Neile Adams was born in Manila, the Philippine Islands on July 10, 1932 as María Ruby Neilam Arrastia y Salvador of Eurasian descent as her DNA attests. Her bloodline, to clarify erroneous reports, consists of 26% mixture of Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, 7% Polynesian and 67% Spanish Basque and English, although her maternal grandmother’s name was changed from Sulse to Schultz when that family emigrated to Spain from Germany. She spent WW2 in Japanese-occupied Manila, came to America in 1948, graduated high school the following year from Rosemary Hall (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Greenwich, Connecticut and immediately went to New York to study dancing where she got a scholarship at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance. To ward off being cast exclusively as a “señorita” or in just plain old Spanish-speaking parts because of her name, her mother claimed Adams was her father’s middle name. Never having seen nor met her father she soon became Neile Adams.
BROADWAY
Neile Adams is a dancer, singer, and actress. In her early career, to ward off being cast exclusively as a “seńorita” or in just plain old Spanish-speaking parts because of her name, her mother suggested using Adams which was her father’s middle name. Never having seen nor met her father, she soon became Neile Adams. In 1953, she became a lead dancer in “Kismet.” When the show closed in 1955, she was offered a showy role in Versailles Nightclub where George Abbott and Bob Fosse caught her performance and offered her the Carol Haney role in “The Pajama Game” (opposite John Raitt and Julie Wilson) just as soon as her contract ended with the club. To meet both deadlines, she performed at night and rehearsed during the day.
She was personally selected by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to play a lead in their first National Company Tour of “Me And Juliet.” Adams starred opposite the legendary Paul Muni in the original Broadway-bound production of “At The Grand,” and also starred in numerous regional musical productions, including: “Damn Yankees,” “Bye, Bye Birdie,” “Carousel,” “Can Can,” “South Pacific,” “Connecticut Yankee,” “Where’s Charley?,” “Desert Song,” and others.
NIGHTCLUB
Neile Adams opened the Tropicana in Las Vegas in 1958 where she performed for six months and starred with talent including Dick Shawn, Vivian Blaine, Betty and Jane Kean, Dorothy Kirsten, Celeste Holm, and Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams.
She also appeared in “CAN CAN” at Union Plaza in Las Vegas for a six-month run.Performer
TV & FILM
Neile Adams appeared in more than twenty TV shows and films between 1956 and 1991 including: “The Pat Boone Show” (1956); “This Could Be The Night” (MGM – 1957); “The Bob Hope Show” (NBC – Variety-Special filmed in Alaska in 1959); “The Eddie Fisher Show” (1959); “The Patrice Munsel Show” (1959); “The Walter Winchell Show” (1959); “Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Man From The South” (CBS – 1/3/60); “Five Fingers: A Shot In The Dark” (NBC – 1/16/60); “Alfred Hitchcock Presents: One Grave Too Many” (CBS – 5/22/60); “The Bob Hope Show” (NBC – Variety-Special filmed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on 11/16/60); “The Perry Como Show” (1960); “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Ten Minutes From Now” (NBC – 5/1/64); “The Jack Benny Program: Jack Loses A Raffle” (NBC – 11/13/64); “The Man From UNCLE: The Yellow Scarf Affair” (NBC – 1/25/65); “Fuzz” (United Artists – 1972); “Women In Chains” (ABC Movie-of-the-Week; 1/25/72); “So Long, Blue Boy” (Maryon – 1973); “The Bionic Woman: Max” (NBC – 12/3/77); “The Rockford Files: The Competitive Edge” (NBC – 2/10/78); “Vegas: French Twist” (ABC – 5/6/81); “Buddy Buddy” (MGM-United Artists – 1981); “Chu Chu and The Philly Flash” (20th Century Fox – 1981); “Hotel: Saving Grace” (ABC – 12/4/85); “Nightmare On The 13th Floor” (Movie-of-the-Week – 1990); and “Dead On The Money” (Movie-of-the-Week – 1991).Performer
CABARET
In recent years, Adams has created and presented her own cabaret shows, which have received rave reviews in L.A.( Catalina Jazz Club. Gardenia ) New York (Danny’s, Metropolitan Club), London (Pizza in the Park and The Pleasantry), Paris (Cafe Universal), Chicago and Palm Springs. She has four CD albums.