Elaine Devry, ‘The Atomic Kid’ Star and Fourth Wife of Mickey Rooney, Dies at 93

Michaela Zee
·2 min read
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Elaine Devry, who appeared in such films as “The Atomic Kid” and “A Guide for the Married Man” and dozens of television series, died Sept. 20 at her home in Grants Pass, Oregon, according to a notice on a local funeral home website. She was 93.

Devry married actor Mickey Rooney in Las Vegas in November 1952, becoming the fourth of Rooney’s eight wives. She made her first onscreen appearances the following year in the comedy film “A Slight Case of Larceny” starring Rooney, as well as an episode of the Ronald Reagan-hosted CBS anthology series “General Electric Theater.”

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In the 1954 sci-fi comedy “The Atomic Kid,” directed by Leslie H. Martinson, she played nurse Audrey Nelson opposite Rooney’s Barnaby “Blix” Waterberry; she was billed as “Elaine Davis (Mrs. Mickey Rooney)” in the credits.

Devry portrayed divorée Jocelyn Montgomery in the 1967 Gene Kelly-directed film “A Guide for the Married Man.” Her other film credits include “China Doll” (1958), “Man-Trap” (1961), “The Last Time I Saw Archie” (1961), “Diary of a Madman” (1963), “With Six You Get Eggroll” (1968), “The Cheyenne Social Club” (1970), “Bless the Beasts and Children” (1971), “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf” (1973) and “Herbie Rides Again.”

On the television side, Devry guested on such series as “Bourbon Street Beat,” “Bachelor Father,” “Perry Mason,” “Death Valley Days,” “77 Sunset Strip” “Hawaiian Eye,” “Bonanza,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “My Three Sons,” “Family Affair,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.” and “Cannon.” Her final acting credits include an episode of “Beverly Hills Bordello” and the 1999 film “Heart to Heart.com.”

Devry was born Thelma Elaine Mahnken on Jan. 10, 1930, in Compton, Calif. She married her high school boyfriend Dan Ducich in 1948, and the couple lived in Butte, Montana, until their divorce in 1952.

Devry returned to California that year and met Rooney at a driving range in Woodland Hills. The couple wed in November when she was 22 and he was 32, and eventually divorced in December 1958.

In 1975, Devry married actor Will J. White, whom she first met in 1961 on NBC’s “The Dick Powell Theater.” The couple were married until White’s death on April 23, 1992.

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