Mary Brian, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Mary Brian
Acting

Mary Brian
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1906-02-17,Corsicana, Texas, USA
Gender
Female
Biography
Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002), was an American actress, who made the transition from silent films to sound films. Brian was dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures." After her showing in a beauty contest, she was given an audition by Paramount Pictures and cast by director Herbert Brenon as Wendy Darling in his silent movie version of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. There she starred with Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston, and the three of them stayed close for the rest of their lives. Ralston described both Bronson and Brian as 'very charming people'. The studio, who created her stage name for the movie and said she was age 16 instead of 18, because the latter sounded too old for the role, then signed her to a long-term motion picture contract. Brian played Fancy Vanhern, daughter of Percy Marmont, in Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men, which had newcomer Louise Brooks in an uncredited debut role as a moll. Her first talkie was Varsity, which was filmed with part-sound and talking sequences, opposite Buddy Rogers. After successfully making the transition to sound, she co-starred with Gary Cooper, Walter Huston and Richard Arlen in one of the earliest Western talkies, The Virginian, her first all-talkie feature. In it, she played a spirited frontier heroine, schoolmarm Molly Stark Wood, who was the love interest of the Virginian. Brian co-starred in several hits during the 1930s, including The Royal Family of Broadway, Paramount on Parade, and The Front Page. After her contract with Paramount ended in 1932, Brian decided to freelance, which was unusual in a period when multi-year contracts with one studio were common. That same year, she appeared on the vaudeville stage at New York's Palace Theatre. Also in the same year, she starred in Manhattan Tower. When World War II hit in 1941, Brian began traveling to entertain the troops, ending up spending most of the war years traveling the world with the U.S.O., and entertaining servicemen from the South Pacific to Europe, including Italy and North Africa.Flying to England on a troop shoot, Mary got caught in the Battle of the Bulge and spent the Christmas of 1944 with the soldiers fighting that battle. She appeared in only a handful of films thereafter. Her last performance on the silver screen was in Dragnet, a B-movie in which she played Anne Hogan opposite Henry Wilcoxon. Over the course of 22 years, Brian had appeared in more than 79 movies. She played in the stage comedy Mary Had a Little... in the 1951 in Melbourne, Australia, co-starring with John Hubbard. Like many "older" actresses, during the 1950s Brian created a career for herself in television. Perhaps her most notable role was playing the title character's mother in Meet Corliss Archer in 1954. She also dedicated much time to portrait painting after her acting years.

Filmography

Charlie Chan in Paris

6.548

Charlie Chan in Paris
1935-01-21

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss

6.9

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss
1936-07-28

5.8

The Virginian
1929-11-09

6.565

The Front Page
1931-04-04

6.5

Blessed Event
1932-09-10

0

Man Power
1927-07-09

0

Shanghai Bound
1927-10-15

Two Flaming Youths

0

Two Flaming Youths
1927-12-17

The Unwritten Law

0

The Unwritten Law
1932-11-26

Man on the Flying Trapeze

5.9

Man on the Flying Trapeze
1935-08-03

The Royal Family of Broadway

5.7

The Royal Family of Broadway
1930-12-22

0

Homicide Squad
1931-08-01

4.5

The Man I Love
1929-05-25

Moonlight and Pretzels

0

Moonlight and Pretzels
1933-08-01

The World Gone Mad

4.3

The World Gone Mad
1933-04-15

The Light of Western Stars

2.8

The Light of Western Stars
1930-04-19

Manhattan Tower

6

Manhattan Tower
1932-12-01

6.6

Hard to Handle
1933-01-28

The Marriage Playground

5.8

The Marriage Playground
1929-12-12

6.3

One Year Later
1933-08-24

Monte Carlo Nights

5.9

Monte Carlo Nights
1934-05-20

0

Only the Brave
1930-03-07

0

Jealous
1942-02-02

5.5

Only Saps Work
1930-12-05

5.1

Girl Missing
1933-03-04

6

Beau Geste
1926-08-24

It's Tough to Be Famous

5.7

It's Tough to Be Famous
1932-04-02

0

Calaboose
1943-01-29

Affairs of Cappy Ricks

4.8

Affairs of Cappy Ricks
1937-05-24

5

Navy Blues
1937-03-29

Three Married Men

0

Three Married Men
1936-09-24

7

The Runaround
1931-08-21

Captain Applejack

6.5

Captain Applejack
1931-01-31

5

Spendthrift
1936-07-22

0

Varsity
1928-10-27

Brown of Harvard

5.6

Brown of Harvard
1926-05-02

3.5

Burning Up
1930-02-01

Forgotten Faces

0

Forgotten Faces
1928-08-05

The Social Lion

6

The Social Lion
1930-06-21

Partners in Crime

2

Partners in Crime
1928-03-01

7

Harold Teen
1928-04-28

Danger! Women at Work

6

Danger! Women at Work
1943-08-23

The Street of Forgotten Men

6

The Street of Forgotten Men
1925-07-24

7

Peter Pan
1924-12-29

Paris at Midnight

9

Paris at Midnight
1926-04-17

Behind the Front

6

Behind the Front
1926-02-22

The River of Romance

0

The River of Romance
1929-06-28

4.7

The Kibitzer
1930-01-11

0

The Air Mail
1925-03-15

The Little French Girl

0

The Little French Girl
1925-02-01

0

Ever Since Eve
1934-03-25

Song of the Eagle

0

Song of the Eagle
1933-04-27

I Escaped from the Gestapo

5.5

I Escaped from the Gestapo
1943-05-14

I Was a Criminal

0

I Was a Criminal
1941-01-01

More Pay - Less Work

0

More Pay - Less Work
1926-07-04

Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove

5.5

Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove
1934-12-01

Paramount on Parade

6.1

Paramount on Parade
1930-04-22

5.5

Gun Smoke
1931-04-10

0

Black Waters
1929-04-05

5.8

Running Wild
1927-06-10

4.7

College Rhythm
1934-11-23

6

Dragnet
1947-08-16

0

Stepping Along
1926-11-14

0

He's a Prince!
1925-10-05

5

Fog
1933-11-11

The Prince of Tempters

0

The Prince of Tempters
1926-10-17

The Big Killing

0

The Big Killing
1928-07-01

Knockout Reilly

0

Knockout Reilly
1927-04-16

The Enchanted Hill

0

The Enchanted Hill
1926-01-18

Killer at Large

6

Killer at Large
1936-10-27

Once in a Million

5

Once in a Million
1936-08-03

Under the Tonto Rim

0

Under the Tonto Rim
1928-02-04

0

Two's Company
1936-12-12

Hollywood Halfbacks

0

Hollywood Halfbacks
1931-12-23

Someone to Love

0

Someone to Love
1928-12-01

Noisy Silencers

0

Noisy Silencers
2024-12-10

Meet Corliss Archer

0

Meet Corliss Archer
1954-01-01