Ben Lyon

Biography

From Wikipedia Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American actor and a studio executive at 20th Century Fox. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923), and steadily developed into a leading man. He was most successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era including Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Barbara La Marr, Viola Dana, Anna Q. Nilsson, Mary Astor and Blanche Sweet. He had success as an actor in the 1930 film Hell's Angels. The film was a major success and brought Jean Harlow to prominence, but Lyon's performance as an heroic World War I aviator was also highly regarded. For the next decade he was constantly in demand, but his popularity began to wane by the early 1940s. By the mid-1940s he was working for 20th Century Fox. On July 17, 1946 he met a young aspiring actress named Norma Jeane Dougherty.[2] After his first meeting with her he stated that she was "Jean Harlow all over again!". He organized a color screen test for the actress, renamed her, and finally signed her as Marilyn Monroe to her first studio contract. During World War II, Lyons and his wife, actress Bebe Daniels, settled in London. The couple, along with the comedian Vic Oliver, starred in the radio series Hi, Gang!, which ran from 1940 to 1949. Hi Gang was succeeded in 1950 by Life with the Lyons, which also featured their real life son Richard and daughter Barbara, and had a run on BBC and independent television from 1954 until 1960. Lyon married actress Bebe Daniels in June 1930. They had two children: daughter Barbara in 1932 and a son Richard whom they adopted. Daniels suffered a severe stroke in 1963 and withdrew from public life. She suffered a second stroke in late 1970. She died at the couple's London home in March 1971. In 1974, Lyon married the actress Marian Nixon whom he had known since the 1920s. On March 22, 1979, Lyon and his second wife Marian Nixon were vacationing together on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship near Honolulu, Hawaii, when Lyon suffered a fatal heart attack. He is interred in the Chapel Columbarium at Hollywood Forever Cemetery next to his first wife, Bebe. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ben Lyon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street.

Known For

Monte Rutledge

Hell's Angels

H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller

I Cover the Waterfront

Frank Jerome

The Necessary Evil

Billy Morrow

The New Commandment

Neal Abbott

The Quitter

Danny Wade

The Pace That Thrills

Mortie

Night Nurse

Ben Lyon

Life with the Lyons

Ben

The Lyons in Paris

Tony Blake

Indiscreet

Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter

This Was Paris

Guy Bryson

Lady with a Past

Self

Hollywood on Parade No. A-1

Fred von Wellingen

Her Majesty, Love

Brand Osborne

The Crooked Circle

Jimmy Hawley

By Whose Hand?

Nick Amory

Bought!

Phil Danton

The Dark Tower

Georgie

A Soldier's Plaything

Henry Gibson

Girl Missing

Steve Brewster

Lightning Strikes Twice

Hap Harrigan

The Hot Heiress

Self

Hollywood on Parade No. A-3

Steve Londos

Down to the Sea

Robert 'Bob' Byrne

My Past

Pierce Phillips

Winds of Chance

Bob Wilson

Crimson Romance

Cooky Bradford

The Big Timer

Dick Chase

The Custard Cup

Jimmy Hartigan

Alias French Gertie

Buster Collins

Hat Check Girl

Boris Andrieff

Potash and Perlmutter

Roger McKane

The Women in His Life

Mike

For the Love of Mike

Lynn Talbot

Wine of Youth

Peyton Wells

Dancing Feet

Max

Together We Live

Sidney Brock

Compromised

Cyril Mansfield

The Great Deception

Danny Terry

The Savage

Dr. Peter Milford

Navy Wife

Dirk DeJong

So Big

Lt. Prell

Lily of the Dust

Jimmy Bradford

Aloha

Jim Brent

Confidential Lady

Jack Williams

Week Ends Only

Bernard Froy

I Killed the Count

Ben Lyon

The Stolen Jools

Wally Sawyer

I Spy

Phil Hunter

Misbehaving Ladies

Her Other Half

Hi Gang!

Don Lane

Painted People

Rollo Farley

Lummox

Glenn Burton

Frisco Waterfront

Kendall James

What Men Want

Wally McKenzie

The Tender Hour

John Hart / Don Juan Hartez

Bluebeard's Seven Wives

Ralph Hilliwe

The Reckless Lady

Roy Harley

Stardust

Francis

The Prince of Tempters

Douglas Vantine

The White Moth

Marvin

Wages of Virtue

Jonny Conzaga

Das tanzende Wien

Harold Connors

Open Your Eyes

Himself

Life in Hollywood No. 2

Matthew

All Faces West

Steve Moran

The Flying Marine

Bob Telfair

The Heart of Maryland

Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8

Herbert Alden

The Perfect Sap

Dave Grayson

The Air Legion