Julie Adams (Betty May Adams)
October 17, 1926 – February 3, 2019
Just heard the sad news that Julie Adams has passed away at 92. One of my favorites actresses, she made some great Westerns for Universal-International in the 50s — and she was always so beautiful in Technicolor.
She was born Betty May Adams in 1926 in Waterloo, Iowa. In 1946, at 19, she was crowned “Miss Little Rock.” From there, it was off to Hollywood. Betty May worked as a secretary and appeared in a few B Westerns. She used her real name until 1949, when she signed with Universal-International. She then became “Julia” — and eventually “Julie”.
Universal kept her plenty busy. She appeared opposite James Stewart in Anthony Mann’s Bend Of The River (1952), Van Heflin in Budd Boetticher’s Wings Of The Hawk (1953, up top) Tyrone Power in The Mississippi Gambler (1953), Rock Hudson in Raoul Walsh’s The Lawless Breed (1953, above), Glenn Ford in The Man from the Alamo (1953) and Rory Calhoun in The Looters (1955), to name just a few. Away from Universal, she was in The Gunfight At Dodge City (1959) with Joe McCrea and Tickle Me (1965) with Elvis Presley.
She had a leading man of a different sort when she starred in 1954’s Creature From The Black Lagoon. The Creature would become the last of Universal’s roster of movie monsters, a real icon. Julie in her custom-built one-piece bathing suit became pretty iconic as well.
Julie did lots of TV, too. She was a county nurse on The Andy Griffith Show. She was on Perry Mason four times, including the only episode where Mason lost a case. You’ll also find her on The Rifleman, 77 Sunset Strip, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, McMillan & Wife, Police Woman, The Streets Of San Francisco and more.
Westerns are often criticized for not having strong roles for women. Julie Adams was so good, that never seemed like a problem for her. She always impressed.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
Sad news. Such a beautiful and personable actress. She lit up any film she was in.
That’s very sad news. She was someone closely associated with so many of those movies a lot of us here hold dear.
RIP
It was so lovely to think of her still with us.
she was wonderful in so many roles,a big favorite of mine.She will always be loved by the fans,like me
Julie Adams, a native of Arkansas, was a much talented, very beautiful, and determined actress who has always been a favorite of mine. My earliest memory of her was in the movie THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON(1955). I realize that she will be most remembered for her memorable role in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON(1954) and rightly so, but I think her steadiest genre was the Western and she was so good in them. That said, I think she was good in any genre that she appeared in.
I am saddened by the news of her passing and I feel like I have lost a neighbor(she did own land near where I live. She enjoyed taking her grandchildren hiking and horseback riding there).
Julie Adams R.I.P.
What a great loss and a favorite Universal actress of mine as well. She did work along the best directors : Mann, Boetticher, Walsh, Maté, Castle. RIP !
Julie Adams certainly had a long career but I remember her most in WINGS OF THE HAWK with Van Heflin .Great picture of her Toby from that film .RIP Julie Adams.
I just received 3 BLU RAYS from the US.IWO JIMA ,THE SCALPHUNTERS both of which I’ve never seen before and HIGH NOON Signature Edition .I watched the last 2 yesterday but had to wait a couple of days before I could figure out how to change the region code .Yea ,I know it’s not rocket science ,but the sooner they make all BLU RAYS region free ,especially films that were made decades ago ,the better .DVDs are when you play them on a multiregion player.Anyway ,the 2 I watched I enjoyed .Next up is IWO JIMA.
A classic western 9 film collection from Paramount has just been released .Most of these have all been released before –
TRUE GRIT
THE SHOOTIST
SHANE
HUD
CHUKA
POSSE
WILL PENNY
JOHNNY RENO
GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K .CORRAL
THE two missing from my collection are POSSE which I want and HUD which I’m unsure of .Importcds are about the cheapest retailer if anyone is interested.
Graham, I’m glad that I just deal with Region 1, which is enough for me. Is it THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA(1949) starring John Wayne, John Agar, and Forrest Tucker? A really fine movie.
HIGH NOON(1952) and THE SCALPHUNTERS(1968) are two very different movies, to say the least. The later is more of a comedy Western.
There are some good movies in the Paramount list. Concerning POSSE(1975) and HUD(1963), it depends on what you like. HUD is the better made movie, but they are both cynical. HUD is set in modern day Texas and is from Larry McMurtry’s novel HORSEMAN, PASS BY(1961). I think HUD is more worth watching for the fine performances of the actors and actress. Especially Melvyn Douglas as Homer Bannon, an old-time cowman who epitomizes the frontier values of honesty and decency, as opposed to Hud, his unscrupulous son. For me personally, this movie hits very close to home. I remember my grandfather, from a hospital bed, swinging his fist at my uncle and shouting, “give me my money!” My brother, father, and me having to deal with the aftermath of sick cattle in the coldness of a very hot August, 1976. I knew the people of HUD.
The POSSE is a movie where there is nobody to root for. The so-called good guys are no better than the bad guys. This movie was filmed right after the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Nixon.
Walter ,it is THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA .I thought Wayne put on a darn good performance .Whoever said he couldn’t act,I say BAH ! He reminded me of my platoon sergeant in recruits when I got called up for nasho .He was doing the same thing as Wayne but after the training was finished ,he took us all to the service clubs .Normally ,I’m not a fan of comedy westerns ,but I thought the comedy was not over done,unlike THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL ,although I love the main theme and song and often play it on U TUBE.Walter ,regarding the HIGH NOON Signature edition ,are there supposed to be black bars on either side.I thought I read a review where they said the bars appear at the beginning,but disappear after a few minutes .I watched all the extras,but haven’t read the booklet yet.
Graham, the version of HIGH NOON that I have, which is the 2-disc Collector’s edition put out by Lionsgate in 2008 has black bars on both sides during the movie, but hardly noticeable.
I really like Elmer Bernstein musical scores and he did a good one for THE SCALPHUNTERS, as well as so many others.
Walter ,do you live in the USA? For some reason I thought Lionsgate was based in the UK .You know,the British lion .I see that Kirk Douglas was Producer and Director on Posse .As I mentioned before on a previous thread,when Don Taylor directed FINAL COUNTDOWN ,he said Kirk was a great actor but a not so good boss.
Graham, I live in the USA about 40 miles by highway, but less as the eagle flies, from where Julie Adams owned 40 acres of land in Newton County, Arkansas. She really liked to take her grandchildren hiking there.
Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Lionsgate with headquarters in Santa Monica, California. It was originally an American-based Canadian entertainment company. It was formed on July 10, 1997, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
My 2 disc DVD version from Lionsgate(2008) has some very good special features including with commentary by Maria Cooper-Janis(Gary Cooper’s daughter), Jonathan Foreman(Carl Foreman son), Tim Zimmerman(Fred Zimmerman’s son), and John Ritter(Tex Ritter’s son). Also, a radio broadcast with Tex Ritter and a visit to the Tex Ritter Museum. There is also a choice between original restored audio and enhanced audio. English and Spanish subtitles.
Yes, Kirk Douglas was producer/director/star-actor on POSSE(1975). Here is what Bruce Dern, who co-starred with Kirk in POSSE had to say in HOLLYWOOD REPORTER magazine in 2010. “My happiest days were when we got to work with legends. You can’t be a legend today — the press and the world are too invasive, everybody knows too much about everybody. But these were legends because you wondered about who they were. They were bigger than life. The best time for me was any time I got to work with them — John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Bette Davis.”
Also, in an interview conducted by Will Harris of Avclub,com in 2017, Bruce Dern talked about working with Kirk Douglas in POSSE, which he thought was an interesting movie. “Kirk Douglas was the director and starred in it with me, and he was very kind to me and very generous. It was a very good script. Unusual. And I think he’d only directed one movie before that, called Scalawag or something like that. It was good. The political side of it was hidden extremely well, but it was a guy who thought he was presidential material… and then he turned out to be more crooked than the crook!
Walter ,I did read where Don Taylor would have liked a different ending to THE FINAL COUNTDOWN but Kirk was in charge and he respected him as an actor.
The Lionsgate DVD of HIGH NOON sounds good ,especially with Maria Cooper’s commentary.