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person_profile-Mary Brian

Mary Brian Died at age: 96

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Mary Brian

Date of Birth:

Feb 17, 1906

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Dec 30, 2002

Biography of

Mary Brian

    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.

Photos of

Mary Brian

Photos ( 6 Photos

Filmography of

Mary Brian

Found 72 Movies in total

Dragnet

Anne Hogan ( Actor )

... 1947

... 1943

... 1943

Calaboose

Doris Lane ( Actor )

... 1943

I Was a Criminal

Frau Obermueller, the Mayor's Wife ( Actor )

... 1941

Affairs of Cappy Ricks

Frances 'Frankie' Ricks ( Actor )

... 1937

Navy Blues

Doris Kimbell ( Actor )

... 1937

Killer at Large

Linda Allen ( Actor )

... 1936

Three Married Men

Jennie Mullins ( Actor )

... 1936

Once in a Million

Suzanne ( Actor )

... 1936

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss

Frances Clayton ( Actor )

... 1936

Spendthrift

Sally Barnaby ( Actor )

... 1936

Man on the Flying Trapeze

Hope Wolfinger ( Actor )

... 1935

Charlie Chan in Paris

Yvette Lamartine ( Actor )

... 1935

College Rhythm

Gloria Van Dayham ( Actor )

... 1934

Monte Carlo Nights

Mary Vernon ( Actor )

... 1934

Ever Since Eve

Elizabeth Vandergrift ( Actor )

... 1934

Fog

Mary Fulton ( Actor )

... 1933

One Year Later

Molly Collins ( Actor )

... 1933

Moonlight and Pretzels

Sally Upton ( Actor )

... 1933

Song of the Eagle

Elsa Kranzmeyer ( Actor )

... 1933

The World Gone Mad

Diane Cromwell ( Actor )

... 1933

Girl Missing

June Dale ( Actor )

... 1933

Hard to Handle

Ruth Waters ( Actor )

... 1933

Manhattan Tower

Mary Harper ( Actor )

... 1932

The Unwritten Law

Ruth Evans ( Actor )

... 1932

Blessed Event

Gladys Price ( Actor )

... 1932

It's Tough to Be Famous

Janet Porter McClenahan ( Actor )

... 1932

The Runaround

Evelyn ( Actor )

... 1931

Homicide Squad

Millie ( Actor )

... 1931

Gun Smoke

Sue Vancey ( Actor )

... 1931

The Front Page

Peggy Grant ( Actor )

... 1931

Captain Applejack

Poppy Faire ( Actor )

... 1931

The Royal Family of Broadway

Gwen Cavendish ( Actor )

... 1930

Only Saps Work

Barbara Tanner ( Actor )

... 1930

Galas de la Paramount

Self (from original version) ( Actor )

... 1930

The Social Lion

Cynthia Brown ( Actor )

... 1930

Paramount on Parade

Sweetheart (Dream Girl) ( Actor )

... 1930

The Light of Western Stars

Ruth Hammond ( Actor )

... 1930

Only the Brave

Barbara Calhoun ( Actor )

... 1930

Burning Up

Ruth Morgan ( Actor )

... 1930

The Kibitzer

Josie Lazarus ( Actor )

... 1930

The Marriage Playground

Judith Wheater ( Actor )

... 1929

The Virginian

Molly Stark Wood ( Actor )

... 1929

The River of Romance

Lucy Jeffers ( Actor )

... 1929

The Man I Love

Celia Fields ( Actor )

... 1929

Black Waters

Eunice ( Actor )

... 1929

Someone to Love

Joan Kendricks ( Actor )

... 1928

Varsity

Fay ( Actor )

... 1928

Forgotten Faces

Alice Deane ( Actor )

... 1928

The Big Killing

Mary Beagle - Old Man Beagle's Daughter ( Actor )

... 1928

Harold Teen

Lillums Lovewell ( Actor )

... 1928

Partners in Crime

Marie Burke, The Cigarette Girl ( Actor )

... 1928

Under the Tonto Rim

Lucy Watson ( Actor )

... 1928

Two Flaming Youths

Mary Gilfoil ( Actor )

... 1927

Shanghai Bound

Sheila ( Actor )

... 1927

Man Power

Alice Stoddard ( Actor )

... 1927

Running Wild

Elizabeth Finch ( Actor )

... 1927

Knockout Reilly

Mary Malone ( Actor )

... 1927

Stepping Along

Molly Taylor ( Actor )

... 1926

... 1926

Beau Geste

Isabel Rivers ( Actor )

... 1926

More Pay - Less Work

Betty Ricks ( Actor )

... 1926

Brown of Harvard

Mary Abbot ( Actor )

... 1926

Paris at Midnight

Victorine Tallefer ( Actor )

... 1926

Behind the Front

Betty Bartlett-Cooper ( Actor )

... 1926

The Enchanted Hill

Hallie Purdy ( Actor )

... 1926

He's a Prince!

Girl ( Actor )

... 1925

The Street of Forgotten Men

Mary Vanhern ( Actor )

... 1925

The Air Mail

Minnie Wade ( Actor )

... 1925

The Little French Girl

Alix Vervier ( Actor )

... 1925

Peter Pan

Wendy Darling ( Actor )

... 1924