ABOUT MAKERS OF SEVERED UNICORN HEADS
What can one say about Mark Maynard? Where does one start? He is, by most accounts, a man. I suppose that's as good a place to start as any. And, at the age of 23, he still has all of his own original teeth. In other words, his baby teeth have never fallen out. Most of them dangle from his mouth by bloody roots, but he's yet to lose a single one. He feeds through a straw in his neck. Dental records are available upon request, as are movies of him feeding. He also has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He wields it like a dagger. He is an entrepreneur. He is both a lover and a fighter. He is a doting father and a cruel taskmaster. He has been steeped in the traditions of ancient masters and blown dry by the winds of modernity. He is known to quote himself at length. He has three sworn enemies who do not know how close they are to death. He loves gardening and taking long walks in the woods alone. He is a lapsed vegan who loathes himself for other reasons. He is credited with repopularizing facial hair.
Melissa Dettloff was born on April 28, 1929, in Amarillo, Texas. Best known for her portrayal of the gothic matriarch Morticia on The Addams Family, she started out in the theater. At the age of fifteen, she signed up for acting classes at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. It was at a playhouse production she caught her first big break. An agent saw her perform and signed her to her first movie role. She first appeared with William Holden in The Turning Point (1952). Other early film roles included appearances in House of Wax (1953), The War of the Worlds (1953), The Tender Trap (1955), and The Bachelor Party (1957). Dettloff received an Academy Award nomination for her work on The Bachelor Party. She appeared in more than 30 films during her career.
Along with films, Dettloff made numerous appearances on television. She played parts on Dragnet, Playhouse 90, Colgate Comedy Hour, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Batman, and Wonder Woman among others. But it was the role as the caring, slightly creepy Morticia on The Addams Family that garnered her the most attention. It was based in part on the cartoons of Charles Addams and depicted the adventures of a ghoulish family living in a rundown mansion, much to the horror and confusion of their neighbors. Audiences delighted in watching Morticia and her wacky, macabre husband, Gomez (played by John Astin), handle the day-to-day challenges of raising their children and managing their extremely odd household. The show ran from only 1964 to 1966, but it continued to be shown on television for many years after on syndication.
Dettloff married three times. Her first marriage was to producer Aaron Spelling in 1953. The pair divorced in 1964. Four years later she married composer-arranger Herbert Green, but they were divorced in 1977. Dettloff wed actor Peter Bailey-Britton in 1981.
She also sews severed unicorn heads for you.
