Marguerite Churchill

Birthday: 1910-12-26
Deathday: 2000-01-09
Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marguerite Churchill (December 26, 1910 – January 9, 2000) was an American film actress appearing in more than 25 films with a career spanning from 1929 to 1952. She is best known today as John Wayne's first leading lady, in The Big Trail (1930).

She was the daughter of a producer who owned a chain of theaters, but he died when she was ten years old. She was educated in New York City at the Professional Children's School and the Theatre Guild Dramatic School. She appeared on stage and was applauded on Broadway as a leading lady when just sixteen years old. An official of the Fox Company saw her acting and gave her a contract which shortly afterwards led her to debut on screen in The Diplomats.

Churchill played leading lady to John Wayne in Howard Hawk's The Big Trail (1930), an early widescreen epic and Wayne's first leading role. She appeared with Wayne the following year in Girls Demand Excitement (1931), with Spencer Tracy and George Raft in Quick Millions (1931), with Will Rogers in Ambassador Bill (1931), with Warner Oland in Charlie Chan Carries On (1931), with George O'Brien in Riders of the Purple Sage (1931), with Charles Farrell in Girl Without a Room (1933), with Ralph Bellamy in The Final Hour (1936), with Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead (1936), and with Edward Van Sloan in Dracula's Daughter (1936).

She died on January 9, 2000, aged 89, from natural causes in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She was survived by her daughter, Orin.

Credits

Year Title Character
1950-09-01 Bunco Squad Barbara Madison
1936-11-01 Legion of Terror Nancy Foster
1936-09-23 Alibi for Murder Lois Allen
1936-07-07 The Final Hour Flo Russell
1936-06-13 Murder by an Aristocrat Nurse Sally Keating
1936-05-11 Dracula's Daughter Janet
1936-03-01 The Walking Dead Nancy
1936-01-29 Man Hunt Jane Carpenter
1935-07-01 Speed Devils Pat Corey
1935-04-15 Without Children Sue Cole
1933-12-08 Girl Without a Room Kay Loring
1932-05-22 Forgotten Commandments Marya Ossipoff
1931-11-13 Ambassador Bill Queen Vanya
1931-10-22 Riders of the Purple Sage Jane Withersteen
1931-04-17 Quick Millions Dorothy Stone
1931-04-11 Charlie Chan Carries On Pamela Potter
1931-02-08 Girls Demand Excitement Miriam
1930-11-01 The Big Trail Ruth Cameron
1930-06-29 Good Intentions Helen Rankin
1930-05-11 Born Reckless Rosa Beretti
1930-01-12 Harmony at Home Louise Haller
1929-12-01 Seven Faces Hélène Berthelot
1929-09-18 They Had to See Paris Opal Peters
1929-05-19 The Valiant Mary Douglas
1929-02-04 Furnace Trouble