Marguerite Churchill

Born: 1910-12-26

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marguerite Churchill (December 26, 1910 – January 9, 2000) was an American film actress appearing in more than 25 films with a career spanning from 1929 to 1952. She is best known today as John Wayne's first leading lady, in The Big Trail (1930). She was the daughter of a producer who owned a chain of theaters, but he died when she was ten years old. She was educated in New York City at the Professional Children's School and the Theatre Guild Dramatic School. She appeared on stage and was applauded on Broadway as a leading lady when just sixteen years old. An official of the Fox Company saw her acting and gave her a contract which shortly afterwards led her to debut on screen in The Diplomats. Churchill played leading lady to John Wayne in Howard Hawk's The Big Trail (1930), an early widescreen epic and Wayne's first leading role. She appeared with Wayne the following year in Girls Demand Excitement (1931), with Spencer Tracy and George Raft in Quick Millions (1931), with Will Rogers in Ambassador Bill (1931), with Warner Oland in Charlie Chan Carries On (1931), with George O'Brien in Riders of the Purple Sage (1931), with Charles Farrell in Girl Without a Room (1933), with Ralph Bellamy in The Final Hour (1936), with Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead (1936), and with Edward Van Sloan in Dracula's Daughter (1936). She died on January 9, 2000, aged 89, from natural causes in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She was survived by her daughter, Orin.


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Dracula's Daughter

as Janet
Released: 1936-05-11

A countess from Transylvania seeks a psychiatrist’s help to cure her vampiric cravings.

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The Big Trail

as Ruth Cameron
Released: 1930-11-01

Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to...

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The Walking Dead

as Nancy
Released: 1936-03-01

Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced...

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Born Reckless

as Rosa Beretti
Released: 1930-05-11

In order to use the publicity to get re-elected, a judge sentences a notorious gangster to fight...

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Girl Without a Room

as Kay Loring
Released: 1933-12-08

A Tennessee art school student wins a scholarship to paint in Paris. He is thrilled until he...

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Man Hunt

as Jane Carpenter
Released: 1936-01-29

A bored small-town teacher gets mixed up with an escaped bank robber.

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Quick Millions

as Dorothy Stone
Released: 1931-04-17

A truck driver "too lazy to work and too nervous to steal" gets mixed up in racketeering....

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Bunco Squad

as Barbara Madison
Released: 1950-09-01

Police sergeants Johnson and McManus take on Los Angeles confidence tricksters. Con man Tony...

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Murder by an Aristocrat

as Nurse Sally Keating
Released: 1936-06-13

A wealthy family is blackmailed. Murder results. And a nurse at the scene of the crime is...

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The Valiant

as Mary Douglas
Released: 1929-05-19

A man condemned to execution tries to convince two women that he is not their son and brother,...

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Legion of Terror

as Nancy Foster
Released: 1936-11-01

Two newly-appointed postal inspectors, Frank Marshall and 'Slim" Hewitt, set out to track down...

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They Had to See Paris

as Opal Peters
Released: 1929-09-18

Oklahoma mechanic Pike Peters finds himself part owner of an oil field. His wife Idy, hitherto...

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Girls Demand Excitement

as Miriam
Released: 1931-02-08

Peter Brooks is a hard-working, hard-up college student whose dislike of women attending college...

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Without Children

as Sue Cole
Released: 1935-04-15

Struggling architect David Cole is encouraged by his boss, Phil Graham, to fraternize with high...

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Alibi for Murder

as Lois Allen
Released: 1936-09-23

A radio commentator named Perry Travis fancies himself a brilliant amateur detective. The cops...

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Riders of the Purple Sage

as Jane Withersteen
Released: 1931-10-22

Lassiter's sister was killed and her young daughter taken and raised by outlaws. Years later...

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Forgotten Commandments

as Marya Ossipoff
Released: 1932-05-22

A framework story serves as context for a retelling of the Exodus story and, most importantly, a...

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Ambassador Bill

as Queen Vanya
Released: 1931-11-13

An American ambassador arrives in a small country that is being convulsed by political intrigue...

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Speed Devils

as Pat Corey
Released: 1935-07-01

A race car driver, injured during an accident, opens up a repair shop only to become the target...

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Charlie Chan Carries On

as Pamela Potter
Released: 1931-04-11

Charlie steps in to solve the murder of a wealthy American found dead in a London hotel....

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The Final Hour

as Flo Russell
Released: 1936-07-07

A down-and-out lawyer gets back on his feet with help from a singer who later retains him to...

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Good Intentions

as Helen Rankin
Released: 1930-06-29

When love came the way of this gentleman crook he turned to the right---only to be caught in the...

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Harmony at Home

as Louise Haller
Released: 1930-01-12

This comedy story of Joe Haller unwittingly running a sweatshop and Mama Haller keeping the...

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