~Marion Davies~
Born: January 3, 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, USA Died: September 22, 1961 in Hollywood, CA, USA
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~Marion Davies goes into the Follies for her new film "Blondie of the Follies," in which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer co-stars her with Robert Montgomery. This recalls that Marion rose to fame, and here is a sketch of Miss Davies as a Follies girl, drawn by the celebrated illustrator, Harrison Fisher.~
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~The Los Angeles Times~ September 1, 2002 & November 21, 2008
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Marion Davies was a former Ziegfeld girl who became a comedic actress and mistress to tycoon
William Randolph Hearst.
Davies created a splash in "Ziegfeld Follies of 1916," during which she met Hearst and became his
mistress for the next 34 years, until his death.
Hearst's wife refused to divorce him to let him marry Davies, so he dove shamelessly into an
extramarital affair. When Davies decided she wanted to act, Hearst founded a movie studio to keep
her working and ordered all his newspapers to give her rave reviews.
Her motion picture career spanned two decades, from 1917 to 1937.
She starred in pictures produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia and Warner Bros., including
"Fair Coed," "Quality Street," "The Cardboard Lover," "Not So Dumb," and "Bachelor Father."
Among her last pictures were "Page Miss Glory," "Hearts Divided," and "Cain and Mable."
Davies shined as a comedian, but Hearst wanted her to be a serious leading lady, and his grousing at
the studios brought her career to a premature demise. She retired in 1937 and died of cancer in 1961.
She's interred in a mausoleum at the Hollywood Forever cemetery marked by her family name,
Douras.
— Paul Zollo and Susan King in the Los Angeles Times Sept. 1, 2002 and Nov. 21, 2008
