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Marion Davies

May 05, 2023

For the 18th-century English musician, see Marianne Davies. For the British figure skater, see Marion Davies (figure skater).

Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras;[a] January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl. As a teenager, she appeared in several Broadway musicals and one film, Runaway Romany (1917). She soon became a featured performer in the Ziegfeld Follies.

Marion Davies
Davies in the 1920s
Born
Marion Cecilia Douras[a]

(1897-01-03)January 3, 1897
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 22, 1961(1961-09-22) (aged 64)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupations
  • Actress
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • philanthropist
Years active1914–1937
Spouse
Horace G. Brown
​
(m. 1951)​
PartnerWilliam Randolph Hearst (1917–1951; his death)
ChildrenPatricia Lake (alleged)
RelativesRosemary Davies (sister)
Reine Davies (sister)
Charles Lederer (nephew)
Pepi Lederer (niece)

While performing in the 1916 Follies, the nineteen-year-old Marion met the fifty-three-year-old newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hearst, and became his mistress. Hearst took over management of Davies's career and promoted her as a film actress.[1][2]

Hearst financed Davies's pictures and promoted her career extensively in his newspapers and Hearst newsreels. He founded Cosmopolitan Pictures to produce her films. By 1924, Davies was the number one female box office star in Hollywood because of the popularity of When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York, which were among the biggest box-office hits of their respective years.[3] During the zenith of the Jazz Age, Davies became renowned as the hostess of lavish soirees for Hollywood actors and political elites. However, in 1924, her name became linked with scandal when film producer Thomas Ince died at a party aboard Hearst's yacht.[4][5][6]

Following the decline of her film career during the Great Depression, Davies struggled with alcoholism.[7] She retired from the screen in 1937 to devote herself to an ailing Hearst and charitable work.[1] In Hearst's declining years, Davies remained his steadfast companion until his death in 1951.[8]

Eleven weeks after Hearst's death, she married sea captain Horace Brown.[9] Their marriage lasted until Davies' death at 64 from malignant osteomyelitis (bone cancer) of the jaw in 1961.[10]

By the time of her death, her popular association with the character of Susan Alexander Kane in the film Citizen Kane (1941) already overshadowed Davies' legacy as a talented actress.[11] The title character's second wife—an untalented singer whom he tries to promote—was widely assumed to be based upon Davies.[1] However, many commentators, including writer-director Orson Welles, defended Davies's record as a gifted actress and comedienne to whom Hearst's patronage did more harm than good.[12] In his final years, Welles attempted to correct the widespread misconceptions the film had created about Davies's popularity and talents as an actress.[12][13]

Early life and education

Marion Douras was born on January 3, 1897, in Brooklyn, the youngest of five children born to Bernard J. Douras, a lawyer and judge in New York City and Rose Reilly.[14] Her father performed the civil marriage of socialite Gloria Gould Bishop.[15] She had three older sisters, Ethel, Rose, and Reine.[16] An older brother, Charles, drowned. His name was subsequently given to Davies' favorite nephew, screenwriter Charles Lederer, the son of Davies' sister Reine Davies.[17]

The Douras family lived near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Educated in the Sacred Heart religious convent near the Hudson River and later a religious convent near Tours, France, Davies was uninterested in her academic studies and very unhappy as a child supervised by Catholic nuns.[18] Her family was close friends with architect Stanford White, and Davies grew up learning about the Evelyn Nesbit sex scandal.[19] As a teenager, Marion left school to pursue a career as a showgirl. When her sister Reine adopted the stage name of Davies after seeing a billboard advertisement for Valentine Davies, Marion followed suit.[20]

Career

Early career on stage and in film

 
 
Portraits of Davies appeared on covers for Theatre Magazine (June 1920) and Motion Picture Classic (January 1920)

Davies worked as a chorine starting with Chin-Chin, a 1914 musical starring David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone, at the old Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia.[1] She made her Broadway debut starring in the show at the Globe Theatre on October 20. She also appeared in Nobody Home, Miss Information and Stop, Look and Listen.[21] When not dancing, she modeled for illustrators Harrison Fisher and Howard Chandler Christy.[1]

In 1916, Davies was signed as a featured player in the Ziegfeld Follies.[1] However, she encountered difficulties with her career as a Ziegfeld girl, as her persistent stammer prevented her from pronouncing any lines. Consequently, she was relegated only to dancing routines.[22] While working for Florenz Ziegfeld, a cavalcade of admirers pursued her sexually. She came to loathe young college men: "The stage-door-Johnnies [sic] I didn't like. Especially those who came from Yale."[23] During one infamous show starring Gaby Deslys, rowdy undergraduates from Yale pelted Davies and other chorus dancers with tomatoes and rotten eggs to show their displeasure with the performance.[23]

While dancing in the Follies at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City, the teenage Davies was first observed by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who was seated in the front row of the audience.[2][23] Recalling this first encounter, Davies indicated she was afraid of Hearst initially:

[Hearst] always sat in the front row at the Follies. The girls in the show told me who he was. They said 'Look out for him—he's looking at you. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing'...He sent me flowers and little gifts, like silver boxes or gloves or candy. I wasn't the only one he sent gifts to, but all the girls thought he was particularly looking at me, and the older ones would say 'Look out'.[23]

Hearst purportedly went to the Follies show every night for eight weeks solely to gaze at Davies.[1] Without Davies' knowledge, Hearst clandestinely arranged for an intermediary from Campbell's Studio to invite her to be photographed in ornate costumes such as a Japanese geisha and a virginal bride.[24] While the photos were being taken, Davies realized Hearst secretly was present in the darkness of the photography studio.[24] Terrified, she fled to the dressing room and locked the door.[24] However, Hearst abruptly departed without introducing himself.[24] After months passed, they saw each other again in Palm Beach, Florida, but Hearst's wife was present.[25] They did not become intimate until sometime later.[26]

After making her screen debut in 1916, and modelling gowns by Lady Duff-Gordon in a fashion newsreel, Davies appeared in Runaway Romany (1917), her first feature film.[27] Davies wrote the film,[27] which was directed by her brother-in-law, producer George W. Lederer.[28] She continued to alternate between stage and screen until 1920 when she made her last revue appearance in Ed Wynn's Carnival.[21]

Hearst and Cosmopolitan Pictures

 
 
William Randolph Hearst circa 1910s (left) and a 1922 photograph of Davies by E.O. Hoppé (right). By the mid-1920s, Davies' career was overshadowed by her relationship with Hearst and their social life at San Simeon and Ocean House in Santa Monica.

In 1918, Hearst formed Cosmopolitan Pictures and asked Davies to sign a $500-per-week exclusive contract with his studio.[29] After she signed, 21-year-old Davies and 58-year-old Hearst began a sexual relationship.[26] Using his vast newspaper empire and Hearst Metrotone Newsreels, Hearst decided to promote Davies on an enormous scale.[30] His newsreels touted her social activities, and a reporter from the Los Angeles Examiner was assigned the full-time job of recounting Davies' daily exploits in print.[31] Hearst expended an estimated $7 million on promoting Davies' career (equivalent to $131,946,759 in 2021).[21][1]

Soon after, Hearst—who was still married to Millicent Hearst—moved Davies with her mother and sisters into an elegant Manhattan townhouse at the corner of Riverside Drive and W. 105th Street.[32] Hearst ensured that, "Marion's new abode was nothing less than a palace fit for a movie-queen—especially since the queen would frequently be receiving the press on the premises."[33] Cecilia of the Pink Roses in 1918 was her first film, backed by Hearst.[34] He next secured Cosmopolitan's distribution deals, first with Paramount Pictures,[34] then with Samuel Goldwyn Productions, and with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

During the next ten years, Davies appeared in 29 films, an average of almost three films a year.[35] One of her best known roles was as Mary Tudor in When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), directed by Robert G. Vignola, with whom she collaborated on several films.[36] The 1922–23 period may have been her most successful as an actress, with both When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York ranking among the top three box-office hits of those years.[3] She was named the number one female box-office star by theater owners and crowned "Queen of the Screen" at their 1924 Hollywood convention.[37] Other hit silent films included: Beverly of Graustark, The Cardboard Lover, Enchantment, The Bride's Play, Lights of Old Broadway, Zander the Great, The Red Mill, Yolanda, Beauty's Worth, and The Restless Sex.

In 1926, Hearst's wife Millicent Hearst moved to New York, and Hearst and Davies moved to the palatial Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.[38] Upon visiting the sprawling Hearst Castle with its Greek statues and celestial suites, playwright George Bernard Shaw reportedly quipped: "This is what God would have built if he had the money."[39] When not holding court at San Simeon, Hearst and Davies resided at Marion's equally luxurious beach house in Santa Monica, at Hearst's rustic Wyntoon estate in Northern California, and St Donat's Castle in Wales.[40] During the heyday of the Jazz Age, the couple spent much of their time entertaining and holding extravagant soirees with famous guests, including many Hollywood actors and political figures.[41] Frequent habitues and occasional visitors included Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Harpo Marx, Clark Gable, Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earheart, among others.[41]

As the years passed, Hearst's relentless efforts to promote Davies' career purportedly had a detrimental effect.[21] According to Davies, Hearst grandiosely advertised her latest films with "signs all over New York City and pictures in the papers ... I thought it got to be a little too much."[42] Such unceasing publicity irritated the public.[43] "In New York city there were big signs, blocks and blocks of signs," Davies recalled, "and people got so tired of the name Marion Davies that they would actually insult me."[43] In her published memoirs The Times We Had, Davies concluded that such over-the-top promotion of her film career likely did more harm than good.[44]

 
Marion Davies cover art from Picture-Play Magazine, 1926

Hearst's jealousy also interfered with Davies' career, especially in her earlier films and her stage roles.[45] According to Davies, he often vetoed the casting of attractive leading men and typically would not permit her to be embraced on the screen or in stage plays. In her memoirs, Davies claimed to have repeatedly assailed Hearst's jealous stewardship in vain: "Everyone has to do a little embrace in pictures, just for the audience's sake," she told him.[45] However, Hearst would not relent. Consequently, many of her earlier pictures were regarded as sexless and featured "no kissing at all"[b] even when a kiss was needed for a happy ending.[45][46] Hearst insisted on personally rewriting Davies' film scripts, and his constant meddling often exasperated film directors such as Lloyd Bacon.[47]

Hearst further hindered Davies' career by insisting she star only in costume dramas in which she often played "a doll-sweetheart out of the 1890s, in the manner of D. W. Griffith heroines".[48] Davies herself was more inclined to develop her comic talents alongside her friends Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford at United Artists, but Hearst pointedly discouraged this. He preferred seeing her in expensive historical pictures, but she also appeared in contemporary comedies like Tillie the Toiler, The Fair Co-Ed (both 1927), and especially three directed by King Vidor, Not So Dumb (1930), The Patsy and the backstage-in-Hollywood saga Show People (both 1928).[49] The Patsy contains her imitations, which she usually did for friends, of silent stars Lillian Gish, Mae Murray and Pola Negri.[50] Vidor saw Davies as a comedic actress instead of the dramatic actress that Hearst wanted her to be. He noticed she was the life of parties and incorporated that into his films.[51]

Sound films and career decline

 
 
Davies circa 1930-1932 (left) and in a studio photograph from the late 1920s (right)

The coming of sound made Davies nervous because she had a persistent stutter.[35][22] Her career progressed, nonetheless, and she made a number of films during the early sound era, including Marianne (1929), The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), The Florodora Girl (1930), The Bachelor Father (1931), Five and Ten (1931) with Leslie Howard, Polly of the Circus (1932) with Clark Gable, Blondie of the Follies (1932), Peg o' My Heart (1933), Going Hollywood (1933) with Bing Crosby, and Operator 13 (1934) with Gary Cooper.[52] During the filming of Operator 13, Hearst repeatedly caused problems on the set and insisted on directing a scene, much to film director Richard Boleslawski's consternation.[53]

At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Davies was often involved with many aspects of her films and was considered an astute businesswoman. However, her career continued to be hampered by Hearst's insistence that she play dramatic historical parts as opposed to the comic roles which were her forte.[54] Hearst reportedly tried to persuade MGM production boss Irving Thalberg to cast Davies in the coveted title role of the 1938 historical drama Marie Antoinette, but Thalberg awarded the part to his ambitious wife, Norma Shearer.[55] This rejection followed a previous one where Davies had been denied the female lead in The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which went to Shearer as well.[56][57] Despite Davies' friendship with the Thalbergs, Hearst reacted angrily by pulling his newspaper support for MGM and moving Davies and Cosmopolitan Pictures' distribution to Warner Brothers.[56]

Davies' first film at Warner Brothers was Page Miss Glory (1935).[48] During this period, a personal tragedy occurred in Davies' own life with the death of her vivacious 25-year-old niece, Pepi Lederer.[58][59] Pepi had been a permanent resident at San Simeon for many years. She was a closeted lesbian who had sexual relationships with actresses Louise Brooks, Nina Mae McKinney, and others.[60] At some point during the affair between Pepi and Brooks, Hearst became cognizant of Lederer's lesbianism.[58] According to Louise Brooks' memoirs, to avoid a public scandal or to forestall blackmail, Hearst arranged for Pepi to be committed to a mental institution for her drug addiction.[61] In June 1935, mere days after her institutionalization, Pepi committed suicide by leaping to her death from an upper floor window of the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.[58] Hearst purportedly used his press influence to have Pepi's death obscured in the news cycle,[58] and Davies arranged a funeral for her niece at a private chapel.[61]

After a brief hiatus because of her niece's suicide, Davies starred in Hearts Divided (1936) and Cain and Mabel (1936). Her final film for Warner Brothers was Ever Since Eve (1937).[62] Mirroring earlier events at MGM, Warner Brothers purchased the rights to Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 play Tovarich for Davies, but the lead role in the 1937 film adaptation was given to Claudette Colbert. Hearst shopped Davies and Cosmopolitan for another year, but no deals were made, and the actress officially retired.[63] In 1943, Davies was offered the role of Mrs. Brown in Claudia, but Hearst dissuaded her from taking a supporting role and tarnishing her starring career. In her 45 feature films, over a 20-year period, Davies had never been anything but the star and, except for uncredited cameo appearances, had always received top billing.[63]

Personal life

Relationship with Hearst

 
During the Jazz Age, Hearst and Davies were known for the extravagant soirées they threw for Hollywood and political elites at Hearst Castle.
 
Interior of Davies' bedroom in Hearst Castle

In her memoirs, Davies claimed that she and publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst began their sexual relationship when she was a teenage chorus girl.[26] Although they lived together for the next three decades in opulent homes across Southern California and Europe,[64] they never married, as Hearst's wife refused to grant him a divorce.[65] At one point, Hearst reportedly came close to marrying Davies, but decided his wife's settlement demands were too high. Although he was a notorious philanderer,[23][66] Hearst was extremely jealous and possessive of Davies, even though he was married throughout their relationship.[45] Lita Grey, Charlie Chaplin's second wife, wrote four decades later that Davies confided to her about her relationship with Hearst.[67] Grey quoted Davies as saying:

God, I'd give everything I have to marry that silly old man. Not for the money and security—he's given me more than I'll ever need. Not because he's such cozy company, either. Most times, when he starts jawing, he bores me stiff. And certainly not because he's so wonderful behind the barn. Why, I could find a million better lays any Wednesday. No, you know what he gives me, sugar? He gives me the feeling I'm worth something to him. A whole lot of what we have, or don't have, I don't like. He's got a wife who'll never give him a divorce. She knows about me, but it's still understood that when she decides to go to the ranch for a week or a weekend, I've got to vamoose. And he snores, and he can be petty, and has sons about as old as me. But he's kind and he's good to me, and I'd never walk out on him.[67]

Despite their well-known jealous attachment to one another, both Davies and Hearst had many sexual liaisons with others while living together in San Simeon and elsewhere.[66] Davies had sexual relationships with fellow actors Charlie Chaplin,[68] Dick Powell,[48] and others, while Hearst had a sexual relationship with blonde chorus girl Maybelle Swor.[66] According to Davies' friend and confidant Louise Brooks, Davies was particularly incensed by Hearst's indiscreet relations with Swor. Davies became irate when Hearst's newspapers began openly promoting Swor's career in a nearly identical fashion to their earlier promotion of hers.[66]

By the late 1930s, in the wake of the Great Depression, Hearst was suffering financial reversals.[69] After selling many of the contents of St Donat's Castle, Davies sold her jewelry, stocks and bonds and wrote a check for $1 million to Hearst to save him from bankruptcy.[70][71]

Alleged biological daughter

Further information: Patricia Lake

Since the early 1920s, there had been speculation that Davies and Hearst had a child together between 1919 and 1923. The child was rumored to be Patricia Lake (née Van Cleve), who was publicly identified as Davies' niece.[72][64] On October 3, 1993, Lake died of complications from lung cancer in Indian Wells, California.[73] Ten hours before her death, Lake asked her son to announce publicly she was not Davies' niece but her biological daughter, whom she had conceived with Hearst.[72] Lake had never commented on her alleged paternity in public, even after Hearst's and Davies' deaths, but told her grown children and friends. Lake's claim was published in her newspaper death notice.[72][64]

Lake told her friends and family that Davies became pregnant by Hearst in the early 1920s. As the child was conceived during Hearst's extra-marital affair with Davies and out of wedlock, Hearst sent her to Europe to have the child secretly and avoid a public scandal. Hearst later joined Davies in Europe. Lake claimed she was born in a Catholic hospital outside Paris between 1919 and 1923 and was then given to Davies' sister Rose, whose own child had died in infancy, and passed off as Rose and her husband George Van Cleve's daughter. Lake stated that Hearst paid for her schooling and both Davies and Hearst spent considerable time with her. Davies reportedly told Lake of her true parentage when she was age 11, while Hearst confirmed he was her father on her wedding day at age 17, where both Davies and Hearst gave her away.[72][74]

Neither Davies nor Hearst ever addressed the rumors publicly. On news of the story, a spokesman for Hearst Castle commented that, "It's a very old rumor and a rumor is all it ever was."[72]

Thomas Ince scandal

Further information: Thomas Ince § Death
 
Thomas Ince in 1922.

In November 1924, Davies was among those revelers aboard Hearst's steam yacht Oneida for a weekend party that culminated in the death of film producer Thomas Ince.[4][6] Ince purportedly suffered an attack of acute indigestion while aboard the luxury yacht and was escorted off it in San Diego by Hearst's studio manager, Dr. Daniel Goodman.[6] Ince was put on a train bound for Los Angeles. When his condition worsened, he was removed from the train at Del Mar. Dr. T. A. Parker and a nurse, Jesse Howard, provided him with medical attention. Ince allegedly told them he had drunk a strong liquor aboard Hearst's yacht.[4] He was taken to his Hollywood home where he died.[4]

Following Ince's death, rumors became widespread that Hearst had caught Ince "pressing unwelcome attentions on Miss Davies and shot him fatally".[4] A variant of this rumor alleged that Davies had a sexual liaison with fellow-guest Charlie Chaplin, and that Hearst mistook Ince for Chaplin and shot him out of jealousy.[75][6] Chaplin's valet allegedly witnessed Ince being carried from Hearst's yacht and claimed that Ince's head was "bleeding from a bullet wound".[6][75] Screenwriter Elinor Glyn, a fellow guest at the party, claimed "everyone aboard the yacht had been sworn to secrecy, which would hardly have seemed necessary if poor Ince had died of natural causes".[76] Years later, Chaplin's wife Lita Grey[77] repeated claims that Chaplin had sexually pursued Marion Davies aboard Hearst's yacht and that a violent altercation had occurred.[77] However, there was never any substantive evidence to support these allegations.[4]

After Ince's death, District Attorney Chester C. Kempley of San Diego conducted an inquiry and issued a public statement which declared "the death of Thomas H. Ince was caused by heart failure as a result of an attack of acute indigestion".[4] Despite the district attorney's declaration, and the fact that three physicians and a nurse had attended Ince before he died, the rumors persisted.[4] Consequently, "one can still hear solemn stories in Hollywood today that Ince was murdered" in a jealous dispute over Davies.[5][4]

Later years

Retirement and Hearst's death

By 1937, Hearst was $126 million in debt (equivalent to $2,375,041,667 in 2021).[48] Consequently, when Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures folded in 1938, Davies left the film business and retreated to San Simeon. She would later claim in her autobiography that, after many years of work, she had become bored with film acting and decided to devote herself to being Hearst's "companion".[78] However, Davies was intensely ambitious, and she faced the harsh reality at age forty that she could no longer play young heroines, as in her earlier films.[48] Consequently, when drunk at parties in San Simeon, Davies often lamented her retirement and "cursed everyone who felt she had contributed to her ruined career".[48]

As the years passed, Davies developed a drinking problem, and her alcoholism grew worse in the late 1930s and the 1940s,[7] as she and Hearst lived an increasingly isolated existence.[79] Although Hearst and Davies "were still playing the gracious lord and his lady, and the guests were still responding with grateful expressions of joy," nevertheless "the life had gone out of their performances".[52] The two spent most of World War II at Hearst's Northern California estate of Wyntoon until returning to San Simeon in 1945.[80]

After a long period of illness, Hearst died on August 14, 1951, age 88.[8] In his will, he provided handsomely for Davies, leaving her 170,000 shares of Hearst Corporation stock, and 30,000 he had put in a trust fund he established for her in 1950. This gave her a controlling interest in the company for a short time, until she chose to relinquish the stock voluntarily to the corporation on October 30, 1951[80] by selling it to Mrs. Millicent Hearst for one dollar.[81] She retained her original 30,000 shares and an advisory role with the corporation.[80] She soon invested in property and owned The Desert Inn in Palm Springs and several properties in New York City, including the Squibb Building at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, the Davies Building at E. 57th Street and the Douras Building at E. 55th Street.[21]

Marriage to Brown and charity work

Following Hearst's death, most of Davies' coterie of hedonistic friends gradually drifted away, and "she relied upon one or two companion-nurses to keep the blues away".[82] Eleven weeks and one day after Hearst's death, Davies married sea captain Horace Brown on October 31, 1951, in Las Vegas.[9] Their union was unhappy.[83] Davies filed for divorce twice, but neither was finalized, despite Brown admitting he treated her badly: "I'm a beast," he said. "I took him back. I don't know why," she explained. "I guess because he's standing right beside me, crying. Thank God we all have a sense of humor."[83][84]

Throughout her later years, Davies was "noted for her kindness" and renowned for her generosity to charities.[21] During the 1920s, she had become interested in children's charities, donating over $1 million.[21] In 1952, she donated $1.9 million to establish a children's clinic at UCLA, which was named for her.[85] The clinic's name was changed to the Mattel Children's Hospital in 1998. Davies also fought childhood diseases through the Marion Davies Foundation.[35]

Illness and death

 
Davies' mausoleum at Hollywood Forever.

In Summer 1956, after many decades of heavy drinking, Davies had a minor cerebral stroke and was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.[86] After the stroke, her Hollywood friends noted that "much of her old spirit and fire were gone". She quipped to columnist Hedda Hopper that "we blondes seem to be falling apart".[86] She would never fully regain her health. During this time, many of her friends died, including Louis B. Mayer and Norma Talmadge. Their deaths convinced Davies that she would soon pass as well.[86]

Three years later, during a dental examination in February 1959, a growth was discovered on her jaw.[87] Not long afterwards, Davies was diagnosed with cancer. Davies made her last public appearance on January 10, 1960, on an NBC television special titled Hedda Hopper's Hollywood. During this same period, Joseph P. Kennedy rented Davies' mansion and worked from behind the scenes to secure his son John F. Kennedy's nomination during the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.[87] When Joseph P. Kennedy learned Davies was dying of cancer, he "had three cancer specialists flown out" to examine her.[10]

In Spring 1961, Davies underwent surgery for malignant osteomyelitis.[10] Twelve days after the operation, she fell in her hospital room and broke her leg.[88] Her health failed rapidly over the following summer. Davies died of the malignant osteomyelitis on September 22, 1961, in Hollywood.[1] Over 200 mourners and many Hollywood celebrities, including her friends Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Glenn Ford, Kay Williams, and Johnny Weissmuller attended her funeral at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hollywood.[89][10] Davies was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[89] She left an estate estimated at $20 million (equivalent to $181,358,575 in 2021).[90]

Cultural legacy

Susan Alexander Kane

 
The character of Susan Alexander Kane (portrayed by Dorothy Comingore) in Citizen Kane (1941) was assumed to have been inspired by Davies, but Orson Welles repeatedly denied that the character was based on her.

According to biographers, the release of Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) destroyed Davies' reputation.[91] Film audiences mistakenly assumed Davies was the unalloyed inspiration for the character of Susan Alexander in the film, which was based loosely on Hearst's life.[92][54] Many viewers, including journalists, "assumed that the powerful publisher Charles Kane in the film was Mr. Hearst, the huge castle Xanadu was in reality Mr. Hearst's fabulous estate San Simeon and the blonde young singer he tried to turn into a diva, although she had no voice, was in reality Miss Davies".[1]

Consequently, a retroactive myth soon developed that Davies was "not a great actress and the films she made were not among the more impressive or profitable releases".[1] By the time of her prolonged death from cancer, press obituaries erroneously depicted Davies to have been an extremely mediocre and unpopular actress during her lifetime.[12][11] However, contrary to the retroactive myth that Davies' films were neither popular nor profitable,[1] most of Davies' films made money, and she remained a popular star for most of her career.[54] She was the number one female box office star of 1922–23 because of the enormous popularity of 1922's When Knighthood Was in Flower and 1923's Little Old New York, which ranked among the biggest box-office hits of 1922 and 1923, respectively.[3]

Over time, the popular association with the character of Susan Alexander Kane led to later revisionist portrayals of Davies as a talentless opportunist.[1][54] In his later years, Orson Welles attempted to correct the widespread misconceptions which Citizen Kane had created about Davies' popularity and talents as an actress. In his foreword to Davies' autobiography, The Times We Had (published posthumously in 1975), Welles wrote that the fictional Susan Alexander Kane bears no resemblance to Davies:

That Susan was Kane's wife and Marion was Hearst's mistress is a difference more important than might be guessed in today's changed climate of opinion. The wife was a puppet and a prisoner; the mistress was never less than a princess. Hearst built more than one castle, and Marion was the hostess in all of them: they were pleasure domes indeed, and the Beautiful People of the day fought for invitations. Xanadu was a lonely fortress, and Susan was quite right to escape from it. The mistress was never one of Hearst's possessions: he was always her suitor, and she was the precious treasure of his heart for more than 30 years, until his last breath of life. Theirs is truly a love story. Love is not the subject of Citizen Kane.[12]

Welles told filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich that Samuel Insull's construction of the Chicago Opera House, and Harold Fowler McCormick's lavish promotion of the opera career of his second wife Ganna Walska, were the actual influences for the Susan Alexander character in the Citizen Kane screenplay.[93] "As for Marion," Welles said, "she was an extraordinary woman—nothing like the character Dorothy Comingore played in the movie ... Marion was much better than Susan—whom people wrongly equated with her".[93]

Critical reassessment

Several decades after her death, a critical reassessment of Davies occurred as the result of greater availability of her notable films such as When Knighthood Was in Flower, Beauty's Worth, The Bride's Play, Enchantment, The Restless Sex, April Folly, and Buried Treasure. This availability allowed for a more accurate evaluation of Davies' oeuvre as an actress.[3] In the 1970s, film critic Pauline Kael attempted to rehabilitate Davies' legacy and noted that her reputation had been unfairly maligned.[94] Gradually, the consensus among film critics became more appreciative of her efforts, particularly in comedy.[54] According to biographers, "if Hearst had allowed her great talents as a mime and comic to come to full flower in a long series of comedies as bright as her Show People and The Patsy, her screen reputation could not have been so readily damaged by the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane".[54]

Portrayals of Davies

 
Davies circa the late 1910s.

Since her death in 1961, different actresses have portrayed Davies in a variety of media. In 1985, Davies was portrayed by 23-year-old Virginia Madsen in the ABC telefilm The Hearst and Davies Affair with Robert Mitchum as Hearst.[95][96] ABC inaccurately marketed the film as "the scandalous love affair between one of the richest and most powerful men in America and the obscure Ziegfeld girl he promoted to stardom".[95] To prepare for the role, Madsen "screened Davies' movies, read books, hunted up a collector of Davies memorabilia and even interviewed the actress' stand-in".[96] In the process, Madsen became a Davies fan and said she felt she had inadvertently portrayed her as a stereotype, rather than as a real person.[97] In subsequent decades, Davies was portrayed by Heather McNair in Chaplin (1992) and by Gretchen Mol in Cradle Will Rock (1999).[98]

The 1999 HBO movie RKO 281 focuses on the production of Citizen Kane and Hearst's efforts to prevent its release, with Melanie Griffith portraying Davies. The movie depicts Davies growing irritated with Hearst's lifestyle and political views.

In 2001, director Peter Bogdanovich's film The Cat's Meow debuted with 19-year-old Kirsten Dunst starring as Davies.[5] Dunst's performance interpreted Davies as "a spoiled ingenue" who was the ambivalent "lover to two very different men".[5] The film was based upon unsubstantiated rumors concerning the Thomas Ince scandal, which was dramatized in the play The Cat's Meow and then adapted into the movie.[5] That same year, a documentary film Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (2001) premiered on Turner Classic Movies.[97]

In 2004, the story of William Randolph Hearst and Davies was made into a musical titled WR and Daisy, with book and lyrics by Robert and Phyllis White and music by Glenn Paxton. It was performed in 2004 by Theater West, and in 2009 and 2010 at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, California, the estate built by Hearst for Davies in the 1920s.

Amanda Seyfried portrayed Davies in the 2020 Netflix film Mank about Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of Citizen Kane.[99][100] Seyfried was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

In the 2022 film Babylon, Davies is portrayed by Chloe Fineman.

Filmography

Year Title Role Director Notes
1917 Runaway Romany Romany George W. Lederer Lost film. Davies also wrote the screenplay.[27]
1918 Cecilia of the Pink Roses Cecilia Julius Steger Lost film; Davies also served as producer.
1918 The Burden of Proof Elaine Brooks John G. Adolfi Lost film
1919 The Belle of New York Violet Gray Julius Steger Only 2 reels survive
1919 Getting Mary Married Mary Bussard Allan Dwan Davies also served as producer.
1919 The Dark Star Rue Carew Allan Dwan Lost film
1919 The Cinema Murder Elizabeth Dalston George D. Baker Lost film
1920 April Folly April Poole Robert Z. Leonard Missing first reel
1920 The Restless Sex Stephanie Cleland Robert Z. Leonard
1921 Buried Treasure Pauline Vandermuellen / Lucia George D. Baker Missing final reel
1921 Enchantment Ethel Hoyt Robert G. Vignola
1922 Bride's Play Enid of Cashel / Aileen Barrett George Terwilliger
1922 Beauty's Worth Prudence Cole Robert G. Vignola
1922 The Young Diana Diana May Robert G. Vignola Lost film
1922 When Knighthood Was in Flower Mary Tudor Robert G. Vignola
1922 A Trip to Paramountown Herself Jack Cunningham Short subject
1923 The Pilgrim Member of the Congregation Charlie Chaplin Uncredited role
1923 Adam and Eva Eva King Robert G. Vignola Only 1 reel survives
1923 Little Old New York Patricia O'Day Sidney Olcott
1924 Yolanda Princess Mary / Yolanda Robert G. Vignola A print survives at Cinematek in Brussels, Belgium.
1924 Janice Meredith Janice Meredith E. Mason Hopper Features a scene in Technicolor
1925 Zander the Great Mamie Smith George W. Hill
1925 Lights of Old Broadway Fely / Anne Monta Bell A print survives in Library of Congress; Features a scene in Technicolor
1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Crowd Extra in Chariot Race Fred Niblo Uncredited role; Features scenes in Technicolor
1926 Beverly of Graustark Beverly Calhoun / Prince Oscar Sidney Franklin A print survives in Library of Congress; Features a scene in Technicolor
1927 The Red Mill Tina Roscoe Arbuckle
1927 Tillie the Toiler Tillie Jones Hobart Henley A print survives in the Eastman House Museum
1927 The Fair Co-Ed Marion Sam Wood A print survives in Library of Congress
1927 Quality Street Phoebe Throssel Sidney Franklin Davies also served as producer
1928 The Patsy Patricia Harrington King Vidor Davies also served as producer
1928 The Cardboard Lover Sally Robert Z. Leonard Davies also served as producer. A print survives in Library of Congress
1928 Show People Peggy Pepper / Patricia Pepoire / Herself King Vidor Producer
1928 The Five O'Clock Girl Patricia Brown Robert Z. Leonard Incomplete
1928 Rosalie Princess Rosalie Romanikov Incomplete
1929 Marianne Marianne Robert Z. Leonard Producer (uncredited); silent version co-starring Oscar Shaw
1929 Marianne Marianne Robert Z. Leonard Producer (uncredited); sound version co-starring Lawrence Gray
1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 Herself Charles Reisner Features scenes in Technicolor
1930 Not So Dumb Dulcinea 'Dulcy' Parker King Vidor Producer
1930 The Florodora Girl Daisy Dell Harry Beaumont Producer; Features a scene in Technicolor
1930 Screen Snapshots Series 9, No. 23 Herself Ralph Staub Short subject
1931 Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party Herself Charles Reisner Short subject
1931 The Bachelor Father Antoinette 'Tony' Flagg Robert Z. Leonard Producer
1931 Its a Wise Child Joyce Stanton Robert Z. Leonard Davies also served as producer. A print survives in the UCLA Archive.
1931 Five and Ten Jennifer Rarick Robert Z. Leonard Producer
1931 The Christmas Party Herself Charles Reisner Short subject
1932 Polly of the Circus Polly Fisher Alfred Santell Producer
1932 Blondie of the Follies Blondie McClune Edmund Goulding Producer
1933 Peg o' My Heart Margaret 'Peg' O'Connell Robert Z. Leonard
1933 Going Hollywood Sylvia Bruce Raoul Walsh
1934 Operator 13 Gail Loveless Richard Boleslawski
1935 Page Miss Glory Loretta Dalrymple / Miss Dawn Glory Mervyn LeRoy Producer
1935 A Dream Comes True Herself Short subject
1935 Pirate Party on Catalina Isle Herself Gene Burdette Short subject
1936 Hearts Divided Elizabeth "Betsy" Patterson Frank Borzage Producer
1936 Cain and Mabel Mabel O'Dare Lloyd Bacon
1937 Ever Since Eve Miss Marjorie 'Marge' Winton / Sadie Day Lloyd Bacon

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b The name is sometimes spelled "Marion Cecilia Dourvas" in biographies. In her autobiography, it is spelled "Douras", as it appears in the 1900 U.S. Census when they lived in Brooklyn, New York.
  2. ^ Hearst's ban on Davies kissing her leading men in films purportedly ended with Marianne in 1929.[46]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The New York Times 1961, p. 19
  2. ^ a b Tri-City Herald 1961, p. 2
  3. ^ a b c d Lorusso 2017, p. 96
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Swanberg 1961, pp. 445–46
  5. ^ a b c d e Elley 2001
  6. ^ a b c d e Taves 2012, pp. 3–7
  7. ^ a b Brooks 1982, p. 41
  8. ^ a b Spokane Daily Chronicle 1951, p. 7
  9. ^ a b The New York Times 1951, p. 30
  10. ^ a b c d Guiles 1972, p. 372
  11. ^ a b Guiles 1972, p. 91
  12. ^ a b c d Welles 1975, Foreword
  13. ^ Welles & Bogdanovich 1992
  14. ^ Time Magazine 1935
  15. ^ Time Magazine 1930
  16. ^ 1910 U.S. Federal Census
  17. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 1–2
  18. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 2–3
  19. ^ Davies 1975, p. 3
  20. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 4–7
  21. ^ a b c d e f g Landry 1961, p. 5
  22. ^ a b Davies 1975, pp. 10–11
  23. ^ a b c d e Davies 1975, p. 11
  24. ^ a b c d Davies 1975, pp. 11–13
  25. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 15–18
  26. ^ a b c Davies 1975, pp. 28–29
  27. ^ a b c Ward 2016, p. 35
  28. ^ Davies 1975, p. 23
  29. ^ Davies 1975, p. 25
  30. ^ Longworth 2015
  31. ^ Davies 1975, p. 43
  32. ^ Alleman 2013, pp. 359–60
  33. ^ Alleman 2013, p. 359
  34. ^ a b Guiles 1972, p. 89
  35. ^ a b c Board 2008
  36. ^ Guiles 1972, pp. 111–13
  37. ^ Davies 1975, p. 34
  38. ^ Murray 1995, p. 19
  39. ^ Murray 1995, p. 36
  40. ^ Brooks 1982, p. 34
  41. ^ a b Wadsworth 1990, p. 90
  42. ^ Davies 1975, p. 356
  43. ^ a b Davies 1975, p. 357
  44. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 260–61, 357
  45. ^ a b c d Davies 1975, p. 29
  46. ^ a b Guiles 1972, p. 257
  47. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 123–25
  48. ^ a b c d e f Brooks 1982, p. 37
  49. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 207
  50. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 209
  51. ^ Guiles 1972, pp. 203–04
  52. ^ a b Brooks 1982, p. 36
  53. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 272
  54. ^ a b c d e f Guiles 1972, pp. 117–19
  55. ^ Davies 1975, p. 253
  56. ^ a b Davies 1975, p. 254
  57. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 271
  58. ^ a b c d Brooks 1982, p. 54
  59. ^ Paris 1989, pp. 126–28
  60. ^ Brooks 1982, pp. 35–45, 47
  61. ^ a b Brooks 1982, p. 55
  62. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 285
  63. ^ a b Guiles 1972, p. 287
  64. ^ a b c Ross-Warshaw 1993, p. 13
  65. ^ Davies 1975, p. 27
  66. ^ a b c d Brooks 1982, p. 43
  67. ^ a b Chaplin & Cooper 1966, p. 190
  68. ^ Wallace 2002, p. 146
  69. ^ The Milwaukee Journal 1951, p. 4
  70. ^ The Miami News 1961, p. 7A
  71. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 294
  72. ^ a b c d e Fiore 1993, p. 1
  73. ^ Sarasota Herald-Tribune 1993, p. 8B
  74. ^ Vogel 2005, pp. 208–09
  75. ^ a b Wallace 2002, pp. 144–45
  76. ^ Rosenbaum 2002
  77. ^ a b Chaplin 1998, pp. 52–53
  78. ^ Davies 1975, pp. 260–61
  79. ^ Brooks 1982, pp. 36–41
  80. ^ a b c Kastner 2000, p. 183
  81. ^ Pollak & Ives 2021.
  82. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 93
  83. ^ a b The New York Times 1952, p. 25
  84. ^ Time Magazine 1952
  85. ^ UCLA Facts & History 2003
  86. ^ a b c Guiles 1972, p. 369
  87. ^ a b Guiles 1972, p. 370
  88. ^ The Leader-Post 1961, p. 1
  89. ^ a b The Spokesman-Review 1961
  90. ^ Fleming 2005, p. 146
  91. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 91
  92. ^ McCullough 1996
  93. ^ a b Welles & Bogdanovich 1992, p. 49
  94. ^ Guiles 1972, p. 373
  95. ^ a b O'Connor 1985
  96. ^ a b Hill 1985
  97. ^ a b Neely 2001
  98. ^ McCarthy 1999
  99. ^ Buchanan 2020
  100. ^ Seyfried 2020

Sources

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  • Chaplin, Lita Grey (March 5, 1998). Wife of the Life of the Party: A Memoir. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1-4616-7432-0. from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020. The general belief is that Hearst shot Ince in the back of the head, believing he was Charlie [Chaplin].... It is merely conjecture on my part, but I believe that by marrying me, Charlie was also pacifying Hearst. It was a gesture that implied that in the future Charlie would confine his attentions to me and not Marion Davies.
  • Davies, Marion (1975). Pfau, Pamela; Marx, Kenneth S. (eds.). The Times We Had: Life with William Randolph Hearst. Bobbs-Merrill Company. ISBN 0-672-52112-1 – via Internet Archive.
  • . Time. May 6, 1935. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved June 26, 2008. Bernard J. Douras, 82, retired New York City magistrate, father of Film Actress Marion Davies and three other daughters; in Beverly Hills, California. His death caused the cancellation of a huge costume party planned at Davies' home in honor of William Randolph Hearst's 72nd birthday.
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  • Fiore, Faye (October 31, 1993). "Obituary Revives Rumor of Hearst Daughter". Los Angeles Times. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2012. Hollywood: Gossips in the 1920s speculated that William Randolph Hearst and mistress Marion Davies had a child. Patricia Lake, long introduced as Davies' niece, asks on death bed that record be set straight.
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  • Hill, Michael E. (January 13, 1985). "Virginia Madsen: The Ziegfeld Girl and the Newspaper Magnate". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
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  • . Time. February 17, 1930. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved June 26, 2008. Gloria Gould Bishop, daughter of Capitalist George Jay Gould; and Walter McFarlane Barker of Chicago; in Manhattan. He was her second husband. They were married in the Domestic Relations Court by Judge Bernard J. Douras, father of cinema actress Marion Davies.
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  • "Patricia Van Cleve Lake". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. October 16, 1993. p. 8B. from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
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  • Ross-Warshaw, Margery (October 13, 1993). "Their Greatest Secret". The Desert Sun. p. 11. from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. The late Patricia Van Cleve Lake told her family she was the daughter of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. But for 70 years, she hid from the world.
  • "Sea Captain wed to Marion Davies. Ex-Actress Protegee of Hearst Married in Surprise Service by Las Vegas Justice. Hearst Kinship Disputed Hearst Agreement Discussed". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 1, 1951. from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
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  • Welles, Orson (1975). Foreword. The Times We Had: Life with William Randolph Hearst. By Davies, Marion. Pfau, Pamela; Marx, Kenneth S. (eds.). New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-32739-0. LCCN 75-7015 – via Internet Archive.
  • Welles, Orson; Bogdanovich, Peter (1992). This is Orson Welles. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-016616-9 – via Internet Archive. Orson Welles: Well, you know, the real story of Hearst is quite different from Kane's.... There's all that stuff about [Robert] McCormick and the opera. I drew a lot from that from my Chicago days. And Samuel Insull. As for Marion [Davies], she was an extraordinary woman—nothing like the character Dorothy Comingore played in the movie.... Marion was much better than Susan—whom people wrongly equated with her.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marion Davies.

May 05, 2023
marion, davies, 18th, century, english, musician, marianne, davies, british, figure, skater, figure, skater, born, marion, cecilia, douras, january, 1897, september, 1961, american, actress, producer, screenwriter, philanthropist, educated, religious, convent,. For the 18th century English musician see Marianne Davies For the British figure skater see Marion Davies figure skater Marion Davies born Marion Cecilia Douras a January 3 1897 September 22 1961 was an American actress producer screenwriter and philanthropist Educated in a religious convent Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl As a teenager she appeared in several Broadway musicals and one film Runaway Romany 1917 She soon became a featured performer in the Ziegfeld Follies Marion DaviesDavies in the 1920sBornMarion Cecilia Douras a 1897 01 03 January 3 1897Brooklyn New York U S DiedSeptember 22 1961 1961 09 22 aged 64 Los Angeles California U S Resting placeHollywood Forever CemeteryOccupationsActressproducerscreenwriterphilanthropistYears active1914 1937SpouseHorace G Brown m 1951 wbr PartnerWilliam Randolph Hearst 1917 1951 his death ChildrenPatricia Lake alleged RelativesRosemary Davies sister Reine Davies sister Charles Lederer nephew Pepi Lederer niece While performing in the 1916 Follies the nineteen year old Marion met the fifty three year old newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and became his mistress Hearst took over management of Davies s career and promoted her as a film actress 1 2 Hearst financed Davies s pictures and promoted her career extensively in his newspapers and Hearst newsreels He founded Cosmopolitan Pictures to produce her films By 1924 Davies was the number one female box office star in Hollywood because of the popularity of When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York which were among the biggest box office hits of their respective years 3 During the zenith of the Jazz Age Davies became renowned as the hostess of lavish soirees for Hollywood actors and political elites However in 1924 her name became linked with scandal when film producer Thomas Ince died at a party aboard Hearst s yacht 4 5 6 Following the decline of her film career during the Great Depression Davies struggled with alcoholism 7 She retired from the screen in 1937 to devote herself to an ailing Hearst and charitable work 1 In Hearst s declining years Davies remained his steadfast companion until his death in 1951 8 Eleven weeks after Hearst s death she married sea captain Horace Brown 9 Their marriage lasted until Davies death at 64 from malignant osteomyelitis bone cancer of the jaw in 1961 10 By the time of her death her popular association with the character of Susan Alexander Kane in the film Citizen Kane 1941 already overshadowed Davies legacy as a talented actress 11 The title character s second wife an untalented singer whom he tries to promote was widely assumed to be based upon Davies 1 However many commentators including writer director Orson Welles defended Davies s record as a gifted actress and comedienne to whom Hearst s patronage did more harm than good 12 In his final years Welles attempted to correct the widespread misconceptions the film had created about Davies s popularity and talents as an actress 12 13 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 Early career on stage and in film 2 2 Hearst and Cosmopolitan Pictures 2 3 Sound films and career decline 3 Personal life 3 1 Relationship with Hearst 3 2 Alleged biological daughter 3 3 Thomas Ince scandal 4 Later years 4 1 Retirement and Hearst s death 4 2 Marriage to Brown and charity work 5 Illness and death 6 Cultural legacy 6 1 Susan Alexander Kane 6 2 Critical reassessment 6 3 Portrayals of Davies 7 Filmography 8 See also 9 References 9 1 Notes 9 2 Citations 9 3 Sources 10 External linksEarly life and education EditMarion Douras was born on January 3 1897 in Brooklyn the youngest of five children born to Bernard J Douras a lawyer and judge in New York City and Rose Reilly 14 Her father performed the civil marriage of socialite Gloria Gould Bishop 15 She had three older sisters Ethel Rose and Reine 16 An older brother Charles drowned His name was subsequently given to Davies favorite nephew screenwriter Charles Lederer the son of Davies sister Reine Davies 17 The Douras family lived near Prospect Park in Brooklyn Educated in the Sacred Heart religious convent near the Hudson River and later a religious convent near Tours France Davies was uninterested in her academic studies and very unhappy as a child supervised by Catholic nuns 18 Her family was close friends with architect Stanford White and Davies grew up learning about the Evelyn Nesbit sex scandal 19 As a teenager Marion left school to pursue a career as a showgirl When her sister Reine adopted the stage name of Davies after seeing a billboard advertisement for Valentine Davies Marion followed suit 20 Career EditEarly career on stage and in film Edit Portraits of Davies appeared on covers for Theatre Magazine June 1920 and Motion Picture Classic January 1920 Davies worked as a chorine starting with Chin Chin a 1914 musical starring David C Montgomery and Fred Stone at the old Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia 1 She made her Broadway debut starring in the show at the Globe Theatre on October 20 She also appeared in Nobody Home Miss Information and Stop Look and Listen 21 When not dancing she modeled for illustrators Harrison Fisher and Howard Chandler Christy 1 In 1916 Davies was signed as a featured player in the Ziegfeld Follies 1 However she encountered difficulties with her career as a Ziegfeld girl as her persistent stammer prevented her from pronouncing any lines Consequently she was relegated only to dancing routines 22 While working for Florenz Ziegfeld a cavalcade of admirers pursued her sexually She came to loathe young college men The stage door Johnnies sic I didn t like Especially those who came from Yale 23 During one infamous show starring Gaby Deslys rowdy undergraduates from Yale pelted Davies and other chorus dancers with tomatoes and rotten eggs to show their displeasure with the performance 23 While dancing in the Follies at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City the teenage Davies was first observed by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst who was seated in the front row of the audience 2 23 Recalling this first encounter Davies indicated she was afraid of Hearst initially Hearst always sat in the front row at the Follies The girls in the show told me who he was They said Look out for him he s looking at you He s a wolf in sheep s clothing He sent me flowers and little gifts like silver boxes or gloves or candy I wasn t the only one he sent gifts to but all the girls thought he was particularly looking at me and the older ones would say Look out 23 Hearst purportedly went to the Follies show every night for eight weeks solely to gaze at Davies 1 Without Davies knowledge Hearst clandestinely arranged for an intermediary from Campbell s Studio to invite her to be photographed in ornate costumes such as a Japanese geisha and a virginal bride 24 While the photos were being taken Davies realized Hearst secretly was present in the darkness of the photography studio 24 Terrified she fled to the dressing room and locked the door 24 However Hearst abruptly departed without introducing himself 24 After months passed they saw each other again in Palm Beach Florida but Hearst s wife was present 25 They did not become intimate until sometime later 26 After making her screen debut in 1916 and modelling gowns by Lady Duff Gordon in a fashion newsreel Davies appeared in Runaway Romany 1917 her first feature film 27 Davies wrote the film 27 which was directed by her brother in law producer George W Lederer 28 She continued to alternate between stage and screen until 1920 when she made her last revue appearance in Ed Wynn s Carnival 21 Hearst and Cosmopolitan Pictures Edit William Randolph Hearst circa 1910s left and a 1922 photograph of Davies by E O Hoppe right By the mid 1920s Davies career was overshadowed by her relationship with Hearst and their social life at San Simeon and Ocean House in Santa Monica In 1918 Hearst formed Cosmopolitan Pictures and asked Davies to sign a 500 per week exclusive contract with his studio 29 After she signed 21 year old Davies and 58 year old Hearst began a sexual relationship 26 Using his vast newspaper empire and Hearst Metrotone Newsreels Hearst decided to promote Davies on an enormous scale 30 His newsreels touted her social activities and a reporter from the Los Angeles Examiner was assigned the full time job of recounting Davies daily exploits in print 31 Hearst expended an estimated 7 million on promoting Davies career equivalent to 131 946 759 in 2021 21 1 Soon after Hearst who was still married to Millicent Hearst moved Davies with her mother and sisters into an elegant Manhattan townhouse at the corner of Riverside Drive and W 105th Street 32 Hearst ensured that Marion s new abode was nothing less than a palace fit for a movie queen especially since the queen would frequently be receiving the press on the premises 33 Cecilia of the Pink Roses in 1918 was her first film backed by Hearst 34 He next secured Cosmopolitan s distribution deals first with Paramount Pictures 34 then with Samuel Goldwyn Productions and with Metro Goldwyn Mayer During the next ten years Davies appeared in 29 films an average of almost three films a year 35 One of her best known roles was as Mary Tudor in When Knighthood Was in Flower 1922 directed by Robert G Vignola with whom she collaborated on several films 36 The 1922 23 period may have been her most successful as an actress with both When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York ranking among the top three box office hits of those years 3 She was named the number one female box office star by theater owners and crowned Queen of the Screen at their 1924 Hollywood convention 37 Other hit silent films included Beverly of Graustark The Cardboard Lover Enchantment The Bride s Play Lights of Old Broadway Zander the Great The Red Mill Yolanda Beauty s Worth and The Restless Sex Davies and Forrest Stanley in When Knighthood Was in Flower 1922 In 1926 Hearst s wife Millicent Hearst moved to New York and Hearst and Davies moved to the palatial Hearst Castle in San Simeon California overlooking the Pacific Ocean 38 Upon visiting the sprawling Hearst Castle with its Greek statues and celestial suites playwright George Bernard Shaw reportedly quipped This is what God would have built if he had the money 39 When not holding court at San Simeon Hearst and Davies resided at Marion s equally luxurious beach house in Santa Monica at Hearst s rustic Wyntoon estate in Northern California and St Donat s Castle in Wales 40 During the heyday of the Jazz Age the couple spent much of their time entertaining and holding extravagant soirees with famous guests including many Hollywood actors and political figures 41 Frequent habitues and occasional visitors included Charlie Chaplin Douglas Fairbanks Harpo Marx Clark Gable Calvin Coolidge Winston Churchill Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earheart among others 41 As the years passed Hearst s relentless efforts to promote Davies career purportedly had a detrimental effect 21 According to Davies Hearst grandiosely advertised her latest films with signs all over New York City and pictures in the papers I thought it got to be a little too much 42 Such unceasing publicity irritated the public 43 In New York city there were big signs blocks and blocks of signs Davies recalled and people got so tired of the name Marion Davies that they would actually insult me 43 In her published memoirs The Times We Had Davies concluded that such over the top promotion of her film career likely did more harm than good 44 Marion Davies cover art from Picture Play Magazine 1926 Hearst s jealousy also interfered with Davies career especially in her earlier films and her stage roles 45 According to Davies he often vetoed the casting of attractive leading men and typically would not permit her to be embraced on the screen or in stage plays In her memoirs Davies claimed to have repeatedly assailed Hearst s jealous stewardship in vain Everyone has to do a little embrace in pictures just for the audience s sake she told him 45 However Hearst would not relent Consequently many of her earlier pictures were regarded as sexless and featured no kissing at all b even when a kiss was needed for a happy ending 45 46 Hearst insisted on personally rewriting Davies film scripts and his constant meddling often exasperated film directors such as Lloyd Bacon 47 Hearst further hindered Davies career by insisting she star only in costume dramas in which she often played a doll sweetheart out of the 1890s in the manner of D W Griffith heroines 48 Davies herself was more inclined to develop her comic talents alongside her friends Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford at United Artists but Hearst pointedly discouraged this He preferred seeing her in expensive historical pictures but she also appeared in contemporary comedies like Tillie the Toiler The Fair Co Ed both 1927 and especially three directed by King Vidor Not So Dumb 1930 The Patsy and the backstage in Hollywood saga Show People both 1928 49 The Patsy contains her imitations which she usually did for friends of silent stars Lillian Gish Mae Murray and Pola Negri 50 Vidor saw Davies as a comedic actress instead of the dramatic actress that Hearst wanted her to be He noticed she was the life of parties and incorporated that into his films 51 Sound films and career decline Edit Davies circa 1930 1932 left and in a studio photograph from the late 1920s right The coming of sound made Davies nervous because she had a persistent stutter 35 22 Her career progressed nonetheless and she made a number of films during the early sound era including Marianne 1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 1929 The Florodora Girl 1930 The Bachelor Father 1931 Five and Ten 1931 with Leslie Howard Polly of the Circus 1932 with Clark Gable Blondie of the Follies 1932 Peg o My Heart 1933 Going Hollywood 1933 with Bing Crosby and Operator 13 1934 with Gary Cooper 52 During the filming of Operator 13 Hearst repeatedly caused problems on the set and insisted on directing a scene much to film director Richard Boleslawski s consternation 53 At Metro Goldwyn Mayer Davies was often involved with many aspects of her films and was considered an astute businesswoman However her career continued to be hampered by Hearst s insistence that she play dramatic historical parts as opposed to the comic roles which were her forte 54 Hearst reportedly tried to persuade MGM production boss Irving Thalberg to cast Davies in the coveted title role of the 1938 historical drama Marie Antoinette but Thalberg awarded the part to his ambitious wife Norma Shearer 55 This rejection followed a previous one where Davies had been denied the female lead in The Barretts of Wimpole Street which went to Shearer as well 56 57 Despite Davies friendship with the Thalbergs Hearst reacted angrily by pulling his newspaper support for MGM and moving Davies and Cosmopolitan Pictures distribution to Warner Brothers 56 Davies first film at Warner Brothers was Page Miss Glory 1935 48 During this period a personal tragedy occurred in Davies own life with the death of her vivacious 25 year old niece Pepi Lederer 58 59 Pepi had been a permanent resident at San Simeon for many years She was a closeted lesbian who had sexual relationships with actresses Louise Brooks Nina Mae McKinney and others 60 At some point during the affair between Pepi and Brooks Hearst became cognizant of Lederer s lesbianism 58 According to Louise Brooks memoirs to avoid a public scandal or to forestall blackmail Hearst arranged for Pepi to be committed to a mental institution for her drug addiction 61 In June 1935 mere days after her institutionalization Pepi committed suicide by leaping to her death from an upper floor window of the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles 58 Hearst purportedly used his press influence to have Pepi s death obscured in the news cycle 58 and Davies arranged a funeral for her niece at a private chapel 61 After a brief hiatus because of her niece s suicide Davies starred in Hearts Divided 1936 and Cain and Mabel 1936 Her final film for Warner Brothers was Ever Since Eve 1937 62 Mirroring earlier events at MGM Warner Brothers purchased the rights to Robert E Sherwood s 1935 play Tovarich for Davies but the lead role in the 1937 film adaptation was given to Claudette Colbert Hearst shopped Davies and Cosmopolitan for another year but no deals were made and the actress officially retired 63 In 1943 Davies was offered the role of Mrs Brown in Claudia but Hearst dissuaded her from taking a supporting role and tarnishing her starring career In her 45 feature films over a 20 year period Davies had never been anything but the star and except for uncredited cameo appearances had always received top billing 63 Personal life EditRelationship with Hearst Edit During the Jazz Age Hearst and Davies were known for the extravagant soirees they threw for Hollywood and political elites at Hearst Castle Interior of Davies bedroom in Hearst Castle In her memoirs Davies claimed that she and publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst began their sexual relationship when she was a teenage chorus girl 26 Although they lived together for the next three decades in opulent homes across Southern California and Europe 64 they never married as Hearst s wife refused to grant him a divorce 65 At one point Hearst reportedly came close to marrying Davies but decided his wife s settlement demands were too high Although he was a notorious philanderer 23 66 Hearst was extremely jealous and possessive of Davies even though he was married throughout their relationship 45 Lita Grey Charlie Chaplin s second wife wrote four decades later that Davies confided to her about her relationship with Hearst 67 Grey quoted Davies as saying God I d give everything I have to marry that silly old man Not for the money and security he s given me more than I ll ever need Not because he s such cozy company either Most times when he starts jawing he bores me stiff And certainly not because he s so wonderful behind the barn Why I could find a million better lays any Wednesday No you know what he gives me sugar He gives me the feeling I m worth something to him A whole lot of what we have or don t have I don t like He s got a wife who ll never give him a divorce She knows about me but it s still understood that when she decides to go to the ranch for a week or a weekend I ve got to vamoose And he snores and he can be petty and has sons about as old as me But he s kind and he s good to me and I d never walk out on him 67 Despite their well known jealous attachment to one another both Davies and Hearst had many sexual liaisons with others while living together in San Simeon and elsewhere 66 Davies had sexual relationships with fellow actors Charlie Chaplin 68 Dick Powell 48 and others while Hearst had a sexual relationship with blonde chorus girl Maybelle Swor 66 According to Davies friend and confidant Louise Brooks Davies was particularly incensed by Hearst s indiscreet relations with Swor Davies became irate when Hearst s newspapers began openly promoting Swor s career in a nearly identical fashion to their earlier promotion of hers 66 By the late 1930s in the wake of the Great Depression Hearst was suffering financial reversals 69 After selling many of the contents of St Donat s Castle Davies sold her jewelry stocks and bonds and wrote a check for 1 million to Hearst to save him from bankruptcy 70 71 Alleged biological daughter Edit Further information Patricia Lake Since the early 1920s there had been speculation that Davies and Hearst had a child together between 1919 and 1923 The child was rumored to be Patricia Lake nee Van Cleve who was publicly identified as Davies niece 72 64 On October 3 1993 Lake died of complications from lung cancer in Indian Wells California 73 Ten hours before her death Lake asked her son to announce publicly she was not Davies niece but her biological daughter whom she had conceived with Hearst 72 Lake had never commented on her alleged paternity in public even after Hearst s and Davies deaths but told her grown children and friends Lake s claim was published in her newspaper death notice 72 64 Lake told her friends and family that Davies became pregnant by Hearst in the early 1920s As the child was conceived during Hearst s extra marital affair with Davies and out of wedlock Hearst sent her to Europe to have the child secretly and avoid a public scandal Hearst later joined Davies in Europe Lake claimed she was born in a Catholic hospital outside Paris between 1919 and 1923 and was then given to Davies sister Rose whose own child had died in infancy and passed off as Rose and her husband George Van Cleve s daughter Lake stated that Hearst paid for her schooling and both Davies and Hearst spent considerable time with her Davies reportedly told Lake of her true parentage when she was age 11 while Hearst confirmed he was her father on her wedding day at age 17 where both Davies and Hearst gave her away 72 74 Neither Davies nor Hearst ever addressed the rumors publicly On news of the story a spokesman for Hearst Castle commented that It s a very old rumor and a rumor is all it ever was 72 Thomas Ince scandal Edit Further information Thomas Ince Death Thomas Ince in 1922 In November 1924 Davies was among those revelers aboard Hearst s steam yacht Oneida for a weekend party that culminated in the death of film producer Thomas Ince 4 6 Ince purportedly suffered an attack of acute indigestion while aboard the luxury yacht and was escorted off it in San Diego by Hearst s studio manager Dr Daniel Goodman 6 Ince was put on a train bound for Los Angeles When his condition worsened he was removed from the train at Del Mar Dr T A Parker and a nurse Jesse Howard provided him with medical attention Ince allegedly told them he had drunk a strong liquor aboard Hearst s yacht 4 He was taken to his Hollywood home where he died 4 Following Ince s death rumors became widespread that Hearst had caught Ince pressing unwelcome attentions on Miss Davies and shot him fatally 4 A variant of this rumor alleged that Davies had a sexual liaison with fellow guest Charlie Chaplin and that Hearst mistook Ince for Chaplin and shot him out of jealousy 75 6 Chaplin s valet allegedly witnessed Ince being carried from Hearst s yacht and claimed that Ince s head was bleeding from a bullet wound 6 75 Screenwriter Elinor Glyn a fellow guest at the party claimed everyone aboard the yacht had been sworn to secrecy which would hardly have seemed necessary if poor Ince had died of natural causes 76 Years later Chaplin s wife Lita Grey 77 repeated claims that Chaplin had sexually pursued Marion Davies aboard Hearst s yacht and that a violent altercation had occurred 77 However there was never any substantive evidence to support these allegations 4 After Ince s death District Attorney Chester C Kempley of San Diego conducted an inquiry and issued a public statement which declared the death of Thomas H Ince was caused by heart failure as a result of an attack of acute indigestion 4 Despite the district attorney s declaration and the fact that three physicians and a nurse had attended Ince before he died the rumors persisted 4 Consequently one can still hear solemn stories in Hollywood today that Ince was murdered in a jealous dispute over Davies 5 4 Later years EditRetirement and Hearst s death Edit By 1937 Hearst was 126 million in debt equivalent to 2 375 041 667 in 2021 48 Consequently when Hearst s Cosmopolitan Pictures folded in 1938 Davies left the film business and retreated to San Simeon She would later claim in her autobiography that after many years of work she had become bored with film acting and decided to devote herself to being Hearst s companion 78 However Davies was intensely ambitious and she faced the harsh reality at age forty that she could no longer play young heroines as in her earlier films 48 Consequently when drunk at parties in San Simeon Davies often lamented her retirement and cursed everyone who felt she had contributed to her ruined career 48 As the years passed Davies developed a drinking problem and her alcoholism grew worse in the late 1930s and the 1940s 7 as she and Hearst lived an increasingly isolated existence 79 Although Hearst and Davies were still playing the gracious lord and his lady and the guests were still responding with grateful expressions of joy nevertheless the life had gone out of their performances 52 The two spent most of World War II at Hearst s Northern California estate of Wyntoon until returning to San Simeon in 1945 80 After a long period of illness Hearst died on August 14 1951 age 88 8 In his will he provided handsomely for Davies leaving her 170 000 shares of Hearst Corporation stock and 30 000 he had put in a trust fund he established for her in 1950 This gave her a controlling interest in the company for a short time until she chose to relinquish the stock voluntarily to the corporation on October 30 1951 80 by selling it to Mrs Millicent Hearst for one dollar 81 She retained her original 30 000 shares and an advisory role with the corporation 80 She soon invested in property and owned The Desert Inn in Palm Springs and several properties in New York City including the Squibb Building at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street the Davies Building at E 57th Street and the Douras Building at E 55th Street 21 Marriage to Brown and charity work Edit Following Hearst s death most of Davies coterie of hedonistic friends gradually drifted away and she relied upon one or two companion nurses to keep the blues away 82 Eleven weeks and one day after Hearst s death Davies married sea captain Horace Brown on October 31 1951 in Las Vegas 9 Their union was unhappy 83 Davies filed for divorce twice but neither was finalized despite Brown admitting he treated her badly I m a beast he said I took him back I don t know why she explained I guess because he s standing right beside me crying Thank God we all have a sense of humor 83 84 Throughout her later years Davies was noted for her kindness and renowned for her generosity to charities 21 During the 1920s she had become interested in children s charities donating over 1 million 21 In 1952 she donated 1 9 million to establish a children s clinic at UCLA which was named for her 85 The clinic s name was changed to the Mattel Children s Hospital in 1998 Davies also fought childhood diseases through the Marion Davies Foundation 35 Illness and death Edit Davies mausoleum at Hollywood Forever In Summer 1956 after many decades of heavy drinking Davies had a minor cerebral stroke and was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital 86 After the stroke her Hollywood friends noted that much of her old spirit and fire were gone She quipped to columnist Hedda Hopper that we blondes seem to be falling apart 86 She would never fully regain her health During this time many of her friends died including Louis B Mayer and Norma Talmadge Their deaths convinced Davies that she would soon pass as well 86 Three years later during a dental examination in February 1959 a growth was discovered on her jaw 87 Not long afterwards Davies was diagnosed with cancer Davies made her last public appearance on January 10 1960 on an NBC television special titled Hedda Hopper s Hollywood During this same period Joseph P Kennedy rented Davies mansion and worked from behind the scenes to secure his son John F Kennedy s nomination during the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles 87 When Joseph P Kennedy learned Davies was dying of cancer he had three cancer specialists flown out to examine her 10 In Spring 1961 Davies underwent surgery for malignant osteomyelitis 10 Twelve days after the operation she fell in her hospital room and broke her leg 88 Her health failed rapidly over the following summer Davies died of the malignant osteomyelitis on September 22 1961 in Hollywood 1 Over 200 mourners and many Hollywood celebrities including her friends Mary Pickford Harold Lloyd Charles Buddy Rogers Glenn Ford Kay Williams and Johnny Weissmuller attended her funeral at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hollywood 89 10 Davies was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery 89 She left an estate estimated at 20 million equivalent to 181 358 575 in 2021 90 Cultural legacy EditSusan Alexander Kane Edit The character of Susan Alexander Kane portrayed by Dorothy Comingore in Citizen Kane 1941 was assumed to have been inspired by Davies but Orson Welles repeatedly denied that the character was based on her According to biographers the release of Orson Welles s Citizen Kane 1941 destroyed Davies reputation 91 Film audiences mistakenly assumed Davies was the unalloyed inspiration for the character of Susan Alexander in the film which was based loosely on Hearst s life 92 54 Many viewers including journalists assumed that the powerful publisher Charles Kane in the film was Mr Hearst the huge castle Xanadu was in reality Mr Hearst s fabulous estate San Simeon and the blonde young singer he tried to turn into a diva although she had no voice was in reality Miss Davies 1 Consequently a retroactive myth soon developed that Davies was not a great actress and the films she made were not among the more impressive or profitable releases 1 By the time of her prolonged death from cancer press obituaries erroneously depicted Davies to have been an extremely mediocre and unpopular actress during her lifetime 12 11 However contrary to the retroactive myth that Davies films were neither popular nor profitable 1 most of Davies films made money and she remained a popular star for most of her career 54 She was the number one female box office star of 1922 23 because of the enormous popularity of 1922 s When Knighthood Was in Flower and 1923 s Little Old New York which ranked among the biggest box office hits of 1922 and 1923 respectively 3 Over time the popular association with the character of Susan Alexander Kane led to later revisionist portrayals of Davies as a talentless opportunist 1 54 In his later years Orson Welles attempted to correct the widespread misconceptions which Citizen Kane had created about Davies popularity and talents as an actress In his foreword to Davies autobiography The Times We Had published posthumously in 1975 Welles wrote that the fictional Susan Alexander Kane bears no resemblance to Davies That Susan was Kane s wife and Marion was Hearst s mistress is a difference more important than might be guessed in today s changed climate of opinion The wife was a puppet and a prisoner the mistress was never less than a princess Hearst built more than one castle and Marion was the hostess in all of them they were pleasure domes indeed and the Beautiful People of the day fought for invitations Xanadu was a lonely fortress and Susan was quite right to escape from it The mistress was never one of Hearst s possessions he was always her suitor and she was the precious treasure of his heart for more than 30 years until his last breath of life Theirs is truly a love story Love is not the subject of Citizen Kane 12 Welles told filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich that Samuel Insull s construction of the Chicago Opera House and Harold Fowler McCormick s lavish promotion of the opera career of his second wife Ganna Walska were the actual influences for the Susan Alexander character in the Citizen Kane screenplay 93 As for Marion Welles said she was an extraordinary woman nothing like the character Dorothy Comingore played in the movie Marion was much better than Susan whom people wrongly equated with her 93 Critical reassessment Edit Several decades after her death a critical reassessment of Davies occurred as the result of greater availability of her notable films such as When Knighthood Was in Flower Beauty s Worth The Bride s Play Enchantment The Restless Sex April Folly and Buried Treasure This availability allowed for a more accurate evaluation of Davies oeuvre as an actress 3 In the 1970s film critic Pauline Kael attempted to rehabilitate Davies legacy and noted that her reputation had been unfairly maligned 94 Gradually the consensus among film critics became more appreciative of her efforts particularly in comedy 54 According to biographers if Hearst had allowed her great talents as a mime and comic to come to full flower in a long series of comedies as bright as her Show People and The Patsy her screen reputation could not have been so readily damaged by the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane 54 Portrayals of Davies Edit Davies circa the late 1910s Since her death in 1961 different actresses have portrayed Davies in a variety of media In 1985 Davies was portrayed by 23 year old Virginia Madsen in the ABC telefilm The Hearst and Davies Affair with Robert Mitchum as Hearst 95 96 ABC inaccurately marketed the film as the scandalous love affair between one of the richest and most powerful men in America and the obscure Ziegfeld girl he promoted to stardom 95 To prepare for the role Madsen screened Davies movies read books hunted up a collector of Davies memorabilia and even interviewed the actress stand in 96 In the process Madsen became a Davies fan and said she felt she had inadvertently portrayed her as a stereotype rather than as a real person 97 In subsequent decades Davies was portrayed by Heather McNair in Chaplin 1992 and by Gretchen Mol in Cradle Will Rock 1999 98 The 1999 HBO movie RKO 281 focuses on the production of Citizen Kane and Hearst s efforts to prevent its release with Melanie Griffith portraying Davies The movie depicts Davies growing irritated with Hearst s lifestyle and political views In 2001 director Peter Bogdanovich s film The Cat s Meow debuted with 19 year old Kirsten Dunst starring as Davies 5 Dunst s performance interpreted Davies as a spoiled ingenue who was the ambivalent lover to two very different men 5 The film was based upon unsubstantiated rumors concerning the Thomas Ince scandal which was dramatized in the play The Cat s Meow and then adapted into the movie 5 That same year a documentary film Captured on Film The True Story of Marion Davies 2001 premiered on Turner Classic Movies 97 In 2004 the story of William Randolph Hearst and Davies was made into a musical titled WR and Daisy with book and lyrics by Robert and Phyllis White and music by Glenn Paxton It was performed in 2004 by Theater West and in 2009 and 2010 at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica California the estate built by Hearst for Davies in the 1920s Amanda Seyfried portrayed Davies in the 2020 Netflix film Mank about Herman J Mankiewicz the screenwriter of Citizen Kane 99 100 Seyfried was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance In the 2022 film Babylon Davies is portrayed by Chloe Fineman Filmography EditYear Title Role Director Notes1917 Runaway Romany Romany George W Lederer Lost film Davies also wrote the screenplay 27 1918 Cecilia of the Pink Roses Cecilia Julius Steger Lost film Davies also served as producer 1918 The Burden of Proof Elaine Brooks John G Adolfi Lost film1919 The Belle of New York Violet Gray Julius Steger Only 2 reels survive1919 Getting Mary Married Mary Bussard Allan Dwan Davies also served as producer 1919 The Dark Star Rue Carew Allan Dwan Lost film1919 The Cinema Murder Elizabeth Dalston George D Baker Lost film1920 April Folly April Poole Robert Z Leonard Missing first reel1920 The Restless Sex Stephanie Cleland Robert Z Leonard1921 Buried Treasure Pauline Vandermuellen Lucia George D Baker Missing final reel1921 Enchantment Ethel Hoyt Robert G Vignola1922 Bride s Play Enid of Cashel Aileen Barrett George Terwilliger1922 Beauty s Worth Prudence Cole Robert G Vignola1922 The Young Diana Diana May Robert G Vignola Lost film1922 When Knighthood Was in Flower Mary Tudor Robert G Vignola1922 A Trip to Paramountown Herself Jack Cunningham Short subject1923 The Pilgrim Member of the Congregation Charlie Chaplin Uncredited role1923 Adam and Eva Eva King Robert G Vignola Only 1 reel survives1923 Little Old New York Patricia O Day Sidney Olcott1924 Yolanda Princess Mary Yolanda Robert G Vignola A print survives at Cinematek in Brussels Belgium 1924 Janice Meredith Janice Meredith E Mason Hopper Features a scene in Technicolor1925 Zander the Great Mamie Smith George W Hill1925 Lights of Old Broadway Fely Anne Monta Bell A print survives in Library of Congress Features a scene in Technicolor1925 Ben Hur A Tale of the Christ Crowd Extra in Chariot Race Fred Niblo Uncredited role Features scenes in Technicolor1926 Beverly of Graustark Beverly Calhoun Prince Oscar Sidney Franklin A print survives in Library of Congress Features a scene in Technicolor1927 The Red Mill Tina Roscoe Arbuckle1927 Tillie the Toiler Tillie Jones Hobart Henley A print survives in the Eastman House Museum1927 The Fair Co Ed Marion Sam Wood A print survives in Library of Congress1927 Quality Street Phoebe Throssel Sidney Franklin Davies also served as producer1928 The Patsy Patricia Harrington King Vidor Davies also served as producer1928 The Cardboard Lover Sally Robert Z Leonard Davies also served as producer A print survives in Library of Congress1928 Show People Peggy Pepper Patricia Pepoire Herself King Vidor Producer1928 The Five O Clock Girl Patricia Brown Robert Z Leonard Incomplete1928 Rosalie Princess Rosalie Romanikov Incomplete1929 Marianne Marianne Robert Z Leonard Producer uncredited silent version co starring Oscar Shaw1929 Marianne Marianne Robert Z Leonard Producer uncredited sound version co starring Lawrence Gray1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 Herself Charles Reisner Features scenes in Technicolor1930 Not So Dumb Dulcinea Dulcy Parker King Vidor Producer1930 The Florodora Girl Daisy Dell Harry Beaumont Producer Features a scene in Technicolor1930 Screen Snapshots Series 9 No 23 Herself Ralph Staub Short subject1931 Jackie Cooper s Birthday Party Herself Charles Reisner Short subject1931 The Bachelor Father Antoinette Tony Flagg Robert Z Leonard Producer1931 Its a Wise Child Joyce Stanton Robert Z Leonard Davies also served as producer A print survives in the UCLA Archive 1931 Five and Ten Jennifer Rarick Robert Z Leonard Producer1931 The Christmas Party Herself Charles Reisner Short subject1932 Polly of the Circus Polly Fisher Alfred Santell Producer1932 Blondie of the Follies Blondie McClune Edmund Goulding Producer1933 Peg o My Heart Margaret Peg O Connell Robert Z Leonard1933 Going Hollywood Sylvia Bruce Raoul Walsh1934 Operator 13 Gail Loveless Richard Boleslawski1935 Page Miss Glory Loretta Dalrymple Miss Dawn Glory Mervyn LeRoy Producer1935 A Dream Comes True Herself Short subject1935 Pirate Party on Catalina Isle Herself Gene Burdette Short subject1936 Hearts Divided Elizabeth Betsy Patterson Frank Borzage Producer1936 Cain and Mabel Mabel O Dare Lloyd Bacon1937 Ever Since Eve Miss Marjorie Marge Winton Sadie Day Lloyd BaconSee also EditHistory of Santa Monica California in the 1920sReferences EditNotes Edit a b The name is sometimes spelled Marion Cecilia Dourvas in biographies In her autobiography it is spelled Douras as it appears in the 1900 U S Census when they lived in Brooklyn New York Hearst s ban on Davies kissing her leading men in films purportedly ended with Marianne in 1929 46 Citations Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m The New York Times 1961 p 19 a b Tri City Herald 1961 p 2 a b c d Lorusso 2017 p 96 a b c d e f g h i Swanberg 1961 pp 445 46 a b c d e Elley 2001 a b c d e Taves 2012 pp 3 7 a b Brooks 1982 p 41 a b Spokane Daily Chronicle 1951 p 7 a b The New York Times 1951 p 30 a b c d Guiles 1972 p 372 a b Guiles 1972 p 91 a b c d Welles 1975 Foreword Welles amp Bogdanovich 1992 Time Magazine 1935 Time Magazine 1930 1910 U S Federal Census Davies 1975 pp 1 2 Davies 1975 pp 2 3 Davies 1975 p 3 Davies 1975 pp 4 7 a b c d e f g Landry 1961 p 5 a b Davies 1975 pp 10 11 a b c d e Davies 1975 p 11 a b c d Davies 1975 pp 11 13 Davies 1975 pp 15 18 a b c Davies 1975 pp 28 29 a b c Ward 2016 p 35 Davies 1975 p 23 Davies 1975 p 25 Longworth 2015 Davies 1975 p 43 Alleman 2013 pp 359 60 Alleman 2013 p 359 a b Guiles 1972 p 89 a b c Board 2008 Guiles 1972 pp 111 13 Davies 1975 p 34 Murray 1995 p 19 Murray 1995 p 36 Brooks 1982 p 34 a b Wadsworth 1990 p 90 Davies 1975 p 356 a b Davies 1975 p 357 Davies 1975 pp 260 61 357 a b c d Davies 1975 p 29 a b Guiles 1972 p 257 Davies 1975 pp 123 25 a b c d e f Brooks 1982 p 37 Guiles 1972 p 207 Guiles 1972 p 209 Guiles 1972 pp 203 04 a b Brooks 1982 p 36 Guiles 1972 p 272 a b c d e f Guiles 1972 pp 117 19 Davies 1975 p 253 a b Davies 1975 p 254 Guiles 1972 p 271 a b c d Brooks 1982 p 54 Paris 1989 pp 126 28 Brooks 1982 pp 35 45 47 a b Brooks 1982 p 55 Guiles 1972 p 285 a b Guiles 1972 p 287 a b c Ross Warshaw 1993 p 13 Davies 1975 p 27 a b c d Brooks 1982 p 43 a b Chaplin amp Cooper 1966 p 190 Wallace 2002 p 146 The Milwaukee Journal 1951 p 4 The Miami News 1961 p 7A Guiles 1972 p 294 a b c d e Fiore 1993 p 1 Sarasota Herald Tribune 1993 p 8B Vogel 2005 pp 208 09 a b Wallace 2002 pp 144 45 Rosenbaum 2002 a b Chaplin 1998 pp 52 53 Davies 1975 pp 260 61 Brooks 1982 pp 36 41 a b c Kastner 2000 p 183 Pollak amp Ives 2021 Guiles 1972 p 93 a b The New York Times 1952 p 25 Time Magazine 1952 UCLA Facts amp History 2003 a b c Guiles 1972 p 369 a b Guiles 1972 p 370 The Leader Post 1961 p 1 a b The Spokesman Review 1961 Fleming 2005 p 146 Guiles 1972 p 91 McCullough 1996 a b Welles amp Bogdanovich 1992 p 49 Guiles 1972 p 373 a b O Connor 1985 a b Hill 1985 a b Neely 2001 McCarthy 1999 Buchanan 2020 Seyfried 2020 Sources Edit Alleman Richard March 6 2013 2005 Marion Davies Mansion New York The Movie Lover s Guide ISBN 978 0 7679 1634 9 Archived from the original on January 2 2014 Retrieved September 21 2016 Allowance Asked By Hearst Widow Spokane Daily Chronicle Spokane Washington August 22 1951 p 7 Archived from the original on October 1 2015 Retrieved November 29 2012 via Newspapers com Board Robert 2008 Marion Davies Deco Films Archived from the original on May 15 2008 Retrieved June 26 2008 Brooks Louise 1982 Lulu in Hollywood New York Knopf ISBN 978 0 394 52071 1 via Internet Archive Buchanan Kyle November 29 2020 Amanda Seyfried Finally Stakes Her Claim The New York Times Archived from the original on November 29 2020 Retrieved November 29 2020 Buchanan Kyle October 29 2020 Will Mank Be Netflix s First Best Picture Winner The New York Times Archived from the original on November 24 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Chaplin Lita Grey Cooper Morton 1966 My Life With Chaplin Bernard Geis ISBN 978 1 199 50748 8 OCLC 1304298 Retrieved November 19 2020 via Internet Archive Chaplin Lita Grey March 5 1998 Wife of the Life of the Party A Memoir Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 1 4616 7432 0 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 21 2020 The general belief is that Hearst shot Ince in the back of the head believing he was Charlie Chaplin It is merely conjecture on my part but I believe that by marrying me Charlie was also pacifying Hearst It was a gesture that implied that in the future Charlie would confine his attentions to me and not Marion Davies Davies Marion 1975 Pfau Pamela Marx Kenneth S eds The Times We Had Life with William Randolph Hearst Bobbs Merrill Company ISBN 0 672 52112 1 via Internet Archive Died Time May 6 1935 Archived from the original on January 14 2009 Retrieved June 26 2008 Bernard J Douras 82 retired New York City magistrate father of Film Actress Marion Davies and three other daughters in Beverly Hills California His death caused the cancellation of a huge costume party planned at Davies home in honor of William Randolph Hearst s 72nd birthday Elley Derek August 5 2001 The Cat s Meow Variety Los Angeles California Archived from the original on August 7 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Ex Actress Funeral Held The Spokesman Review September 27 1961 p 13 Archived from the original on September 26 2015 Retrieved November 29 2012 via Newspapers com Famous Actress Philanthropist Marion Davies Dies of Cancer Tri City Herald September 18 1961 p 2 Retrieved November 29 2012 Fiore Faye October 31 1993 Obituary Revives Rumor of Hearst Daughter Los Angeles Times p 1 Archived from the original on August 1 2009 Retrieved November 29 2012 Hollywood Gossips in the 1920s speculated that William Randolph Hearst and mistress Marion Davies had a child Patricia Lake long introduced as Davies niece asks on death bed that record be set straight Fleming E J 2005 The Fixers Eddie Mannix Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 2027 8 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 21 2020 Guiles Fred Lawrence 1972 Marion Davies A Biography McGraw Hill ISBN 978 0070251144 via Internet Archive Hearst Career Full of Drama The Milwaukee Journal August 14 1951 p 4 Archived from the original on September 19 2015 Retrieved November 29 2012 Hill Michael E January 13 1985 Virginia Madsen The Ziegfeld Girl and the Newspaper Magnate The Washington Post Washington D C Archived from the original on November 28 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Kastner Victoria November 2000 Hearst Castle The Biography of a Country House Harry N Abrams p 183 ISBN 978 0 8109 3415 3 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Landry Robert J September 27 1961 Marion Davies Dies At 64 Made Star By W R Hearst Noted For Her Kindness Variety Los Angeles California p 5 Longworth Karina September 24 2015 The Mistress the Magnate and the Genius Slate Archived from the original on January 27 2020 Retrieved November 25 2020 Lorusso Edward August 27 2017 The Silent Films of Marion Davies CreateSpace ISBN 978 1 5472 4795 0 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Marion Davies Dies of Cancer The Miami News September 23 1961 p 7A Archived from the original on October 1 2015 Retrieved November 29 2012 Marion Davies Files Sues Husband for a Divorce Married Last October The New York Times July 17 1952 p 25 Archived from the original on October 13 2012 Retrieved June 26 2008 Marion Davies film star of 1920s confidante of Hearst dies at 64 The Leader Post September 23 1961 p 1 Archived from the original on September 19 2015 Retrieved November 29 2012 Marion Davies Film Actress Dead of Cancer One of the Last Survivors of an Ultra Lavish Period Protegee of Hearst The New York Times Saturday ed September 23 1961 p 19 Archived from the original on November 28 2020 Retrieved November 19 2020 Married Time February 17 1930 Archived from the original on January 14 2009 Retrieved June 26 2008 Gloria Gould Bishop daughter of Capitalist George Jay Gould and Walter McFarlane Barker of Chicago in Manhattan He was her second husband They were married in the Domestic Relations Court by Judge Bernard J Douras father of cinema actress Marion Davies McCarthy Todd May 24 1999 Art Politics Rock 30s Era Cradle Cradle Will Rock Variety Los Angeles California Archived from the original on November 28 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 McCullough David January 29 1996 Transcript The Battle over Citizen Kane American Experience PBS Archived from the original on December 16 2007 Retrieved November 21 2020 Murray Ken 1995 The Golden Days Of San Simeon Los Angeles California Murmar Publishing ISBN 978 0 385 04632 9 Retrieved November 20 2020 via Internet Archive Neely Hugh Munro 2001 Captured on Film The True Story of Marion Davies 2001 Turner Classic Movies Archived from the original on June 29 2013 Retrieved November 25 2020 New Horizons Time July 28 1952 Archived from the original on January 14 2009 Retrieved June 26 2008 O Connor John J January 14 1985 TV Review Hearst Davies Affair The New York Times Archived from the original on November 27 2017 Retrieved November 20 2020 Patricia Van Cleve Lake Sarasota Herald Tribune October 16 1993 p 8B Archived from the original on October 1 2015 Retrieved November 29 2012 Paris Barry 1989 Louise Brooks A Biography New York Knopf ISBN 978 0 394 55923 0 via Internet Archive Pollak Amanda Ives Stephen September 28 2021 Citizen Hearst An American Experience Special Part II video with transcript Documentary PBS Retrieved October 15 2021 Rosenbaum Jonathan April 25 2002 Hollywood Confidential Chicago Reader Chicago Illinois Archived from the original on October 6 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Ross Warshaw Margery October 13 1993 Their Greatest Secret The Desert Sun p 11 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 25 2020 via Newspapers com The late Patricia Van Cleve Lake told her family she was the daughter of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies But for 70 years she hid from the world Sea Captain wed to Marion Davies Ex Actress Protegee of Hearst Married in Surprise Service by Las Vegas Justice Hearst Kinship Disputed Hearst Agreement Discussed The New York Times Associated Press November 1 1951 Archived from the original on October 13 2012 Retrieved July 21 2007 Swanberg W A 1961 Citizen Hearst A Biography of William Randolph Hearst Scribners ISBN 978 0 88365 970 0 Retrieved November 19 2020 via Internet Archive Taves Brian 2012 Thomas Ince Hollywood s Independent Pioneer University Press of Kentucky ISBN 978 0 8131 3422 2 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 UCLA Facts amp History 2003 Archived from the original on December 19 2007 Retrieved April 4 2008 Vogel Michelle 2005 Children of Hollywood Accounts Of Growing Up As the Sons and Daughters Of Stars McFarland ISBN 0 7864 2046 4 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Wadsworth Ginger 1990 Julia Morgan Architect of Dreams Minneapolis Lerner Publications ISBN 978 0 8225 4903 1 Retrieved November 20 2020 via Internet Archive Wallace David 2002 Lost Hollywood St Martin s Press ISBN 978 0 312 28863 1 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Ward Richard Lewis June 2 2016 When the Cock Crows A History of the Pathe Exchange Southern Illinois University Press ISBN 978 0 8093 3497 1 Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved November 24 2020 Welles Orson 1975 Foreword The Times We Had Life with William Randolph Hearst By Davies Marion Pfau Pamela Marx Kenneth S eds New York Ballantine Books ISBN 978 0 345 32739 0 LCCN 75 7015 via Internet Archive Welles Orson Bogdanovich Peter 1992 This is Orson Welles New York HarperCollins Publishers ISBN 0 06 016616 9 via Internet Archive Orson Welles Well you know the real story of Hearst is quite different from Kane s There s all that stuff about Robert McCormick and the opera I drew a lot from that from my Chicago days And Samuel Insull As for Marion Davies she was an extraordinary woman nothing like the character Dorothy Comingore played in the movie Marion was much better than Susan whom people wrongly equated with her External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marion Davies Marion Davies at IMDb Marion Davies at the Internet Broadway Database Marion Davies at the TCM Movie Database Photographs of Marion Davies and Bibliography Marion Davies Papers 1915 1928 New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Marion Davies amp oldid 1145989441, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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