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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I Escaped from the Gestapo | Helen | 1943-05-14 |
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Calaboose | Doris Lane | 1943-01-29 |
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Danger! Women at Work | Pert | 1943-08-23 |
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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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Navy Blues | Doris Kimbell | 1937-03-29 |
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Affairs of Cappy Ricks | Frances 'Frankie' Ricks | 1937-05-24 |
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Three Married Men | Jennie Mullins | 1936-09-24 |
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Killer at Large | Linda Allen | 1936-10-27 |
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Two's Company | Julia Madison | 1936-12-12 |
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The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss | Frances Clayton | 1936-07-28 |
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Once in a Million | Suzanne | 1936-08-03 |
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Spendthrift | Sally Barnaby | 1936-07-22 |
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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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College Rhythm | Gloria Van Dayham | 1934-11-23 |
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Ever Since Eve | Elizabeth Vandergrift | 1934-03-25 |
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Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove | Self | 1934-12-01 |
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Monte Carlo Nights | Mary Vernon | 1934-05-20 |
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The World Gone Mad | Diane Cromwell | 1933-04-15 |
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One Year Later | Molly Collins | 1933-08-24 |
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Song of the Eagle | Elsa Kranzmeyer | 1933-04-27 |
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Shadows of Sing Sing | Muriel Ross aka Muriel Rossi | 1933-12-03 |
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Fog | Mary Fulton | 1933-11-11 |
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Moonlight and Pretzels | Sally Upton | 1933-08-01 |
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Hard to Handle | Ruth Waters | 1933-01-28 |
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Girl Missing | June Dale | 1933-03-04 |
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The Unwritten Law | Ruth Evans | 1932-11-26 |
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It's Tough to Be Famous | Janet Porter McClenahan | 1932-04-02 |
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Blessed Event | Gladys Price | 1932-09-10 |
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Manhattan Tower | Mary Harper | 1932-12-01 |
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The Front Page | Peggy Grant | 1931-04-04 |
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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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Hollywood Halfbacks | 1931-12-23 | |
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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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The Kibitzer | Josie Lazarus | 1930-01-11 |
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Paramount on Parade | Sweetheart (Dream Girl) | 1930-04-22 |
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The Social Lion | Cynthia Brown | 1930-06-21 |
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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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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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Burning Up | Ruth Morgan | 1930-02-01 |
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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 Man I Love | Celia Fields | 1929-05-25 |
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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 Big Killing | Mary Beagle - Old Man Beagle's Daughter | 1928-07-01 |
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Harold Teen | Lillums Lovewell | 1928-04-28 |
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Varsity | Fay | 1928-10-27 |
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Partners in Crime | Marie Burke, The Cigarette Girl | 1928-03-17 |
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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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Man Power | Alice Stoddard | 1927-07-09 |
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Knockout Reilly | Mary Malone | 1927-04-16 |
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Shanghai Bound | Sheila | 1927-10-15 |
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Her Father Said No | Charlotte Hamilton | 1927-01-02 |
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Two Flaming Youths | Mary Gilfoil | 1927-12-17 |
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Running Wild | Elizabeth Finch | 1927-06-10 |
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The Prince of Tempters | Mary | 1926-10-17 |
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Brown of Harvard | Mary Abbot | 1926-05-02 |
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Behind the Front | Betty Bartlett-Cooper | 1926-02-22 |
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Paris at Midnight | Victorine Tallefer | 1926-04-17 |
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Beau Geste | Isabel Rivers | 1926-08-24 |
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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 Enchanted Hill | Hallie Purdy | 1926-01-18 |
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He's a Prince! | Girl | 1925-10-05 |
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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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The Little French Girl | Alix Vervier | 1925-02-01 |
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Peter Pan | Wendy Darling | 1924-12-29 |
