Mary Brian
Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002), was an American actress, who made the transition from silent films to sound films. Brian was dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures." After her showing in a beauty contest, she was given an audition by Paramount Pictures and cast by director Herbert Brenon as Wendy Darling in his silent movie version of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. There she starred with Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston, and the three of them stayed close for the rest of their lives. Ralston described both Bronson and Brian as 'very charming people'. The studio, who created her stage name for the movie and said she was age 16 instead of 18, because the latter sounded too old for the role, then signed her to a long-term motion picture contract. Brian played Fancy Vanhern, daughter of Percy Marmont, in Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men, which had newcomer Louise Brooks in an uncredited debut role as a moll. Her first talkie was Varsity, which was filmed with part-sound and talking sequences, opposite Buddy Rogers. After successfully making the transition to sound, she co-starred with Gary Cooper, Walter Huston and Richard Arlen in one of the earliest Western talkies, The Virginian, her first all-talkie feature. In it, she played a spirited frontier heroine, schoolmarm Molly Stark Wood, who was the love interest of the Virginian. Brian co-starred in several hits during the 1930s, including The Royal Family of Broadway, Paramount on Parade, and The Front Page. After her contract with Paramount ended in 1932, Brian decided to freelance, which was unusual in a period when multi-year contracts with one studio were common. That same year, she appeared on the vaudeville stage at New York's Palace Theatre. Also in the same year, she starred in Manhattan Tower. When World War II hit in 1941, Brian began traveling to entertain the troops, ending up spending most of the war years traveling the world with the U.S.O., and entertaining servicemen from the South Pacific to Europe, including Italy and North Africa.Flying to England on a troop shoot, Mary got caught in the Battle of the Bulge and spent the Christmas of 1944 with the soldiers fighting that battle. She appeared in only a handful of films thereafter. Her last performance on the silver screen was in Dragnet, a B-movie in which she played Anne Hogan opposite Henry Wilcoxon. Over the course of 22 years, Brian had appeared in more than 79 movies. She played in the stage comedy Mary Had a Little... in the 1951 in Melbourne, Australia, co-starring with John Hubbard. Like many "older" actresses, during the 1950s Brian created a career for herself in television. Perhaps her most notable role was playing the title character's mother in Meet Corliss Archer in 1954. She also dedicated much time to portrait painting after her acting years.
The Front Page
as Peggy GrantHildy Johnson is an investigative reporter looking for a bigger paycheck. When an accused...
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Peter Pan
as Wendy DarlingPeter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads...
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Dragnet
as Anne HoganScotland Yard Inspector Geoffrey James comes to the United States looking for a band of...
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The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss
as Frances ClaytonA bored millionaire wagers his doctor that he can support himself at a working class job for...
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Man on the Flying Trapeze
as Hope WolfingerHard-working, henpecked Ambrose Ambrose Wolfinger takes off from work to go to a wrestling match...
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Three Married Men
as Jennie MullinsJennie Mullins and her fiancé Peter Cary are happily in love but their families are miserable...
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The Virginian
as Molly Stark WoodA good-natured cowboy who is romancing the new schoolmarm has a crisis of conscience when he...
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Harold Teen
as Lillums LovewellFarmboy Harold moves to the city and there attends high school. Soon he is very popular, his...
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Charlie Chan in Paris
as Yvette LamartineCharlie's visit to Paris, ostensibly a vacation, is really a mission to investigate a...
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Girl Missing
as June DaleKay and June, two showgirls, are hurt when they seek financial help from Daisy. On Daisy's...
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Blessed Event
as Gladys PriceA New York gossip columnist feuds with a singer and enjoys the power of the press.
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Hard to Handle
as Ruth WatersA hustling public relations man promotes a series of fads.
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Gun Smoke
as Sue VanceyFollowing a killing and robbery in a big city back east, gang leader Kedge Darvas and some of...
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Manhattan Tower
as Mary HarperThe lives of the residents of a Manhattan apartment building are intertwined with the actions of...
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Spendthrift
as Sally BarnabyA profligate, polo-playing playboy (Henry Fonda) is married to a beautiful but superficial...
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One Year Later
as Molly CollinsA man is convicted of killing his boss, whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife. On...
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Calaboose
as Doris LaneA love-smitten cowpoke acciidentally causes a horse stampede.
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Running Wild
as Elizabeth FinchCowardly Elmer Finch is browbeaten by his wife, daughter, fat son and the family dog. After...
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Brown of Harvard
as Mary AbbotTom Brown shows up at Harvard, confident and a bit arrogant. He becomes a rival of Bob McAndrew,...
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The Runaround
as EvelynFilmed in an early Technicolor process, The Runaround tells the story of Broadway dancer Evelyn...
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Two Flaming Youths
as Mary GilfoilSheriff Ben Holden is in love with hotel owner Madge Malarkey when down-and-out carnival man...
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Paramount on Parade
as Sweetheart (Dream Girl)This 1930 film, a collection of songs and sketches showcasing Paramount Studios' contract stars,...
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The World Gone Mad
as Diane CromwellA district attorney and a reporter try to find the killer of a D.A. who uncovered a massive...
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Navy Blues
as Doris KimbellA sailor bets his friends he can get a date with any woman they choose. They pick out a...
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The Man I Love
as Celia FieldsWellman’s first all-talkie, scripted by Herman Mankiewicz, with arrogant boxer Richard Arlen ...
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It's Tough to Be Famous
as Janet Porter McClenahanScotty, an unwilling Navy war hero is cast into the limelight. He wants to get married and be an...
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The Social Lion
as Cynthia BrownMarco Perkins is a garage mechanic and a would-be-prizefighter who gets a place on the ritzy...
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Shanghai Bound
as SheilaLanding at a Chinese port, tough sea captain Bucklin and his passengers are threatened by a...
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Fog
as Mary FultonThe murders are committed in swift succession on board a liner crossing the Atlantic in a dense...
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River of Romance
as Lucy JeffersMississippi, 1830's. Tom Rumsford comes back to Magnolia Landing, his parents'estate. Having...
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Forgotten Faces
as Alice DeaneA petty thief (Clive Brook) just robs the very rich at speakeasies, and gets away with it...
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Behind the Front
as Betty Bartlett-CooperDuring World War I a young man joins the army and winds up befriending another young recruit,...
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Beau Geste
as Isabel RiversMichael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He...
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Captain Applejack
as Poppy FaireAn ordinary man is confronted by gangsters who have reason to believe a treasure is buried...
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The Street of Forgotten Men
as Mary VanhernEasy-Money Charley, the best fake crippled beggar in New York, loses his beloved dog and adopts...
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Monte Carlo Nights
as Mary VernonA man wrongfully convicted of murder escapes custody and goes in search of the real killer. The...
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Black Waters
as EuniceA mad captain poses as a cleric to murder people aboard a fogbound ship.
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The Air Mail
as Minnie WadeRuss Kane obtains work as a pilot in the airmail service with the purpose of robbing the mails....
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The Enchanted Hill
as Hallie PurdyBased on a Peter B. Kyne novel, The Enchanted Hill featureds a triangle romance between Jack...
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The Kibitzer
as Josie LazarusIn this comedy, a Yiddish fellow cannot keep from kibitzing into other people's lives. Trouble...
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Man Power
as Alice StoddardCaterpillar-tractor operator Tom Roberts' mission is to deliver a fragile cargo of dynamite, to...
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Killer at Large
as Linda AllenA master of disguise poses as a wax figure to rob a safe of its jewels.
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I Escaped from the Gestapo
as HelenA forger is forced to work for a Nazi spy ring. His conscience gets the better of him, though,...
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Homicide Squad
as MillieThe police use a gangster's son to get to him.
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Burning Up
as Ruth MorganRacecar-driver Lou Larrigan gets mixed up with a crooked gang of racetrack promoters, and is in...
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Paris at Midnight
as Victorine TalleferIn a Paris boarding house, a mysterious stranger seems to somehow solve the problems and...
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Under the Tonto Rim
as Lucy WatsonGold miner Edd Denmeade loves Lucy Watson, the sister of the official mining claim recorder....
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Song of the Eagle
as Elsa KranzmeyerThis drama centers on the fight for certain post-Prohibitionist groups to gain total control...
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The Big Killing
as Mary Beagle - Old Man Beagle's DaughterThe Beagles and the Hickses are two mountain families that have been feuding all their lives....
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College Rhythm
as Gloria Van DayhamThe story deals with the college rivalry of a piccolo player and an All-American halfback on the...
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The Royal Family of Broadway
as Gwen CavendishJulie Cavendish comes from a family of great Broadway actors. Her mother Fanny staunchly...
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Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove
as SelfSeveral members of MGM's 'galaxy of stars' attend an evening of music and a fashion show.
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The Unwritten Law
as Ruth EvansA film producer is found murdered on a ship, and among the suspects are a young woman whose...
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Only Saps Work
as Barbara TannerRubber-legged comedian Leon Errol made his talkie starring bow in Paramount's Only Saps Work....
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The Light of Western Stars
as Ruth HammondA friend of Dick Bailey is killed by a mysterious assailant, whom Dick suspects to be Stack, who...
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Varsity
as FayThe story deals with college life at Princeton with a different angle of situations and romance...
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More Pay - Less Work
as Betty RicksAlbert Gran and E.J. Ratcliffe are warring San Francisco shipping magnates; Mary Brian is Gran’s...
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The Little French Girl
as Alix VervierMadame Vervier, a sophisticated woman, sends her daughter Alix to live with Owen Bradley's...
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Affairs of Cappy Ricks
as Frances 'Frankie' RicksCappy Ricks, a crusty old sea captain, returns home from a long voyage to discover that his...
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Galas de la Paramount
as Self (from original version)Spanish-language version of PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (q.v.), with new sequences of interest to...
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Danger! Women at Work
as PertThree women inherit a 10-ton truck and decide to go into business. Hi jinks ensue.
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Moonlight and Pretzels
as Sally UptonA song plugger is stranded in a small town. There he meets a girl who later helps him to put on...
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Stepping Along
as Molly TaylorJohnny Rooney is a fast-stepping young politician and Molly Taylor is an even faster-stepping...
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Only the Brave
as Barbara CalhounCooper is a Union Army officer who after being jilted by girlfriend, Virginia Bruce, volunteers...
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Once in a Million
as SuzanneFantasy of a bank clerk who accepts a deposit of a million too late to put it in the bank and...
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Knockout Reilly
as Mary MaloneA Malcolm St. Clair silent boxing sports romantic love triangle prison melodrama about a steel...
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The Marriage Playground
as Judith WheaterA delightful pre-code cocktail recipe. Take three couples (add gin and tonic), their several...
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He's a Prince!
as GirlPrince Alexis is the son of the king of a small European country. His duties, though fairly...
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Ever Since Eve
as Elizabeth VandergriftNeil Rogers, a young man who owns a substantial share of a Western gold mine, comes East and...
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I Was a Criminal
as Frau Obermueller, the Mayor's WifeIn Prussia shoemaker Voight needs a residence permit to get a job, but can only get a job if he...
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Partners in Crime
as Marie Burke, The Cigarette GirlAfter being dismissed for imitating his boss's voice on radio, former Assistant District...
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