Biography for
Marie Wilson (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

19 August 1916, Anaheim, California, USA

Date of Death

23 November 1972, Hollywood, California, USA (cancer)

Birth Name

Katherine Elizabeth Wilson

Height

5' 5½" (1.66 m)

Mini Biography

Lovely, innocent-looking, well-endowed comedienne Marie Wilson was a featherbrained delight whose inane spoutings reminded one instantly of a Gracie Allen in the making. Unlike Allen, however, Marie was a knockout -- with high cheek bones, a wide slash of a mouth and a figure that wouldn't quit. Born Katherine Elizabeth Wilson on August 19, 1916 in Anaheim, California, her family moved to Hollywood after her father's death and Marie immediately began setting her sights on an entertainment career. Educated at Miss Page School and the Hollywood Cumnock School for Girls, she earned her first Hollywood contract at age 15 and played Mary Quite Contrary in the Laurel & Hardy film Babes in Toyland (1934).

A Broadway dancer in her early years ("Music Hath Charms" (1934)), she played in impresario Ken Murray's consecutively popular "Blackout" shows of the early 1940s in Los Angeles doing a mock striptease. She became the quintessential giggly 'dumb blonde' and adroitly moved to "B" level films, eventually scoring in a number of light, fizzy entertainment including Satan Met a Lady (1936), Boy Meets Girl (1938), Rookies on Parade (1941) She's in the Army (1942), The Fabulous Joe (1947), A Girl in Every Port (1952), Never Wave at a WAC (1952), and Marry Me Again (1953). She capitalized well on this image and reached her zenith in the successful radio, TV and movie versions of My Friend Irma (1949). Most of her subsequent kooky characterizations from then on were patterned on her Irma persona.

An ambitious woman known to do crazy stunts for publicity, Marie took to the stage, nightclub and TV circuits once her film career bottomed out after the spectacular arrival of Marilyn Monroe. On the road in summer stock and dinner theater engagements, Marie appeared to fine advantage in such well-suited vehicles as "Bus Stop," "Born Yesterday and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." One of her last roles was in animated form as a voice in the cartoon "Where's Huddles?" (1970). Married three times, she had an adopted son, Gregson, by her last marriage to TV producer Robert Fallon. Her first two unions, which ended in divorce, were to director Nick Grinde and actor Allan Nixon. Marie had undergone surgery several times for cancer by the time she died at age 56 in 1972.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net.

Spouse

Robert Fallon	(15 December 1951 - 23 November 1972) (her death)
Allan Nixon	(1942 - 29 December 1950) (divorced)
Nick Grinde	(? - ?) (divorced)

Trivia

Interred at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills -- Columbarium of Remembrance, Vault 61274.

Measurements: 34 1/2-19-36 (as a teen starlet), 39D-23-38 (measured in 1952), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

She was awarded 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard; for Television at 6765 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Motion Pictures at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Personal Quotes

"Show business has been very good to me and I'm not complaining, but some day I just wish someone would offer me a different kind of role. My closest friends admit that whenever they tell someone they know me they have to convince them that I'm really not dumb. To tell you the truth I think people are disappointed that I'm not."

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