Marian Nixon
Encyclopedia
Career
Born Marian Nissinen in Superior, WisconsinSuperior, Wisconsin
Superior is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 26,960 at the 2010 census. Located at the junction of U.S. Highways 2 and 53, it is north of and adjacent to both the Village of Superior and the Town of Superior.Superior is at the western...
, Nixon began her career as a teen working as a chorus dancer on the vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit. She began appearing in bit part in films in 1922 and landed her first substantial role in the 1923 film Cupid's Fireman, opposite Buck Jones
Buck Jones
Buck Jones was an American motion picture star of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, best known for his work starring in many popular western movies...
. The following year, she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star
WAMPAS Baby Stars
The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States which honored thirteen young women each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. They were selected from 1922 to 1934, and annual...
. Nixon continued to work steadily throughout the mid to late 1920s appearing in Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), Hands Up!
Hands Up! (1926 film)
Hands Up! is a silent comedy film directed by Clarence Badger, co-written by Monte Brice and Lloyd Corrigan, and starring Raymond Griffith, one of the great silent movie comedians.-Plot:...
(1926), and The Chinese Parrot
The Chinese Parrot (film)
The Chinese Parrot is a silent film, the second in the Charlie Chan series and was directed by Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of the 1926 Earl Derr Biggers novel of the same name. It is a lost film....
(1927). In 1929, she made her talkie
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
debut as the lead in Geraldine. Later that same year, Nixon appeared opposite Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
in Say It with Songs
Say It with Songs
Say It With Songs is a 1929 All-Talking musical drama motion picture which was released by Warner Bros.. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Singing Fool .-Production:...
followed by General Crack
General Crack
General Crack is an all-talking historical costume drama film with Technicolor sequences which was produced by Warner Bros. in 1929 and released early in 1930...
in 1930.
In 1932, she starred as Rebecca in the film adaption of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1932 film)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1932 film based on the 1903 children's classic novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin.It was filmed by Fox Film Corporation and directed by Alfred Santell...
with Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
. Following the release of Rebecca, Nixon co-starred in Winner Take All
Winner Take All (1932 film)
Winner Take All is a 1932 film starring James Cagney, who had electrified the industry the previous year with his performances in The Public Enemy and Smart Money, as a boxer...
with James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
. The next year she had a supporting role in John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
's Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage (1933 film)
-Cast:* Henrietta Crosman - Mrs. Hannah Jessop* Heather Angel - Suzanne* Norman Foster - Jim 'Jimmy' Jessop * Lucille La Verne - Mrs. Kelly Hatfield* Maurice Murphy - Gary Worth* Marian Nixon - Mary Saunders...
. In 1934, Nixon attempted to change her wholesome image with a role in the comedy We’re Rich Again. The film wasn't a success and after appearing in eight more films, Nixon retired from acting in 1936.
Personal life
On August 11, 1929, Nixon married ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
department store heir, Edward Hillman, Jr., at the home of his parents. The couple divorced in 1933. The following year, she married her We’re Rich Again director, William A. Seiter
William A. Seiter
William A. Seiter was an American film director. He was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, doubling a cowboy...
. The marriage lasted until Seiter's death in 1964. In 1974, married actor/producer Ben Lyon
Ben Lyon
Ben Lyon was an American film actor and a 20th Century Fox studio executive.-Life:Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth , and steadily developed into...
. After Lyon's death in 1979, Nixon never remarried.
Death
On February 13, 1983, Nixon died of complications following open heart surgeryOpen Heart Surgery
Open Heart Surgery was released on August 8, 2000 by rock band Virginwool. The band signed to Breaking/Atlantic Records after initially beginning signed to Universal Records. The album was produced and mixed by Brad Wood....
at the age of 78. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Marian Nixon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1724 Vine Street
Vine Street
Vine is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north-south from Melrose Avenue up past Hollywood Boulevard. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine was once a symbol of Hollywood itself...
in Los Angeles, California.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 | Rosita | Undetermined Bit Role | Uncredited |
| Big Dan | Dora Allen | ||
| 1924 | The Circus Cowboy | Bird Taylor | |
| The Last of the Duanes | Ruth | ||
| 1925 | Let 'er Buck | Jacqueline McCall | Credited as Marion Nixon |
| Sporting Life | Nora Cavanaugh | ||
| 1926 | Hands Up! Hands Up! (1926 film) Hands Up! is a silent comedy film directed by Clarence Badger, co-written by Monte Brice and Lloyd Corrigan, and starring Raymond Griffith, one of the great silent movie comedians.-Plot:... |
Mae | |
| Devil's Island | Rose Marie | ||
| Spangles | Spangles Delancy | ||
| 1927 | Taxi! Taxi! | Rose Zimmerman | |
| The Auctioneer | Ruth Levi | ||
| 1928 | The Fourflusher | June Allen | |
| Jazz Mad | Elsa Hausmann | ||
| 1929 | Rainbow Man | Mary Lane | |
| Young Nowheres | Annie Jackson | ||
| 1930 | Scarlet Pages | Nora Mason | |
| Ex-Flame | Lady Catherine | ||
| 1931 | Sweepstakes | Babe Ellis | |
| Women Go on Forever | Betty | ||
| 1932 | Charlie Chan's Chance Charlie Chan's Chance Charlie Chan's Chance is a 1932 murder mystery film, the third to star Warner Oland as detective Charlie Chan. It is based on the novel Behind That Curtain by Earl Derr Biggers, who also contributed to the film. The film is considered to be lost.... |
Shirley Marlowe | |
| After Tomorrow | Sidney Taylor | ||
| Amateur Daddy | Sally Smith | ||
| 1933 | Best of Enemies | Lena Schneider | |
| Chance at Heaven | Glory Franklyn | Credited as Marion Nixon | |
| 1934 | Strictly Dynamite | Sylvia Montgomery | |
| We're Rich Again We're Rich Again We're Rich Again is a 1934 comedy film starring Edna May Oliver, Billie Burke and Marian Nixon. A formerly wealthy family tries to stave off bankruptcy until one of them can marry a rich man... |
Arabella Sykes | ||
| Embarrassing Moments | Jane | ||
| 1935 | Sweepstakes Annie | Annie Foster | Alternative title: Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore |
| 1936 | Tango | Treasure McGuire | |
| Captain Calamity | Madge Lewis |