Mary Stuart (Meta Bauer)

Mary Stuart, who joined the cast of Guiding Light as Meta Bauer in November 1996, is best known to daytime audiences as Search for Tomorrow’s heroine Joanne (Jo) Gardner Barron Tate Vincente Tourneur, a role she played throughout the show’s entire run from 1951 to 1986.

Mary, who was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1995, was the first daytime performer to be nominated for an Emmy in 1962, in a category with primetime/ actresses Mary Tyler Moore and Shirley Booth. She has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, and won at least a dozen major magazine awards for Best Actress while on Search for Tomorrow.

She started her career when she was 12, singing with local bands, and working with the USO at area military bases during high school. After graduation, Mary worked briefly as a photojournalist in order to pay her way to New York to pursue her acting career.

While working as a nightclub photographer and a hat check girl at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York City, she began singing with the hotel band, which led to a screen test and a contract with MGM. When the studio tested leading men, Mary stood in for Bette Davis. She also posed in a bathing suit for Clark Gable’s publicity photographs.

Mary appeared in over 20 movies, including The Girl from Jones Beach with Ronald Reagan; and Colt 45 and The Adventures of Don Juan, both with Errol Flynn. She also appeared in the low-budget western Thunderhoof, for which the studio had her blond hair dyed black and padded the backside of her jeans, so she would look more sultry.

Mary moved back to New York and enrolled in an acting class with fellow students Cliff Robertson and Jack Lemmon. One afternoon, while having lunch with advertising executive Roy Winsor (who, unbeknownst to Mary, was developing a television serial tentatively titled Search for Happiness), Mary complained that there were no female characters with whom women could identify. Shortly after, she was cast as the lead in Search for Tomorrow.

During Mary’s tenure on Search for Tomorrow, her second pregnancy was written into the storyline, a first for live daytime television. Her run as Jo was so memorable that Jo’s apron is on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.

In addition, she acted in most of the live television dramas of the 1950's, narrated the NBC news documentary Determining Force in 1977, and performed on Broadway in Marriage Go Round.

Mary is also a writer, singer, and composer. Her autobiography, Both of Me, was published in 1980 and was a Literary Guild selection. Her teleplay, When Angels Fly, was produced for Canadian television in 1982. A play, Squirrel Cage, is currently in workshop. She recorded an album of children’s songs, Joanne Sings, with Percy Faith in the 1950's, which is still requested today, and an album of mostly original music, Mary Stuart, with Michel Legrand in 1973.

Mary is the chairperson of the New York chapter of BOOK PALS (Performing Artists for Literacy), an organization of working actors who donate time each week reading books to children in New York City public schools.


	With Love To... The SOAPS! Grant Aleksander (Phillip Spaulding) - ADDED PICTURES \| George Alvarez (Father Ray Santos) \| Laura Bell Bundy (Marah Lewis) \| Beth Chamberlin (Lorelei) \| Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer Lewis) - ADDED PICTURES \| Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis) \| Bradley Cole (Prince Richard Winslow) - ADDED PICTURES \| Magaly Colimon (Ruth Lockhart) \| Miriam Colon (Maria Santos) \| Jim Davidson (Alonzo Baptiste) \| Justin Deas (Frank "Buzz" Cooper, Sr.) \| Frank Dicopoulos (Frank Cooper) \| Mark Dobies (Dr. Noah Chase) \| Beth Ehlers (Harley Spaulding) \| Maureen Garrett (Holly Reade) \| Ricky Paull Goldin (Gus Aitoro) \| Jessica Jimenez (Catalina Quesada) \| Billy Kay (Shayne Lewis) \| Elizabeth Keifer (C. Blake Marler) \| David Andrew Macdonald (Prince Edmund Winslow) \| Oliver Marceady (Henry "Romeo" Jones) \| Mackanzie Mauzy (Lizzie Spaulding) \| Robert Newman (Joshua Lewis) - ADDED PICTURES \| Michael O'Leary (Dr. Rick Bauer) \| Victoria G. Platt (Vicky Brandon) \| Susan Pratt (Dr. Clare Ramsey) \| Ron Rains (Alan Spaulding) \| Wesley A. Ramsey (Sam Spencer) \| Paul Rauch (Executive Producer) \| Nancy St. Alban (Michelle Bauer Santos) \| Tina Sloan (Lillian Raines) \| Paul Anthony Stewart (Danny Santos) \| Mary Stuart (Meta Bauer) \| Terrell Tilford (David Grant) \| Jerry Ver Dorn (Ross Marler) \| Jordi Vilasuso (Tony Santos) - ADDED PICTURES \| Laura Wright (Princess Cassandra "Cassie" Layne Winslow) - ADDED PICTURES \| Kim Zimmer (Reva Lewis) - ADDED PICTURES Mary Stuart (Meta Bauer) Mary Stuart, who joined the cast of Guiding Light as Meta Bauer in November 1996, is best known to daytime audiences as Search for Tomorrow’s heroine Joanne (Jo) Gardner Barron Tate Vincente Tourneur, a role she played throughout the show’s entire run from 1951 to 1986. Mary, who was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1995, was the first daytime performer to be nominated for an Emmy in 1962, in a category with primetime/ actresses Mary Tyler Moore and Shirley Booth. She has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, and won at least a dozen major magazine awards for Best Actress while on Search for Tomorrow. She started her career when she was 12, singing with local bands, and working with the USO at area military bases during high school. After graduation, Mary worked briefly as a photojournalist in order to pay her way to New York to pursue her acting career. While working as a nightclub photographer and a hat check girl at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York City, she began singing with the hotel band, which led to a screen test and a contract with MGM. When the studio tested leading men, Mary stood in for Bette Davis. She also posed in a bathing suit for Clark Gable’s publicity photographs. Mary appeared in over 20 movies, including The Girl from Jones Beach with Ronald Reagan; and Colt 45 and The Adventures of Don Juan, both with Errol Flynn. She also appeared in the low-budget western Thunderhoof, for which the studio had her blond hair dyed black and padded the backside of her jeans, so she would look more sultry. Mary moved back to New York and enrolled in an acting class with fellow students Cliff Robertson and Jack Lemmon. One afternoon, while having lunch with advertising executive Roy Winsor (who, unbeknownst to Mary, was developing a television serial tentatively titled Search for Happiness), Mary complained that there were no female characters with whom women could identify. Shortly after, she was cast as the lead in Search for Tomorrow. During Mary’s tenure on Search for Tomorrow, her second pregnancy was written into the storyline, a first for live daytime television. Her run as Jo was so memorable that Jo’s apron is on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. In addition, she acted in most of the live television dramas of the 1950's, narrated the NBC news documentary Determining Force in 1977, and performed on Broadway in Marriage Go Round. Mary is also a writer, singer, and composer. Her autobiography, Both of Me, was published in 1980 and was a Literary Guild selection. Her teleplay, When Angels Fly, was produced for Canadian television in 1982. A play, Squirrel Cage, is currently in workshop. She recorded an album of children’s songs, Joanne Sings, with Percy Faith in the 1950's, which is still requested today, and an album of mostly original music, Mary Stuart, with Michel Legrand in 1973. Mary is the chairperson of the New York chapter of BOOK PALS (Performing Artists for Literacy), an organization of working actors who donate time each week reading books to children in New York City public schools. Born in Miami, Florida, Mary was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her birthday is July 4.