1906-02-17 Corsicana, Texas, USA
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.
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Silenciosos Barulhentos | (archive footage) | 2024-12-10 |
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Dragnet | Anne Hogan | 1947-08-16 |
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Danger! Women at Work | Pert | 1943-08-23 |
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Calaboose | Doris Lane | 1943-01-29 |
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I Escaped from the Gestapo | Helen | 1943-05-14 |
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Jealous | dancer | 1942-02-02 |
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I Was a Criminal | Frau Obermueller, the Mayor's Wife | 1941-01-01 |
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Affairs of Cappy Ricks | Frances 'Frankie' Ricks | 1937-05-24 |
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Navy Blues | Doris Kimbell | 1937-03-29 |
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Two's Company | Julia Madison | 1936-12-12 |
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Killer at Large | Linda Allen | 1936-10-27 |
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Spendthrift | Sally Barnaby | 1936-07-22 |
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The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss | Frances Clayton | 1936-07-28 |
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Three Married Men | Jennie Mullins | 1936-09-24 |
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Once in a Million | Suzanne | 1936-08-03 |
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Man on the Flying Trapeze | Hope Wolfinger | 1935-08-03 |
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Charlie Chan in Paris | Yvette Lamartine | 1935-01-21 |
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Monte Carlo Nights | Mary Vernon | 1934-05-20 |
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Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove | Self | 1934-12-01 |
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Ever Since Eve | Elizabeth Vandergrift | 1934-03-25 |
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College Rhythm | Gloria Van Dayham | 1934-11-23 |
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Girl Missing | June Dale | 1933-03-04 |
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Moonlight and Pretzels | Sally Upton | 1933-08-01 |
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Song of the Eagle | Elsa Kranzmeyer | 1933-04-27 |
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Fog | Mary Fulton | 1933-11-11 |
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The World Gone Mad | Diane Cromwell | 1933-04-15 |
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Hard to Handle | Ruth Waters | 1933-01-28 |
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One Year Later | Molly Collins | 1933-08-24 |
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It's Tough to Be Famous | Janet Porter McClenahan | 1932-04-02 |
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The Unwritten Law | Ruth Evans | 1932-11-26 |
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Manhattan Tower | Mary Harper | 1932-12-01 |
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Blessed Event | Gladys Price | 1932-09-10 |
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The Front Page | Peggy Grant | 1931-04-04 |
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Hollywood Halfbacks | 1931-12-23 | |
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Gun Smoke | Sue Vancey | 1931-04-10 |
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Homicide Squad | Millie | 1931-08-01 |
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The Runaround | Evelyn | 1931-08-21 |
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Captain Applejack | Poppy Faire | 1931-01-31 |
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Burning Up | Ruth Morgan | 1930-02-01 |
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Paramount on Parade | Sweetheart (Dream Girl) | 1930-04-22 |
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The Royal Family of Broadway | Gwen Cavendish | 1930-12-22 |
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Only Saps Work | Barbara Tanner | 1930-12-05 |
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The Social Lion | Cynthia Brown | 1930-06-21 |
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The Kibitzer | Josie Lazarus | 1930-01-11 |
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Only the Brave | Barbara Calhoun | 1930-03-07 |
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The Light of Western Stars | Ruth Hammond | 1930-04-19 |
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The Virginian | Molly Stark Wood | 1929-11-09 |
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The Marriage Playground | Judith Wheater | 1929-12-12 |
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The Man I Love | Celia Fields | 1929-05-25 |
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The River of Romance | Lucy Jeffers | 1929-06-28 |
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Black Waters | Eunice | 1929-04-05 |
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The Big Killing | Mary Beagle - Old Man Beagle's Daughter | 1928-07-01 |
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Someone to Love | Joan Kendricks | 1928-12-01 |
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Under the Tonto Rim | Lucy Watson | 1928-02-04 |
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Forgotten Faces | Alice Deane | 1928-08-05 |
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Varsity | Fay | 1928-10-27 |
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Partners in Crime | Marie Burke, The Cigarette Girl | 1928-03-01 |
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Harold Teen | Lillums Lovewell | 1928-04-28 |
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Knockout Reilly | Mary Malone | 1927-04-16 |
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Running Wild | Elizabeth Finch | 1927-06-10 |
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Man Power | Alice Stoddard | 1927-07-09 |
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Shanghai Bound | Sheila | 1927-10-15 |
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Two Flaming Youths | Mary Gilfoil | 1927-12-17 |
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The Enchanted Hill | Hallie Purdy | 1926-01-18 |
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Beau Geste | Isabel Rivers | 1926-08-24 |
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Brown of Harvard | Mary Abbot | 1926-05-02 |
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The Prince of Tempters | Mary | 1926-10-17 |
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Paris at Midnight | Victorine Tallefer | 1926-04-17 |
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Behind the Front | Betty Bartlett-Cooper | 1926-02-22 |
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More Pay - Less Work | Betty Ricks | 1926-07-04 |
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Stepping Along | Molly Taylor | 1926-11-14 |
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The Air Mail | Minnie Wade | 1925-03-15 |
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The Street of Forgotten Men | Mary Vanhern | 1925-07-24 |
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He's a Prince! | Girl | 1925-10-05 |
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The Little French Girl | Alix Vervier | 1925-02-01 |
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Peter Pan | Wendy Darling | 1924-12-29 |
