: "Class in Crime"
1979 The Legend of the Golden Gun Maggie Television film
Undercover with the KKK Mary Beth Barker Television film
A Man Called Sloane The Voice of Effie (voice) Episode: "The Seduction Squad"
Episode: "Tuned for Destruction"
Episode: "The Venus Microbe"
Episode: "Collision Course"
Episode: "Samurai"
Episode: "Sweethearts of Disaster"
Episode: "Lady Bug"
Episode: "Architect of Evil"
Episode: "The Shangri-La Syndrome"
1980 Death Ray 2000 Effie (voice) Television film
1982 The Fall Guy Crystal Episode: "No Way Out"
Rooster Policewoman Television film

References

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  1. ^ a b Barnes, Mike (December 3, 2018). "Michele Carey, Actress in 'El Dorado' and 'Live a Little, Love a Little,' Dies at 76". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Laxen, Jacob (December 3, 2018). "Fort Collins High School graduate, 'El Dorado' movie star dies". Fort Collins Coloradoan. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Michele Carey". michele-carey.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Lisanti, Tom (2008). Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood: Seventy-five Profiles. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786431724.
  5. ^ "Fred G. Strebel obituary". San Jose Mercury News/San Mateo County Times. January 4, 2012 – via legacy.com.
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