Actors - Marion Davies

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	Actors - Marion Davies

Marion Davies (born January 3, 1897; died September 23, 1961) was an American comedic actress.

Early life

Of Greek and Irish heritage, she was born Marion Cecilia Douras in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children born to Herbert Douras, a lawyer who moved in New York City political circles, and Rose Reilly, formerly of Jersey City, New Jersey. Her elder siblings included Rose, Reine, and Ethel. A brother, Charles, drowned at the age of 15 in 1906. She spoke fluent Greek and liked to do puzzles.

The Douras family lived near Prospect Park in Brooklyn, but already the bright lights of Manhattan beckoned to the sisters. The sisters changed their surname to Davies, which one of them spotted from a realtor's sign in the neighbourhood. Even at a time when New York was the melting pot for new immigrants, having a Anglo-Saxon surname greatly helped one's prospects.

The Davies girls all hit the Great White Way, and Marion was signed on as a chorine in Florenz Ziegfeld's spectacular annual "Ziegfeld Follies" revues. Massively and expensively staged and brimming with the best comedic and musical talent, Ziegfeld's productions also showcased some of the most sensationally attractive young women in the world.

Career and Scandal

Though one of the greatest silent screen comediennes, Marion Davies is best remembered today for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Even during her career, her high-profile social life often obscured her professional achievements.

Along with other lovelies starting out in the 1916 "Follies" –– like Olive Thomas and Mae Murray –– Marion's beauty, vivacity and talent made her a star, and she soon outgrew the chorusline. Also like Thomas and Murray, she exchanged her popularity on stage for success in the movies.

After making her screen debut in late 1916 in a fashion newsreel, modeling gowns by Lucile (Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon), she appeared in her first feature film in 1917's Runaway Romany, for which she also wrote the script. Playing mainly light comedic roles, she quickly became a major movie personality, making a small fortune which enabled her to provide financial assistance for her family and friends.

By the mid-1920s, however, Marion's career was often overshadowed by her relationship with married media mogul William Randolph Hearst and their fabulous social life at San Simeon and Ocean House in Santa Monica.

Hearst had met her soon after she'd started working in movies, and formed Cosmopolitan Pictures solely to produce starring vehicles for her. Hearst's relentless efforts to promote her career instead had a detrimental effect, but he persisted, making Cosmopolitan's distribution deals first with Paramount, then Goldwyn, and then Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Marion, herself, in her published memoirs The Times We Had, concluded that Hearst's over-the-top promotion of her career, in fact, had a negative result.

Hearst loved seeing her in expensive costume pictures such as When Knighthood Was in Flower
(1922), Little Old New York (1923), Janice Meredith (1924) and Quality Street (1927), but in retrospect she seems to have fared just as well, if not better, in contemporary comedies like Tillie the Toiler, The Fair Co-Ed (both 1927), and especially two directed by King Vidor, The Patsy and the backstage-in-Hollywood saga Show People
(both 1928), where she showed a shining comedic talent and pantomimic skills. The Patsy contains her wonderful imitations, that she usually did for friends, of silent stars Lillian Gish, Mae Murray and Pola Negri.

The coming of sound made Marion nervous, because she had never completely overcome a childhood stutter. But with her usual persistence she did well, and made several memorable comedies and musicals during the 1930's, including Marianne (1929), Not So Dumb (1930), The Florodora Girl (1930), The Bachelor Father (1931), Five and Ten (1931) with Leslie Howard, Polly of the Circus (1932) with Clark Gable, Blondie of the Follies (1932), Peg o' My Heart (1933), Going Hollywood (1933) with Bing Crosby, and Operator 13 (1934) with Gary Cooper. She was involved with many aspects of her films and was considered an astute businesswoman. Her career, however, was hampered by Hearst's insistence that she play distinguished, dramatic parts, as opposed to the comic roles that were her forte. She also harboured an increasing dependence on alcohol, hiding bottles of liquor in San Simeon's toilet tanks. However, her body of work has often been praised by contemporary critics.

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Actors - Marion Davies

Early life

Career and Scandal

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