Marion Davies

Birthday: 1897-01-03
Deathday: 1961-09-22
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

From Wikipedia

Marion Davies (January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American film actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist.

Davies was already building a solid reputation as a film comedienne when newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, with whom she had begun a romantic relationship, took over management of her career. Hearst financed Davies' pictures, promoted her heavily through his newspapers and Hearst Newsreels, and pressured studios to cast her in historical dramas for which she was ill-suited. For this reason, Davies is better remembered today as Hearst's mistress and the hostess of many lavish events for the Hollywood elite. In particular, her name is linked with the 1924 scandal aboard Hearst's yacht where one of his guests, film producer Thomas Ince, became ill. Despite the legend surrounding Ince's death, likely from alcohol consumption, he did not die on the Hearst yacht. The producer died a few days later in the arms of his wife.

In the film Citizen Kane (1941), the title character's wife—an untalented singer whom he tries to promote—was widely assumed to be based on Davies. But many commentators, including Citizen Kane writer/director Orson Welles himself, have defended Davies' record as a gifted actress, to whom Hearst's patronage did more harm than good. She retired from the screen in 1937, choosing to devote herself to Hearst and charitable work.

In Hearst's declining years, Davies provided financial as well as emotional support until his death in 1951. She married for the first time eleven weeks after his death, a marriage which lasted until Davies died of stomach cancer in 1961 at the age of 64.

Credits

Year Title Character
1937-07-15 Ever Since Eve Marge Winton
1936-09-26 Cain and Mabel Mabel O'Dare
1936-06-20 Hearts Divided Betsy Patterson
1935-11-20 Pirate Party on Catalina Isle Marion Davies
1935-09-07 Page Miss Glory Loretta
1934-06-08 Operator 13 Gail Loveless
1933-12-22 Going Hollywood Sylvia Bruce
1933-05-26 Peg o' My Heart Margaret 'Peg' O'Connell
1932-09-01 Blondie of the Follies Blondie McClune
1932-02-27 Polly of the Circus Polly Fisher
1931-06-13 Five and Ten Jennifer Rarick
1931-04-10 It's a Wise Child Joyce Stanton
1931-01-10 The Bachelor Father Antoinette "Tony" Flagg
1930-05-31 The Florodora Girl Daisy Dell
1930-02-02 Not So Dumb Dulcy
1929-08-24 Marianne Marianne
1928-11-20 Show People Peggy Pepper
1928-09-02 The Cardboard Lover Sally
1928-04-22 The Patsy Patricia Harrington
1927-11-01 Quality Street Phoebe Throssel
1927-10-22 The Fair Co-Ed Marion
1927-06-05 Tillie the Toiler Tillie Jones
1927-01-29 The Red Mill Tina
1926-04-18 Beverly of Graustark Beverly Calhoun
1925-12-25 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
1925-10-31 Lights of Old Broadway Fely / Anne
1925-05-01 Zander the Great Mamie Smith
1924-12-08 Janice Meredith Janice Meredith
1924-12-01 The Wife of the Centaur Cameo in chorus line
1924-09-15 Yolanda Princess Mary / Yolanda
1923-08-01 Little Old New York Patricia O'Day
1923-02-19 The Pilgrim Congregation Member (uncredited)
1923-02-11 Adam and Eva Eva King
1922-09-15 When Knighthood Was in Flower Mary Tudor
1922-08-27 The Young Diana Diana May
1922-05-14 Beauty's Worth Prudence Cole
1922-01-22 The Bride's Play Enid of Cashell / Aileen Barrett
1921-10-29 Enchantment Ethel Hoyt
1921-04-09 Buried Treasure Pauline Vandermuellen
1920-11-12 The Restless Sex Stephanie
1920-03-20 April Folly April Poole
1919-12-14 The Cinema Murder Elizabeth Dalston
1919-08-03 The Dark Star Rue Carew
1919-04-19 Getting Mary Married Mary Bussard
1919-03-26 The Belle of New York Violet Gray
1918-09-21 The Burden of Proof Elaine Brooks
1918-06-02 Cecilia of the Pink Roses Cecilia
1917-12-23 Runaway Romany Romany