Brigid Mary Bazlen

 Brigid Mary Bazlen (June 9, 1944 – May 25, 1989)

Bazlen was "discovered" in 1950 at the age of 6 waiting for a school bus in front of her house by an NBC executive. The network was testing for the then groundbreaking soap opera Hawkins Falls, Population 6200 (which went on to become the first successful television soap opera) starring Maurice Copeland and Bernardine Flynn, and the executive asked Bazlen's parents for permission to test her. While her mother initially refused, she later relented and Bazlen won a part and became a regular on the show for two years, winning rave reviews. She later co-starred in the 1959 TV series Too Young To Go Steady. Although she made only three Hollywood films, The Honeymoon Machine, King of Kings, and How the West Was Won, she is still remembered for the latter two. Bazlen never made another movie but frequently appeared on stage in Chicago until 1966, when she married singer Jean-Paul Vignon and gave up performing. The couple later divorced after having one child, Marguerite Vignon. Bazlen returned to acting briefly in the early 1970's in Chicago dinner theater plays that included Nobody Loves an Albatross as Jean Hart playing opposite Gig Young, Under the Yum Yum Tree and Once More with Feeling. Then, in 1972, she took the role of Mary Anderson in the NBC daytime TV drama Days of Our Lives. After this role, however, she completely retired from acting.

Bazlen was a heavy smoker and her health began to decline as she entered her mid-40s. In 1989, she died of cancer at age 44. She is buried with her Mother at Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.