Attempted suicide with pills in March of 1950 but the incident, triggered by domestic troubles, appeared more of a cry for help.
First husband, Conrad Nagel was well over 20 years older than she when the couple married. Her second husband, Robert Goelet Jr. was a year younger. Both marriages ended in divorce. She had no children.
Following her acting career, Merrick would go on to work in the fashion industry and serve as an executive field director for the Barbizon School of Modeling from 1967 to 1974. In later years she worked in sales at department stores in both California and Florida.
Moved to Hollywood to pursue a modeling career while studying acting. While appearing in a theatrical production in L.A., she was spotted by a Republic talent scout.
Selected a "Baby Star" by the Motion Picture Publicists Association in 1940, then is dubbed "Zoom Girl" by the sailors in the torpedo shop at San Diego Naval Air Station during WWII.
Sultry blonde, blue-eyed actress of the 40s who appeared in numerous Republic Pictures westerns before moving on to Columbia Studio mysteries and lightweight comedies.
When she and fortune heir Robert Goelet Jr. married in 1949, his countess mother, Donna Fernanda di Villa Rosa, the Princess Riabouchinsky of Florence, disinherited him.