Frances Marion
Encyclopedia
Frances Marion was an American
journalist
, author
, and screenwriter
often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the twentieth century alongside June Mathis
and Anita Loos
.
, she worked as a journalist
and served overseas as a combat correspondent during World War I
. On her return home, she moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a writing assistant by "Lois Weber Productions", a film company owned and operated by pioneer female film director
Lois Weber
.
As "Frances Marion", she wrote many scripts for actress/filmmaker Mary Pickford
, including Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
and The Poor Little Rich Girl
, as well as scripts for numerous other successful films of the 1920s and 1930s. She became the first female to win an Academy Award
for Best Adapted Screenplay
in 1930 for the film The Big House, she received the Academy Award for Best Story
for The Champ
in 1932, both featuring Wallace Beery
, and co-wrote Min and Bill
starring her friend Marie Dressler
and Beery in 1930. She was credited with writing 300 scripts and over 130 produced films. She directed and occasionally appeared in some of Mary Pickford's early movies.
, who co-starred with Mary Pickford in The Love Light in 1921. After Thomson's unexpected death in 1928, she married director George W. Hill
in 1930, but that marriage ended in divorce in 1933. She had two sons—Fred C. and Richard (adopted). Fred earned a Ph. D. in English at Yale, taught there and later joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina. He became an editor of the writings of George Eliot, publishing editions of Felix Holt, the Radical in 1980 and later.
Frances Marion published a memoir Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood in 1972. Marion died the following year of a ruptured aneurysm
in Los Angeles
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the twentieth century alongside June Mathis
June Mathis
June Mathis was an American screenwriter and one of the highest paid Hollywood executives in the 1920s. Mathis was the first female executive for Metro/MGM and at only 35, she was the highest paid executive in Hollywood. In 1926 she was voted the third most influential woman in Hollywood, behind...
and Anita Loos
Anita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
.
Career
Born Marion Benson Owens in San Francisco, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, she worked as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and served overseas as a combat correspondent during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. On her return home, she moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a writing assistant by "Lois Weber Productions", a film company owned and operated by pioneer female film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Lois Weber
Lois Weber
Lois Weber was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director, who is considered "the most important female director the American film industry has known", and "one of the most important and important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films". Film historian...
.
As "Frances Marion", she wrote many scripts for actress/filmmaker Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, including Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1917 silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the novel of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion...
and The Poor Little Rich Girl
The Poor Little Rich Girl
The Poor Little Rich Girl is a 1917 American comedy-drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur. Adapted by Frances Marion from the 1913 play by Eleanor Gates. The Broadway play actually starred future screen actress Viola Dana...
, as well as scripts for numerous other successful films of the 1920s and 1930s. She became the first female to win an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
in 1930 for the film The Big House, she received the Academy Award for Best Story
Academy Award for Best Story
The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1957, when it was eliminated in favor of the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, which had been introduced in 1940.-1920s:...
for The Champ
The Champ
The Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The...
in 1932, both featuring Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, and co-wrote Min and Bill
Min and Bill
Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson....
starring her friend Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
and Beery in 1930. She was credited with writing 300 scripts and over 130 produced films. She directed and occasionally appeared in some of Mary Pickford's early movies.
Personal life
She was married four times, first to Wesley de Lappe, and later to Robert Pike, both prior to changing her name. In 1919, she wed Fred ThomsonFred Thomson
Frederick Clifton Thomson was an American silent film cowboy who rivaled Tom Mix in popularity before dying at age 38 of tetanus.-Birth and athletic achievement:...
, who co-starred with Mary Pickford in The Love Light in 1921. After Thomson's unexpected death in 1928, she married director George W. Hill
George W. Hill
George William Hill was an American film director and cinematographer.-Career:He began his film career at age 13 as a stagehand with director D. W. Griffith...
in 1930, but that marriage ended in divorce in 1933. She had two sons—Fred C. and Richard (adopted). Fred earned a Ph. D. in English at Yale, taught there and later joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina. He became an editor of the writings of George Eliot, publishing editions of Felix Holt, the Radical in 1980 and later.
Later years and death
For many years she was under contract to MGM Studios, but, independently wealthy, she left Hollywood in 1946 to devote more time to writing stage plays and novels.Frances Marion published a memoir Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood in 1972. Marion died the following year of a ruptured aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Featured Stars | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | The New York Hat The New York Hat The New York Hat is a short silent film directed by D. W. Griffith from a screenplay by Anita Loos, and starring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish.-Production:... |
Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish | Contributing writer |
| 1915 | Camille Camille (1915 film) Camille is a 1915 film based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. It was adapted by Frances Marion and directed by Albert Capellani, and stars Clara Kimball Young, Paul Capellani, Lillian Cook and . Though numerous other films have had the same title, this was... |
Clara Kimball Young, Paul Capellani, Robert Cummings | Scenario |
| A Girl of Yesterday A Girl of Yesterday A Girl of Yesterday is a 1915 film produced by Adolph Zukor's Famous Players company and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Allan Dwan and starred Mary Pickford. Pickford at last played a mature woman more or less her own age. The picture costarred Frances Marion, soon to be a... |
Mary Pickford, Frances Marion, Glenn L. Martin | actress | |
| 1917 | The Little Princess | Katherine Griffith, Mary Pickford, Norman Kerry, ZaSu Pitts, Theodore Roberts | Writer |
| Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1917 silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the novel of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion... |
Mary Pickford, Eugene O'Brien | Writer | |
| The Poor Little Rich Girl The Poor Little Rich Girl The Poor Little Rich Girl is a 1917 American comedy-drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur. Adapted by Frances Marion from the 1913 play by Eleanor Gates. The Broadway play actually starred future screen actress Viola Dana... |
Mary Pickford, Madlaine Traverse, Charles Wellesley, Gladys Fairbanks | Writer | |
| 1918 | Stella Maris Stella Maris (1918 film) Stella Maris is a 1918 silent film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on William J. Locke's novel. The film was remade in 1925, with Mary Philbin in the title role.-Plot:... |
Mary Pickford | Photoplay |
| How Could You, Jean? | Mary Pickford | Scenario | |
| M'Liss M'Liss (1918 film) M'Liss is a 1918 silent film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on a Bret Harte's story. The film was made previously in 1915 and was remade again in 1922 as The Girl Who Ran Wild, starring Gladys Walton. Another same-titled remake was released in 1936, starring Anne... |
Mary Pickford | Writer | |
| Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 silent film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on a Belle K. Maniates novel.-Plot:... |
Mary Pickford, William Scott, Kate Price | Writer | |
| 1919 | The Cinema Murder The Cinema Murder The Cinema Murder is a silent movie of 1919 starring Marion Davies, adopted from the 1917 novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim.Critics of the time, especially those of Variety Magazine, 14 Jan 1920, mentioned that this particular movie, which opened at the Rialto, was so packed that at 10:00 PM the movie... |
Marion Davies, Eulalie Jensen, Anders Randolf, Reginald Barlow | Scenario |
| Anne of Green Gables Anne of Green Gables (1919 film) Anne of Green Gables is a silent film directed by William Desmond Taylor based upon the novel, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion... |
Mary Miles Minter | Writer | |
| 1920 | Pollyanna Pollyanna (1920 film) Pollyanna is a 1920 American melodrama/comedy film starring Mary Pickford, directed by Paul Powell, and based upon an Eleanor H. Porter novel. It was Pickford's first motion picture for United Artists. It became a major success and would be regarded as one of Pickford's most defining pictures... |
Mary Pickford | Adaptation |
| The Flapper The Flapper The Flapper is a 1920 American silent comedy film starring Olive Thomas. It was the first movie in the United States to portray the "flapper" lifestyle which would soon become a 1920's fad.-Plot:... |
Olive Thomas, Warren Cook | Screenplay, story | |
| The Restless Sex The Restless Sex The Restless Sex is a 1920 film starring Marion Davies, and Ralph Kellard. It was directed by Leon D'Usseau and Robert Z. Leonard and written by Frances Marion. The film was based upon a novel by Robert W. Chambers. An extant film at the Library of Congress.-Plot summary:Mike Jill is a restless and... |
Marion Davies, Ralph Kellard | Writer | |
| 1921 | The Love Light The Love Light The Love Light is a 1921 silent drama film starring Mary Pickford. The film was written and directed by Frances Marion.-Cast:* Mary Pickford as Angela Carlotti* Evelyn Dumo as Maria* Raymond Bloomer as Giovanni* Fred Thomson as Joseph... |
Mary Pickford, Evelyn Dumo | Director, story (uncredited) |
| 1922 | The Toll of the Sea The Toll of the Sea The Toll of the Sea is an American drama film, directed by Chester M. Franklin, produced by the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, released by Metro Pictures, and featuring Anna May Wong in her first leading role.... |
Anna May Wong, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley | Scenario (uncredited), story |
| 1923 | The Famous Mrs. Fair The Famous Mrs. Fair The Famous Mrs. Fair is a silent drama film produced by Louis B. Mayer, distributed through Metro Pictures, and directed by Fred Niblo. The film is based on the Broadway play of the same name by James Forbes that had starred Blanche Bates in the 1919 theatre season. This is now considered a lost... |
Myrtle Stedman, Huntley Gordon | Adaptation, screenplay |
| 1924 | Secrets Secrets (1924 film) Secrets is a silent film directed by Frank Borzage. The film is based upon a 1872 opera called Don César de Bazan and was remade in 1933 with Mary Pickford in the leading role. Although the film was never released on video or DVD, copies still exist.-Plot:The films opens in present. 75-year-old... |
Norma Talmadge | Adaptation |
| Cytherea Cytherea (1924 film) Cytherea is an American drama film which featured two dream sequences filmed in an early version of the Technicolor color film process.-Production background:... |
Alma Rubens,Constance Bennett, Norman Kerry, Lewis Stone, Irene Rich | Adaptation | |
| 1925 | Stella Dallas Stella Dallas (1925 film) Stella Dallas is a 1925 film that was adapted by Frances Marion and directed by Henry King. It stars Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Lois Moran, Alice Joyce, Jean Hersholt, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.-Cast:*Ronald Colman - Stephen Dallas... |
Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Lois Moran | Adaptation |
| A Thief in Paradise A Thief in Paradise A Thief in Paradise is a 1925 silent film, written by Frances Marion and directed by George Fitzmaurice. It is an adaptation of Leonard Merrick's novel The Worldlings . It is a "lost film".-Plot:... |
Doris Kenyon, Ronald Colman, Aileen Pringle | Adaptation | |
| Thank You | Alec B. Francis, Jacqueline Logan | Writer | |
| Lightnin' Lightnin' Lightnin' is a 1925 comedy film directed by John Ford. It was based on a successful play that played 1,291 performances starting in 1918 at the Gaiety Theatre... |
Jay Hunt, Wallace MacDonald | Writer | |
| 1926 | The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter (1926 film) The Scarlet Letter is a 1926 drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. Louis B. Mayer was reluctant on using Miss Gish, fearing opposition from church groups. The film was announced as "It's a real 'A' picture", taking advantage of the 'A' for Adultery, and proved a box office success... |
Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson | Adaptation, scenario, titles |
| The Winning of Barbara Worth The Winning of Barbara Worth The Winning of Barbara Worth is a silent western film, released by United Artists in 1926, and starring Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky, and Gary Cooper . The film is based on the novel of the same name by Harold Bell Wright and was filmed in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada... |
Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky | Adaptation | |
| Son of the Sheik | Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Bánky, Montagu Love, Karl Dane, George Fawcett | Adaptation | |
| 1927 | The Red Mill The Red Mill The Red Mill is an operetta written by Victor Herbert, with a libretto by Henry Blossom. It premiered on Broadway on September 24, 1906 at the Knickerbocker Theatre and ran for 274 performances, starring comedians Fred Stone and David Montgomery. It was revived on October 16, 1945, opening at the... |
Marion Davies | Adaptation, screenplay |
| Love Love (1927 film) Love is a film directed by Edmund Goulding and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM made the film in order to capitalize on its winning romantic team of Greta Garbo and John Gilbert who had starred in the 1926 blockbuster, Flesh and the Devil.... |
John Gilbert, Greta Garbo | Continuity | |
| Madame Pompadour | Dorothy Gish | Writer | |
| 1928 | The Wind The Wind The Wind is a 1928 American dramatic silent film directed by Victor Sjöström. The movie was adapted by Frances Marion from the novel The Wind written by Dorothy Scarborough. It features Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming, and others... |
Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming | Scenario |
| The Awakening The Awakening (1928 film) The Awakening is a feature film directed by Victor Fleming.-Cast:*Vilma Bánky as Marie Ducrot*Walter Byron as Count Karl von Hagen*Louis Wolheim as Le Bete*George Davis as The Orderly*William Orlamond as Grandfather Ducrot... |
Vilma Bánky, Walter Byron | Story | |
| Bringing Up Father | J. Farrell MacDonald, Polly Moran, Marie Dressler | Writer | |
| 1929 | Their Own Desire Their Own Desire Their Own Desire is a 1929 American romantic drama film starring Norma Shearer, Belle Bennett, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, and Helene Millard. The movie was adapted by James Forbes and Frances Marion from the novel by Sarita Fuller, and was directed by E. Mason Hopper... |
Norma Shearer, Belle Bennett, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Helene Millard | Screenplay |
| 1930 | Min and Bill Min and Bill Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson.... |
Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery | Dialogue, scenario |
| The Big House | Robert Montgomery, Wallace Beery, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone | Dialogue, story Won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) |
|
| Good News Good News (films) Good News is the title of two American MGM musical films based on the 1927 stage production of the same name.The first, released in 1930, was directed by Nick Grinde. The cast included Bessie Love, Cliff Edwards and Penny Singleton. The film was shot in black-and-white, although the finale was in... |
June Allyson, Peter Lawford | Scenario | |
| The Rouge Song The Rogue Song (film) The Rogue Song is a 1930 romantic musical film which tells the story of a Russian bandit who falls in love with a princess, but takes his revenge on her when her brother rapes and kills his sister. It was directed by Lionel Barrymore and Hal Roach and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer... |
Lawrence Tibbett, Catherine Dale Owen | Writer | |
| Anna Christie Anna Christie (1930 film) Anna Christie is a 1930 MGM Pre-Code drama film adaptation of the 1922 play by Eugene O'Neill. It was adapted by Frances Marion, produced and directed by Clarence Brown with Paul Bern and Irving Thalberg as co-producers. The cinematography was by William H... |
Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler | Writer | |
| 1931 | Anna Christie Anna Christie (1931 film) Anna Christie is a 1930 German-language film adapted from the Eugene O'Neill play of the same title and filmed following the release of the English version released earlier the same year. Both versions feature leading actress Greta Garbo.... |
Greta Garbo, Theo Shall, Hans Junkermann | Adaptation |
| The Secret Six The Secret Six For the DC comic book see Secret Six .The Secret Six is a fast-paced 1931 Pre-Code crime film starring Wallace Beery as "Slaughterhouse Scorpio", a character very loosely based on Al Capone, and featuring Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Marjorie Rambeau and Ralph Bellamy. ... |
Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Ralph Bellamy, Marjorie Rambeau | Dialogue, screenplay | |
| The Champ The Champ The Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The... |
Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates | Story Won the Academy Award for Best Story Academy Award for Best Story The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1957, when it was eliminated in favor of the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, which had been introduced in 1940.-1920s:... |
|
| 1932 | Blondie of the Follies Blondie of the Follies Blondie of the Follies is a 1932 comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding and written by Anita Loos and Frances Marion.-Cast :*Marion Davies as Blondie McClune*Robert Montgomery as Larry Belmont... |
Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery, Billie Dove | Screenplay, story |
| Emma Emma (1932 film) Emma 1932 is a feature film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Marie Dressler and directed by Clarence Brown.Inventor Frederick Smith's wife dies during the birth of their fourth baby, Ronnie, leaving the family in the care of their faithful housekeeper Emma... |
Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy | Story | |
| 1933 | Peg o' My Heart Peg o' My Heart (1933 film) Peg o' My Heart is a 1933 film adaptation of the play of the same name by J. Hartley Manners. It starred Marion Davies as a poor Irish girl who stands to inherit a fortune if she satisfies certain conditions.-Cast:... |
Marion Davies, Onslow Stevens, J. Farrell MacDonald | Adaptation |
| Dinner at Eight Dinner at Eight (film) Dinner at Eight is a Pre-Code 1933 comedy of manners/drama produced by MGM Studios. The film was adapted to the screen by Frances Marion and Herman J. Mankiewicz from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, with additional dialogue supplied by Donald Ogden Stewart. Produced by David O... |
Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke | Screenplay | |
| The Prizefighter and the Lady The Prizefighter and the Lady The Prizefighter and the Lady is a 1933 black-and-white MGM crime romance comedy starring Myrna Loy, Max Baer, Primo Carnera, Jack Dempsey, and Walter Huston. It was the film debut for professional boxers Baer and Carnera. Carnera was the world heavyweight boxing champion at the time of the film's... |
Myrna Loy, Max Baer, Walter Huston, Primo Carnera, Jack Dempsey | Story Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story |
|
| Going Hollywood Going Hollywood Going Hollywood is an American black-and-white musical film directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Marion Davies and Bing Crosby, written by Donald Ogden Stewart, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film tells the story of Sylvia , a French teacher at an all-girl school, who wants to find love... |
Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay, Stuart Erwin | Story (uncredited) | |
| Secrets Secrets (film) Secrets is a 1933 Western film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Mary Pickford in her last film role. The film is a remake of Secrets , a silent film starring Norma Talmadge.... |
Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard | Writer | |
| 1936 | Camille Camille (1936 film) Camille is an American romantic drama film directed by George Cukor and produced by Irving Thalberg and Bernard H. Hyman, from a screenplay by James Hilton, Zoe Akins and Frances Marion. The picture is based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils... |
Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore | Screenplay |
| Riffraff Riffraff (1936 film) Riffraff is a 1936 film starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. The movie was written by Frances Marion, Anita Loos, and H. W. Hannaford, and directed by J. Walter Ruben.-Plot:... |
Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy | Screenplay, story | |
| Poor Little Rich Girl Poor Little Rich Girl (1936 film) The Poor Little Rich Girl is a 1936 American musical film directed by Irving Cummings. The screenplay by Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehman, and Harry Tugend was based on stories by Eleanor Gates and Ralph Spence, and on the 1917 Mary Pickford vehicle of the same name... |
Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen, Claude Gillingwater | Writer | |
| 1937 | Knight Without Armour Knight Without Armour Knight Without Armour is a 1937 British historical drama film made by London Films and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Jacques Feyder and produced by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Biró adapted by Frances Marion from the novel by James Hilton. The music score was by... |
Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat | Adaptation |
| 1940 | Green Hell Green Hell Green Hell is a 1940 adventure film directed by James Whale with photography by Karl Freund. The cast includes Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Bennett, John Howard, George Sanders, Alan Hale, Sr., Vincent Price and Ray Mala... |
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Vincent Price, Joan Bennett, Alan Hale, Sr., George Sanders, John Howard | Original story, screenplay |
Published works
- Minnie Flynn. NY: Boni and Liveright, 1925
- The Secret Six. NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1931 [novelization of her own screenplay]
- Valley People. NY: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1935
- How to Write and Sell Film Stories. NY: Covici-Friede, 1937
- Molly, Bless Her. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1937
- Westward The Dream. Garden City NY: Doubleday and Company, 1948
- The Passions of Linda Lane. NY: Diversey Publications, 1949 [paperback; revised edition of Minnie Flynn]
- The Powder Keg. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1953
- Off With Their Heads!: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood. NY: The Macmillan Company, 1972 [memoir]