"Blonde, beautiful and talented, Marion Davies was the first and funniest screwball comedienne."Marion Davies [1897-1961]
Marion Davies was born Marion Cecilia Douras in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children born to Bernard J. 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. His name was subsequently given to Marion's favourite nephew, the screenwriter Charles Lederer, the son of Marion's sister Reine Davies.
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 on a realtor's sign in the neighborhood. Even at a time when New York was the melting pot for new immigrants, having an 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
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. In her posthumously published memoirs, Marion claimed she wasn't an actress, knew nothing about politics, and described herself as a "silly, giggly idiot."
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. It was a film written by herself and directed by her brother-in-law, the prominent Broadway producer, George W. Lederer. The film wasn't exactly a box-office smash, but for Marion it was a start. The film was, instead, a stepping stone to bigger things. The following year Marion starred in three films, The Burden of Proof, Beatrice Fairfax, and Cecilia of the Pink Roses. 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.
Cecilia of the Pink Roses in 1918 was her first film backed by Hearst. She was on her way to being the most famously advertised actress in the world. During the next ten years she appeared in twenty-nine films, an average of almost three films a year. She was a tireless worker, always trying to live up to the relentless promotional campaigns launched by Hearst.
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 dubbed the biggest house on the beach,"the beach between San Diego and Vancouver".
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, 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 1930s, 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.
Hearst reportedly had tried to push MGM executives to hire Marion for the role of Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette (1938). Louis B. Mayer had other ideas and hired producer Irving Thalberg's wife Norma Shearer for the part instead. Hearst reacted by pulling his newspaper support for MGM, and moved Cosmopolitan Pictures to Warner Bros.'s studios, but stayed only a few years. Davies' films there included Page Miss Glory (1935), Hearts Divided, Cain and Mabel (both 1936), and Ever Since Eve (1937), her last film. Cosmopolitan Pictures folded, so Marion left the screen and retreated to San Simeon.
Decline
By the late-1930s Hearst was suffering financial reversals and it was Marion who bailed him out by selling off $1 million of her jewelry. Without her the Hearst Corporation might not be where it is today. When Hearst died, his family had every trace of Davies' presence in his home removed, and when discussing his life and legacy, made no reference to her.
Ten weeks after Hearst's death, Davies married Horace Brown on October 31, 1951, at the age of fifty-four. It was not a happy marriage (he allegedly encouraged her drinking): Davies filed for divorce twice, but neither was finalised. Marion's friends, and the media, noticed a remarkable physical similarity between Brown and the young William Randolph Hearst.
In her last years, Marion Davies was involved with charity work: in 1952 she donated $1.9 million to establish a children's clinic at UCLA, which still bears her name. She also fought childhood diseases through the Marion Davies Foundation.
She suffered a minor stroke in 1956, and was later diagnosed with cancer of the jaw. She had an operation which appeared to be successful; Davies fell and broke her leg in 1960. The last time Davies was seen by the American public was on January 10, 1960 on an NBC TV special called Hedda Hopper's Hollywood. Hosted by Hedda Hopper, guest interviews included (besides Davies herself) an extremely eclectic mix of then-current and former stars such as: Lucille Ball (a friend of Hopper's), Francis X. Bushman, John Cassavetes, Robert Cummings, Walt Disney, Janet Gaynor, Bob Hope, Hope Lange, Anthony Perkins, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart and Gloria Swanson.
Her health continued to decline, and Davies died of cancer in 1961, in Hollywood. Her funeral was attended by many old-time Hollywood legends including Mary Pickford and Mrs. Clark Gable (Kay Spreckels), as well as President Herbert Hoover. She is buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood. She left an estate estimated at more than $30 million.
After the death of Davies' niece, Patricia Lake (née Van Cleeve), Lake's family announced that she was in fact the daughter of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst. Prior to the announcement, it had been said that Lake was the daughter of Rosemary Davies (Marion's sister) and her first husband, George Van Cleeve. Although the claim does not appear to have been verified independently, Lake and her husband — Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood in numerous films — were buried beside Davies in the Douras family mausoleum.
Portrayals of Davies
Davies was rumoured to be the inspiration for the shrill, talentless Susan Alexander character portrayed in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, which was based loosely on Hearst's life. This portrayal has led to various portrayals of her as a loose, drunken woman, the most recent of which was Melanie Griffith's in HBO's RKO 281. Welles himself, as stated in his foreword to Marion Davies book, "The Times We Had", said he deeply regretted that so many assumed Susan Alexander was a carbon copy of Davies; he felt that the real Davies was a great actress and a wonderful woman. He also claimed that the Susan Alexander owed as much to the Chicago tycoon Samuel Insull's mistress for whom he built an opera house. In the Welles film, Susan Alexander is an aspiring opera singer.
Davies was also portrayed by Virginia Madsen in the telefilm The Hearst and Davies Affair (1985) (with Robert Mitchum as Hearst) and Heather Macnair in Chaplin (1992). Madsen later became a Davies fan and said that she felt she had inadvertently portrayed her as a stereotype, rather than as a real person.
Many film historians and fans resent the negative reputation Kane garnered her, and have worked to restore her image in the public eye. Their efforts included a 2001 documentary, Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies, which featured appearances by friends and costars who tearfully remembered Davies, even four decades after her death.
In 2001, Kirsten Dunst played the role of Marion in the film The Cat's Meow.
Marion Davies Filmography:1964 MGM's The Big Parade of Comedy
1937 Ever Since Eve
1936 Cain and Mabel
1936 Hearts Divided
1935 Page Miss Glory
1934 Operator 13
1933 Going Hollywood
1933 Peg O' My Heart
1932 Polly of the Circus
1932 Blondie of the Follies
1931 It's a Wise Child
1931 Five and Ten
1931 The Bachelor Father
1930 Not So Dumb
1930 The Floradora Girl
1930 The Florodora Girl
1929 Marianne
1929 Hollywood Revue of 1929
1928 The Patsy
1928 Show People
1928 The Cardboard Lover
1927 The Fair Co-Ed
1927 Tillie the Toiler
1927 The Red Mill
1927 Quality Street
1926 Beverly of Graustark
1925 Lights of Old Broadway
1925 Zander the Great
1925 Lights of Old Broadway
1924 Yolanda
1924 Janice Meredith
1923 Little Old New York
1923 The Pilgrim
1923 Adam and Eva
1922 Bride's Play
1922 Trip To Paramountown
1922 Beauty's Worth
1922 Young Diana
1922 When Knighthood Was in Flower
1921 Buried Treasure
1920 Restless Sex
1920 Enchantment
1920 April Folly
1920 Cinema Murder
1919 Getting Mary Married
1919 Belle of New York
1918 Cecilia of the Pink Roses
1917 Runaway RomanyTrivia
She was the longtime, and sometimes long distance, mistress of newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst. Their life together was dubiously mirrored in the film, Citizen Kane (1941) and RKO 281 (1999) (TV), and more factually in The Cat's Meow (2001).
Aunt of actor Arthur Lake who best known for portraying Dagwood Bumstead in a series of Blondie movies in the 40s and 50s.
Interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California, USA, in section B, east side of the lake.
Sister of actress Reine Davies.
Is portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in The Cat's Meow (2001), by Melanie Griffith in RKO 281 (1999) (TV), by Virginia Madsen in The Hearst and Davies Affair (1985) (TV) and by Heather McNair in Chaplin (1992)
The character of Susan Alexander Kane played by Dorothy Comingore in Citizen Kane (1941) was based on her. She liked to do puzzles and this hobby was incorporated into the character.
In 1993, the family of 'Patricia Van Cleve' (wife of Arthur Lake) revealed, upon her death, that she was actually the child of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst. Van Cleve had been raised by Davies' sister Rose and had always been introduced as her niece and Lake as her nephew.
Being the practical joker that she was, Marion once got President Calvin Coolidge drunk by feeding him wine and simply telling him it was fruit juice.
Her tomb at Hollywood Forever Cemetery is often overlooked though it is an imposing structure. It is a miniature Greek temple, which is appropriate since she was of Greek heritage, on the east side of the lake very close to the grave of Tyrone Power. Her family name of Douras appears over the doorway.
She was William Randolph Hearst's mistress for over 30 years. It was widely considered the "worst kept secret in Hollywood" that she lived with him in California while his wife Millicent resided in New York. His wife would not grant him a divorce so that he could marry Marion. Marion retired from the screen in the late 1930s so she could be with Hearst as his health was declining. When Hearst lay dying in 1951 at the age of 88, Marion was given a sedative by his lawyer. When she awoke several hours later, she discovered that Hearst had died and that his associates had removed his body as well as all his belongings and any trace that he had lived there with her. His family had a big formal funeral for him in San Francisco. Marion did not attend.
