Arlene Martel (April 14, 1936 – August 12, 2014), born Arline Greta Sax, was an American actress, writer, and acting coach. Prior to 1964, she was frequently billed as Arline Sax, Arlene Sax or Tasha Martel.

Biography

Martel attended the (then) Performing Arts High School in New York, on which the movie "Fame" was based, graduating in 1953. She later studied method acting and was a member of The Actors Studio. She remained friends with Sidney Lumet and Anthony Quinn throughout their lifetimes.

Martel lived on the west side of Los Angeles when she first moved there, and for a time lived on Martel Ave. in West Hollywood. She appropriated the
street name, and became known as Arlene Martel. During her third marriage, she became known off-screen as Tasha Martel Schoen.

Martel married and divorced three times. Her first marriage was to Robert Palmer. Her second marriage was to actor Jerry Douglas. Her third was to Matthew Schoen. She had three children: Adam Palmer, Avra Douglas, and journalist and designer Jod Kaftan.
She had three grandchildren - Shane Palmer (Adam), Molly Rose Brutsman (Avra), and Dashiell Kaftan (Jod). Shane died in 2010 at the age of 20.

In her later years, Martel wrote a screenplay, "Whisper Into My Good Ear", based upon the one-act play of the same title by William Hanley.
She had also begun work on a second screenplay, "Mrs. Dally Has a Lover," also by Hanley. Unfortunately, neither was produced, although
Edward James Olmos was slated to direct "Whisper Into My Good Ear." Maximilian Schell and Max Von Sydow were slated to play the leads.
Anthony Quinn was her original choice to play one of the leads and was learning the lines shortly before his death.

Martel dated James Dean and Cary Grant. She appeared in the Robert Altman film "The James Dean Story" (1957) and did many interviews in the years following his death for such networks as the BBC.

She was a regular at Star Trek Conventions worldwide from 1972 to 2014.

In 2010, Martel and Jeff Minniti self-published a book called "Mixed Messages", which was in fact an extensive collection of emails exchanged between them.
Minniti was a fan of Martel's who contacted her some years before her death and they struck up a friendship. Martel had written her autobiography several years before her death, but it has not yet been published.

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