Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002), was an American actress, who made the transition from silent films to sound films. Brian was dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures."
Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002), was an American actress, who made the transition from silent films to sound films. Brian was dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures."
After her showing in a beauty contest, she was given an audition by Paramount Pictures and cast by director Herbert Brenon as Wendy Darling in his silent movie version of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. There she starred with Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston, and the three of them stayed close for the rest of their lives. Ralston described both Bronson and Brian as 'very charming people'. The studio, who created her stage name for the movie and said she was age 16 instead of 18, because the latter sounded too old for the role, then signed her to a long-term motion picture contract. Brian played Fancy Vanhern, daughter of Percy Marmont, in Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men, which had newcomer Louise Brooks in an uncredited debut role as a moll.
Her first talkie was Varsity, which was filmed with part-sound and talking sequences, opposite Buddy Rogers. After successfully making the transition to sound, she co-starred with Gary Cooper, Walter Huston and Richard Arlen in one of the earliest Western talkies, The Virginian, her first all-talkie feature. In it, she played a spirited frontier heroine, schoolmarm Molly Stark Wood, who was the love interest of the Virginian.
Brian co-starred in several hits during the 1930s, including The Royal Family of Broadway, Paramount on Parade, and The Front Page.
After her contract with Paramount ended in 1932, Brian decided to freelance, which was unusual in a period when multi-year contracts with one studio were common. That same year, she appeared on the vaudeville stage at New York's Palace Theatre. Also in the same year, she starred in Manhattan Tower.
When World War II hit in 1941, Brian began traveling to entertain the troops, ending up spending most of the war years traveling the world with the U.S.O., and entertaining servicemen from the South Pacific to Europe, including Italy and North Africa.Flying to England on a troop shoot, Mary got caught in the Battle of the Bulge and spent the Christmas of 1944 with the soldiers fighting that battle. She appeared in only a handful of films thereafter. Her last performance on the silver screen was in Dragnet, a B-movie in which she played Anne Hogan opposite Henry Wilcoxon. Over the course of 22 years, Brian had appeared in more than 79 movies. She played in the stage comedy Mary Had a Little... in the 1951 in Melbourne, Australia, co-starring with John Hubbard.
Like many "older" actresses, during the 1950s Brian created a career for herself in television. Perhaps her most notable role was playing the title character's mother in Meet Corliss Archer in 1954. She also dedicated much time to portrait painting after her acting years.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0047720
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q444492
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Filmography (Movies)
Noisy Silencers
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:10/12/2024
Dragnet
Character:Anne Hogan
Release Date:16/08/1947
Danger! Women at Work
Character:Pert
Release Date:23/08/1943
I Escaped from the Gestapo
Character:Helen
Release Date:14/05/1943
Calaboose
Character:Doris Lane
Release Date:29/01/1943
Jealous
Character:dancer
Release Date:02/02/1942
I Was a Criminal
Character:Frau Obermueller, the Mayor's Wife
Release Date:01/01/1941
Affairs of Cappy Ricks
Character:Frances 'Frankie' Ricks
Release Date:24/05/1937
Navy Blues
Character:Doris Kimbell
Release Date:29/03/1937
Two's Company
Character:Julia Madison
Release Date:12/12/1936
Killer at Large
Character:Linda Allen
Release Date:27/10/1936
Three Married Men
Character:Jennie Mullins
Release Date:24/09/1936
Once in a Million
Character:Suzanne
Release Date:03/08/1936
The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss
Character:Frances Clayton
Release Date:28/07/1936
Spendthrift
Character:Sally Barnaby
Release Date:22/07/1936
Man on the Flying Trapeze
Character:Hope Wolfinger
Release Date:03/08/1935
Charlie Chan in Paris
Character:Yvette Lamartine
Release Date:21/01/1935
Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove
Character:Self
Release Date:01/12/1934
College Rhythm
Character:Gloria Van Dayham
Release Date:23/11/1934
Monte Carlo Nights
Character:Mary Vernon
Release Date:20/05/1934
Ever Since Eve
Character:Elizabeth Vandergrift
Release Date:25/03/1934
Fog
Character:Mary Fulton
Release Date:11/11/1933
One Year Later
Character:Molly Collins
Release Date:24/08/1933
Moonlight and Pretzels
Character:Sally Upton
Release Date:01/08/1933
Song of the Eagle
Character:Elsa Kranzmeyer
Release Date:27/04/1933
The World Gone Mad
Character:Diane Cromwell
Release Date:15/04/1933
Girl Missing
Character:June Dale
Release Date:04/03/1933
Hard to Handle
Character:Ruth Waters
Release Date:28/01/1933
Manhattan Tower
Character:Mary Harper
Release Date:01/12/1932
The Unwritten Law
Character:Ruth Evans
Release Date:26/11/1932
Blessed Event
Character:Gladys Price
Release Date:10/09/1932
It's Tough to Be Famous
Character:Janet Porter McClenahan
Release Date:02/04/1932
Hollywood Halfbacks
Character:
Release Date:23/12/1931
The Runaround
Character:Evelyn
Release Date:21/08/1931
Homicide Squad
Character:Millie
Release Date:01/08/1931
Gun Smoke
Character:Sue Vancey
Release Date:10/04/1931
The Front Page
Character:Peggy Grant
Release Date:04/04/1931
Captain Applejack
Character:Poppy Faire
Release Date:31/01/1931
The Royal Family of Broadway
Character:Gwen Cavendish
Release Date:22/12/1930
Only Saps Work
Character:Barbara Tanner
Release Date:05/12/1930
The Social Lion
Character:Cynthia Brown
Release Date:21/06/1930
Paramount on Parade
Character:Sweetheart (Dream Girl)
Release Date:22/04/1930
The Light of Western Stars
Character:Ruth Hammond
Release Date:19/04/1930
Only the Brave
Character:Barbara Calhoun
Release Date:07/03/1930
Burning Up
Character:Ruth Morgan
Release Date:01/02/1930
The Kibitzer
Character:Josie Lazarus
Release Date:11/01/1930
The Marriage Playground
Character:Judith Wheater
Release Date:12/12/1929
The Virginian
Character:Molly Stark Wood
Release Date:09/11/1929
The River of Romance
Character:Lucy Jeffers
Release Date:28/06/1929
The Man I Love
Character:Celia Fields
Release Date:25/05/1929
Black Waters
Character:Eunice
Release Date:05/04/1929
Someone to Love
Character:Joan Kendricks
Release Date:01/12/1928
Varsity
Character:Fay
Release Date:27/10/1928
Forgotten Faces
Character:Alice Deane
Release Date:05/08/1928
The Big Killing
Character:Mary Beagle - Old Man Beagle's Daughter
Release Date:01/07/1928
Harold Teen
Character:Lillums Lovewell
Release Date:28/04/1928
Partners in Crime
Character:Marie Burke, The Cigarette Girl
Release Date:01/03/1928
Under the Tonto Rim
Character:Lucy Watson
Release Date:04/02/1928
Two Flaming Youths
Character:Mary Gilfoil
Release Date:17/12/1927
Shanghai Bound
Character:Sheila
Release Date:15/10/1927
Man Power
Character:Alice Stoddard
Release Date:09/07/1927
Running Wild
Character:Elizabeth Finch
Release Date:10/06/1927
Knockout Reilly
Character:Mary Malone
Release Date:16/04/1927
Her Father Said No
Character:Charlotte Hamilton
Release Date:02/01/1927
Stepping Along
Character:Molly Taylor
Release Date:14/11/1926
The Prince of Tempters
Character:Mary
Release Date:17/10/1926
Beau Geste
Character:Isabel Rivers
Release Date:24/08/1926
More Pay - Less Work
Character:Betty Ricks
Release Date:04/07/1926
Brown of Harvard
Character:Mary Abbot
Release Date:02/05/1926
Paris at Midnight
Character:Victorine Tallefer
Release Date:17/04/1926
Behind the Front
Character:Betty Bartlett-Cooper
Release Date:22/02/1926
The Enchanted Hill
Character:Hallie Purdy
Release Date:18/01/1926
He's a Prince!
Character:Girl
Release Date:05/10/1925
The Street of Forgotten Men
Character:Mary Vanhern
Release Date:24/07/1925
The Air Mail
Character:Minnie Wade
Release Date:15/03/1925
The Little French Girl
Character:Alix Vervier
Release Date:01/02/1925
Peter Pan
Character:Wendy Darling
Release Date:29/12/1924
Television Appearances
Images
