Life and Career
A part-time secretary and actress raised in Arkansas, she began her film career in B-movie westerns.
She used her real name, Betty Adams, until 1949 when she began working for Universal Pictures. She then became Julia and eventually Julie Adams. Her first movie role was a minor part in Red, Hot and Blue (1949), followed by a leading role in the Lippert western The Dalton Gang (1949). Adams was featured as the bathing beauty Kay Lawrence in 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon. She appeared in the musical comedy Tickle Me starring Elvis Presley in 1965.
Adams made several guest appearances on Perry Mason; the most memorable was the 1963 episode, "The Case of the Deadly Verdict," when she played Janice Barton, Perry's only convicted client during the show's nine-year run on CBS.
Later in her career she played guest starring roles for television, including Maverick (1960 episode: "The White Widow" with Jack Kelly), The Man and the Challenge, and as real estate agent "Eve Simpson" on Murder, She Wrote.
Adams (along with her son, Mitchell) has authored a book on her life and career, The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections From The Black Lagoon, which was published in 2011 and is currently available via her website. The autobiography has received both public and critical acclaim, with noted movie critic Leonard Maltin praising it on his indiewire.com Blog as, "A charming memoir by longtime leading lady Julie Adams." On the Amazon.com website, the book is currently rated 4.5 out of 5 stars. A limited test print run (100 copies) - with a bonus interview DVD - of the audiobook version has now been completed. Future sales and distribution are pending.
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