Bebe Daniels played Dorothy in a 1910 movie version of THE WIZARD OF OZ. She went on to costar with Harold Lloyd in two-reel comedies and went on to became a star in features.
Bebe Daniels
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bebe Daniels | |
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Bebe Daniels in 1925
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Born | Phyllis Virginia Daniels January 14, 1901 Dallas, Texas, USA |
Died | March 16, 1971 London, England, UK | (aged 70)
Other names | Bebe Lyon |
Occupation | Actress, dancer, singer, producer, writer |
Years active | 1910–1960 |
Spouse(s) | Ben Lyon (m.1930–1971; her death) |
She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such as 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain. In a long career, Bebe Daniels made over 230 films.
Early life and career
Daniels was born Phyllis Virginia Daniels (Bebe was a childhood nickname) in Dallas, Texas. Her father was a theater manager and her mother a stage actress.[1] The family moved to Los Angeles, California in her childhood and she began her acting career at the age of four in the first version of The Squaw Man. That same year she also went on tour in a stage production of Shakespeare's Richard III. The following year she participated in productions by Oliver Morosco and David Belasco.By the age of seven Daniels had her first starring role in film as the young heroine in A Common Enemy. At the age of nine she starred as Dorothy Gale in the 1910 short film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At the age of fourteen she starred opposite film comedian Harold Lloyd in a series of two-reel comedies starting with the 1915 film Giving Them Fits. The two eventually developed a publicized romantic relationship and were known in Hollywood as "The Boy" and "The Girl."[2]
In 1919, she decided to move to greater dramatic roles and accepted a contract offering from Cecil B. DeMille, who gave her secondary roles in such films as Male and Female (1919), Why Change Your Wife? (1920), and The Affairs of Anatol (1921).
Later life and career
Radio Pictures starred her in a number of musicals including Dixiana (1930) and Love Comes Along (1930). Towards the end of 1930, Bebe Daniels appeared in the musical comedy Reaching for the Moon. However, by this time musicals had gone out of fashion so that most of the musical numbers from the film had to be removed before it could be released. Daniels had become associated with musicals and so Radio Pictures did not renew her contract. Warner Brothers realized what a box office draw she was and offered her a contract which she accepted. During her years at Warner Brothers she starred in such pictures as My Past (1931), Honor of the Family (1931) and the 1931 pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon, which was eventually eclipsed by John Huston's legendary 1941 version with Humphrey Bogart. In 1932, she appeared in Silver Dollar (1932) and the successful Busby Berkeley choreographed musical comedy 42nd Street (1933) in which she sang once again. That same year she played opposite John Barrymore in Counsellor at Law. Her last film for the Warner Brothers was Registered Nurse (1934).
She retired from Hollywood in 1935. With her husband, film actor Ben Lyon, whom she married in 1930, she moved to London. A few years later, Daniels starred in the London production of Panama Hattie in the title role originated by Ethel Merman. The Lyons then did radio shows for the BBC. Most notably, they starred in the series Hi Gang!, continuing for decades and enjoying considerable popularity during World War II. Daniels wrote most of the dialogue for the Hi Gang radio show. The couple remained through the days of the The Blitz.
Following the war, Daniels was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Harry S. Truman for war service. In 1945 she returned to Hollywood for a short time to work as a film producer for Hal Roach and Eagle-Lion Films. She returned to the UK in 1948 and lived there for the remainder of her life. Daniels, her husband, her son Richard and her daughter Barbara all starred in the radio sitcom Life With The Lyons (1951 to 1961), which later made the transition to television.
Death
On March 16, 1971, Daniels died of a cerebral hemorrhage in London at the age of 70.[4] Her remains were cremated at London's Golders Green Crematorium and the ashes returned to the United States; she was interred in the Chapel columbarium at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.Selected filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1910 | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Dorothy Gale | extant |
1910 | Justinian and Theodora | ||
1911 | A Counterfeit Santa Claus | ||
1913 | The Savage | Bit part | |
1914 | Anne of the Golden Heart | ||
1915 | Bughouse Bellhops | ||
1915 | Ruses, Rhymes and Roughnecks | ||
1916 | Lonesome Luke Leans to the Literary | ||
1916 | Luke, the Candy Cut-Up | ||
1917 | Bliss | The Girl | |
1917 | All Aboard | The Girl | |
1918 | The Non-Stop Kid | Miss Wiggle | extant |
1918 | Two-Gun Gussie | The Girl | |
1918 | Take A Chance | The Hired Girl | extant |
1919 | Don't Shove | Bebe | |
1919 | Male and Female | The King's Favourite | extant; ...Bebe Daniels's first silent feature film |
1920 | Why Change Your Wife? | Sally Clark | extant |
1920 | The Dancin' Fool | Junie Budd | extant |
1920 | Sick Abed | Nurse Durant | extant |
1920 | You Never Can Tell | Rowena Patricia Jones | extant; Library of Congress |
1920 | The Fourteenth Man | Marjory Seaton | lost |
1920 | Oh, Lady, Lady | Mary Barber | lost |
1920 | She Couldn't Help It | Young Nance | lost |
1921 | Ducks and Drakes | Teddy Simpson | extant; Library of Congress |
1921 | Two Weeks with Pay | Pansy O'Donnell/Marie La Tour | lost; (also Two Weeks Pay) |
1921 | The March Hare | Lisbeth Ann Palmer | lost |
1921 | One Wild Week | Pauline Hathaway | lost |
1921 | The Affairs of Anatol | Satan Synne | extant |
1921 | The Speed Girl | Betty Lee | lost |
1922 | Nancy from Nowhere | Nancy | lost |
1922 | A Game Chicken | Inez Hastings | lost |
1922 | North of the Rio Grande | Val Hannon | lost; (other films with this title appeared in 1937 and 1949) |
1922 | Nice People | Theodora Gloucester | lost |
1922 | Pink Gods | Lorraine Temple | lost |
1922 | Singed Wings | Bonita della Guerda | lost |
1923 | The World's Applause | Corinne d'Alys | lost |
1923 | The Glimpses of the Moon | Susan Branch | lost |
1923 | The Exciters | Ronnie Rand | lost |
1923 | Hollywood | Herself (cameo) | lost |
1923 | His Children's Children | Diane | lost |
1924 | Heritage of the Desert | Mescal | extant; Gosfilmofond archive, Russia |
1924 | Daring Youth | Alita Allen | lost |
1924 | Unguarded Women | Breta Banning | lost |
1924 | Monsieur Beaucaire | Princess Henriette | extant |
1924 | Sinners In Heaven | Barbara Stockley | lost |
1924 | Dangerous Money | Adele Clark | lost |
1924 | Argentine Love | Consuelo Garcia | lost |
1925 | Miss Bluebeard | Colette Girard | extant |
1925 | The Crowded Hour | Peggy Laurence | lost |
1925 | The Manicure Girl | Maria Maretti | lost |
1925 | Wild, Wild Susan | Susan Van Dusen | lost |
1925 | Lovers in Quarantine | Diana | extant; Library of Congress |
1925 | The Splendid Crime | Jenny | lost |
1926 | Miss Brewster's Million | Polly Brewster | lost |
1926 | The Palm Beach Girl | Emily Bennett | lost |
1926 | Volcano! | Zabette de Chavalons | extant; Library of Congress |
1926 | The Campus Flirt | Patricia Mansfield | lost |
1926 | Stranded in Paris | Julie McFadden | lost |
1927 | A Kiss In A Taxi | Ginette | lost |
1927 | Señorita | Señorita Francesca Hernandez | extant;...prints held in European archives |
1927 | Swim Girl, Swim | Alice Smith | lost |
1927 | She's a Sheik | Zaida | lost; the film apparently existed to the late 1960s when Bebe was paid tribute with a screening in London. |
1928 | Feel My Pulse | Barbara Manning | extant; Library of Congress |
1928 | The Fifty-Fifty Girl | Kathleen O'Hara | lost |
1928 | Hot News | Pat Clancy | lost |
1928 | Take Me Home | Peggy Lane | lost |
1928 | What a Night! | Dorothy Winston | lost;...Daniels's last silent film[5] |
1929 | Rio Rita | Rita Ferguson | extant |
1930 | Reaching for the Moon | Vivien Benton | extant |
1930 | Dixiana | Dixiana Caldwell | |
1931 | The Maltese Falcon | Ruth Wonderly | |
1931 | Honor of the Family | Laura | lost; Vitaphone soundtrack survives |
1932 | Silver Dollar | Lily Owens Martin | |
1933 | Counsellor at Law | Regina "Rexy" Gordon | |
1933 | A Southern Maid | Juanita/Dolores | |
1933 | 42nd Street | Dorothy Brock | |
1934 | Registered Nurse | Sylvia 'Ben' Benton | |
1936 | Treachery on the High Seas | May Hardy | Alternative title: Not Wanted on Voyage |
1938 | The Return of Carol Deane | Carol Deane | |
1941 | Hi Gang! | The Liberty Girl | |
1947 | The Fabulous Joe | Producer | |
1954 | Life with the Lyons | Bebe Lyon | Alternative title: Family Affair |
1955 | The Lyons in Paris | Bebe | Alternative titles: Mr. and Mrs. in Paree The Lyons Abroad |
1955–1960 | Life with the Lyons | Bebe Lyon | Unknown episodes, producer, writer |
Footnotes
- Jump up ^ Golden, Eve (2001). Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars. McFarland. p. 18. ISBN 0-7864-0834-0.
- Jump up ^ The Girl and The Boy, "Bebe and Harold Were A Perfect Match On and Off The Screen" by Tim Lussier
- Jump up ^ Vanity Fair magazine September 1921, accessed 2009[dead link]
- Jump up ^ Donnelley, Paul (November 1, 2005). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus Press. p. 301. ISBN 1-84449-430-6.
- Jump up ^ "What a Night (1928)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
References
- The Times, Bebe Daniels American star who made a hit on British radio, March 17, 1971, Page 18.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bebe Daniels. |
- Bebe Daniels at the Internet Movie Database
- Bebe Daniels at the TCM Movie Database
- AllMovie.com/biography
- Bebe Daniels Photo Galleries
- Good Little Bad Girl: Bebe Daniels
- Photographs and bibliography
* * *
Ben Lyon married Bebe Daniels in 1930, the year that HELL'S ANGELS was released.
The story was that Harold Lloyd wanted to marry Bebe Daniels, but he couldn't get her, and ended up marrying Mildred Davis. Here we see Harold Loyd and Bebe Daniels in a scene from one of the comedies they made for Hal Roach.
With Fatty Arbuckle.
With Rudolph Valentino in MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE ( 1924 )
Bebe Daniels as a female Zorro
something that she did because of the Douglas Fairbanks movie.
Bebe Daniels dressed as an aviatrix.
Bebe Daniels as a "moth" attracted to a flame.
Bebe Daniels was in the first version of THE MALTESE FALCON, which also had Thelma Todd in the cast.
Bebe Daniels in THE MALTESE FALCON.
In 42ND STREET Ruby Keeler took Bebe Daniels' place in a musical after she fell and broke her leg.
Dick Powell, Bebe Daniels and Warren William on a promotional tour for 42ND STREET.
This train was called the "42ND STREET Special" after the movie, a smash hit that revived interest in movie musicals after a period of decline.
April, 1933: Sally Eilers, Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels on board the SS Ile de France on the way to England. Thelma Todd was also on board, and would return from England with Sally Eilers.
COUNSELLOR AT LAW with Thelma Todd and Bebe Daniels
Many celebrities were the recipients of kidnap threats following the kidnapping of the Lindberg baby*. Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyons went to live in England after receiving such threats.
In England, Bebe Daniels and her husband hosted a radio show and were very popular. They continued to reside in London and make radio broadcasts during the blitz in World War II. Bebe Daniels was actually the first woman to land on Normandy Beach after D-Day and interviewed wounded soldiers on the air.
Reblogged from http://classiccinemagold.com/category/bebe-daniels/
Their radio show later moved to television. There were also a couple of feature films based on the television program.
Back in the US in 1954, the Bebe Daniels story was told on THIS IS YOUR LIFE. Old friends Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, and Cecil B. DeMille all took part in the program, which was hosted by Ralph Edwards.
Jan Boehme helped make preparations for the show,
the idea being that the whole thing was a surprise that they would spring on her. Which was the way the show worked.
Ben Lyon, who costarred with Jean Harlow in HELL'S ANGELS, was also linked to Marilyn Monroe's rise to fame. While working as a casting director at Fox he was responsible for Marilyn Monroe getting hired. He also helped her come up with the stage name of Marilyn Monroe - "Monroe" was her mother's maiden name, and "Marilyn" was after Marilyn Miller, a star of the past.
Her real name was Norma Jean Baker.
POSTERS
COVER ALBUM
*Including Thelma Todd as well as Mae West, Joan Blondell, and Fay Wray
.
LUKE'S MOVIE MUDDLE ( 1916 ). Among the cast is one Harry Todd, some of whose films have mistakenly been included in filmographies for Thelma Todd.
Bebe Daniels in 42ND STREET
Bebe Daniels:
http://myloveofoldhollywood.blogspot.com/2012/04/bebe-daniels-1901-1971.html
http://www.silentsaregolden.com/articles/bebedanielsarticle.html
http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/2006/04/monday-glamour-starter-bebe-daniels-it.html
Bebe Daniels on THIS IS YOUR LIFE:
http://betterlivingtv.blogspot.com/2006/05/this-is-your-life-bebe-daniels-lyon.html
42ND STREET:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024034/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42nd_Street_(film)
42ND STREET SPECIAL ( Film ):
https://archive.org/details/42ndStreetSpecialPromo
Harold Lloyd's leading ladies:
http://haroldlloyd.us/the-films/harold-lloyds-leading-ladies-a-comparative-examination/
Ben Lyon and Marilyn Monroe:
http://www.cursumperficio.net/FicheAL24.html
SENORITA:
http://moviessilently.com/2013/09/11/in-the-vaults-12-senorita-1927/
A
The lost Bebe Daniels silent film "Take Me Home" was also Dorothy Lee's first screen appearance. She had one scene with Bebe in it, but I guess no photos exist of it.
ReplyDeleteLost films sometimes turn up again, maybe this one will.
ReplyDelete