| Bebe Daniels |
|---|
Bebe Daniels in 1925
|
| Born | Phyllis Virginia Daniels
(1901-01-14)January 14, 1901
Dallas, Texas, USA |
|---|
| Died | March 16, 1971(1971-03-16) (aged 70)
London, England, UK |
|---|
| Other names | Bebe Lyon |
|---|
| Occupation | Actress, dancer, singer, producer, writer |
|---|
| Years active | 1910–1960 |
|---|
| Spouse(s) | Ben Lyon
(m.1930–1971; her death) |
|---|
Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer.
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
This 1921
Vanity Fair caricature by
Ralph Barton[3] shows the famous people who, he imagined, left work each day in Hollywood; use cursor to identify individual figures.
In the 1920s, Daniels was under contract with
Paramount Pictures. She made the transition from child star to adult in Hollywood by 1922 and by 1924 was playing opposite
Rudolph Valentino in
Monsieur Beaucaire. Following this she was cast in a number of light popular films, namely
Miss Bluebeard,
The Manicure Girl, and
Wild Wild Susan. Paramount dropped her contract with the advent of talking pictures. Daniels was hired by
Radio Pictures (later known as
RKO) to star in one of their biggest productions of the year. She also starred in the 1929 talkie
Rio Rita. It proved to be one of the most successful films of that year, and Bebe Daniels found herself a star and
RCA Victor hired her to record several records for their catalog.
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.
Publicity photo, circa 1924
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
References
- The Times, Bebe Daniels American star who made a hit on British radio, March 17, 1971, Page 18.
External links
