Mary Brian

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.

Known For

Yvette Lamartine

Charlie Chan in Paris

Frances Clayton

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss

Molly Stark Wood

The Virginian

Peggy Grant

The Front Page

Gladys Price

Blessed Event

Alice Stoddard

Man Power

Sheila

Shanghai Bound

Mary Gilfoil

Two Flaming Youths

Ruth Evans

The Unwritten Law

Hope Wolfinger

Man on the Flying Trapeze

Gwen Cavendish

The Royal Family of Broadway

Millie

Homicide Squad

Celia Fields

The Man I Love

Sally Upton

Moonlight and Pretzels

Diane Cromwell

The World Gone Mad

Ruth Hammond

The Light of Western Stars

Mary Harper

Manhattan Tower

Ruth Waters

Hard to Handle

Judith Wheater

The Marriage Playground

Molly Collins

One Year Later

Mary Vernon

Monte Carlo Nights

Barbara Calhoun

Only the Brave

dancer

Jealous

Barbara Tanner

Only Saps Work

June Dale

Girl Missing

Isabel Rivers

Beau Geste

Janet Porter McClenahan

It's Tough to Be Famous

Doris Lane

Calaboose

Frances 'Frankie' Ricks

Affairs of Cappy Ricks

Doris Kimbell

Navy Blues

Jennie Mullins

Three Married Men

Evelyn

The Runaround

Poppy Faire

Captain Applejack

Sally Barnaby

Spendthrift

Fay

Varsity

Mary Abbot

Brown of Harvard

Ruth Morgan

Burning Up

Alice Deane

Forgotten Faces

Cynthia Brown

The Social Lion

Marie Burke, The Cigarette Girl

Partners in Crime

Lillums Lovewell

Harold Teen

Pert

Danger! Women at Work

Mary Vanhern

The Street of Forgotten Men

Wendy Darling

Peter Pan

Victorine Tallefer

Paris at Midnight

Betty Bartlett-Cooper

Behind the Front

Lucy Jeffers

The River of Romance

Josie Lazarus

The Kibitzer

Minnie Wade

The Air Mail

Alix Vervier

The Little French Girl

Elizabeth Vandergrift

Ever Since Eve

Elsa Kranzmeyer

Song of the Eagle

Helen

I Escaped from the Gestapo

Frau Obermueller, the Mayor's Wife

I Was a Criminal

Betty Ricks

More Pay - Less Work

Self

Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove

Sweetheart (Dream Girl)

Paramount on Parade

Sue Vancey

Gun Smoke

Eunice

Black Waters

Elizabeth Finch

Running Wild

Gloria Van Dayham

College Rhythm

Anne Hogan

Dragnet

Molly Taylor

Stepping Along

Girl

He's a Prince!

Mary Fulton

Fog

Mary

The Prince of Tempters

Mary Beagle - Old Man Beagle's Daughter

The Big Killing

Mary Malone

Knockout Reilly

Hallie Purdy

The Enchanted Hill

Linda Allen

Killer at Large

Suzanne

Once in a Million

Lucy Watson

Under the Tonto Rim

Julia Madison

Two's Company

Hollywood Halfbacks

Joan Kendricks

Someone to Love

(archive footage)

Silenciosos Barulhentos