Mary Brian(1906-2002)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures", Mary Brian started life as
Louise Byrdie Datzler. She was born in Corsicana, Texas, and went to
high school in Dallas. Her widowed mother had big plans for young
Louise and took her to California in 1923, with the intention of
getting her into the film business. After several unsuccessful
attempts, a bathing beauty competition in Long Beach resulted in a
second-prize letter of introduction to
Herbert Brenon at Paramount and the girl with the dark brown curls and blue/gray eyes wound
up being screen-tested for the role of Wendy in Peter Pan (1924),
co-starring Betty Bronson and
Esther Ralston (with whom she would form
lifelong friendships). She not only got the part but a five-year
contract with Paramount (1925-30) and a new name.
In 1926 she became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, which further
enhanced her popularity. During the next few years she played
ornamental leads and second leads as adolescent heroines, co-eds and
ingénues. Many of those early silent features no longer exist today
(Paris at Midnight (1926),
among others), though surviving reels of some, like
The Air Mail (1925), can still be
accessed at the Library of Congress. Mary effortlessly made the
transition from silents to talkies, co-starring with
Gary Cooper as a feisty schoolmarm
on the frontier in
The Virginian (1929). One of her
biggest hits was as Gwen Cavendish in the urbane comedy
The Royal Family of Broadway (1930),
with Ina Claire and
Fredric March. A thinly disguised
caricature of the private lives of the Barrymore dynasty, it hit the
mark to the extent that Ethel Barrymore
even threatened to sue Paramount. Mary acted three times opposite
W.C. Fields, first as his daughter in
Running Wild (1927), later
reprising her role for
The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
(the third was
Two Flaming Youths (1927),
another lost film).
Signing up for another four-year contract, Mary was
one of the all-star cast in the musical
Paramount on Parade (1930)
and then was given another good part in the first talkie version of
The Front Page (1931). However,
she was dropped from her contract (alongside her more illustrious
colleagues Fay Wray and
Jean Arthur) when Paramount began to
forsake innocence and charm in favor of glamour and sophistication. From 1932 Mary freelanced and also performed occasionally in vaudeville
at the Palace Theater. Arguably her last good picture was the romantic
comedy Hard to Handle (1933), with
James Cagney as a grifter (hilariously
promoting grapefruit diets, spoofing his infamous scene with
Mae Clarke in
The Public Enemy (1931)). In
1936 Mary went to England, where she co-starred opposite
Cary Grant in
The Amazing Adventure (1936).
She then made several pictures for Poverty Row companies such as
Majestic and Monogram, including the low-budget potboiler I Escaped from the Gestapo (1943).
Mary's motion picture career faded after 1937 and she turned towards
the stage. In 1940 she went on tour with "Three after Three" ,
alongside Simone Simon and
Mitzi Green and later entertained American
troops in the South Pacific as part of the USO. In the 1950's, she
enjoyed a brief resurgence on television as the mother of a
"Gidget"-type teen in the syndicated sitcom
Meet Corliss Archer (1954).
After the death of her second husband, the film editor
George Tomasini, Mary spent her
retirement fulfilling a lifelong passion for portrait painting.
Louise Byrdie Datzler. She was born in Corsicana, Texas, and went to
high school in Dallas. Her widowed mother had big plans for young
Louise and took her to California in 1923, with the intention of
getting her into the film business. After several unsuccessful
attempts, a bathing beauty competition in Long Beach resulted in a
second-prize letter of introduction to
Herbert Brenon at Paramount and the girl with the dark brown curls and blue/gray eyes wound
up being screen-tested for the role of Wendy in Peter Pan (1924),
co-starring Betty Bronson and
Esther Ralston (with whom she would form
lifelong friendships). She not only got the part but a five-year
contract with Paramount (1925-30) and a new name.
In 1926 she became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, which further
enhanced her popularity. During the next few years she played
ornamental leads and second leads as adolescent heroines, co-eds and
ingénues. Many of those early silent features no longer exist today
(Paris at Midnight (1926),
among others), though surviving reels of some, like
The Air Mail (1925), can still be
accessed at the Library of Congress. Mary effortlessly made the
transition from silents to talkies, co-starring with
Gary Cooper as a feisty schoolmarm
on the frontier in
The Virginian (1929). One of her
biggest hits was as Gwen Cavendish in the urbane comedy
The Royal Family of Broadway (1930),
with Ina Claire and
Fredric March. A thinly disguised
caricature of the private lives of the Barrymore dynasty, it hit the
mark to the extent that Ethel Barrymore
even threatened to sue Paramount. Mary acted three times opposite
W.C. Fields, first as his daughter in
Running Wild (1927), later
reprising her role for
The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
(the third was
Two Flaming Youths (1927),
another lost film).
Signing up for another four-year contract, Mary was
one of the all-star cast in the musical
Paramount on Parade (1930)
and then was given another good part in the first talkie version of
The Front Page (1931). However,
she was dropped from her contract (alongside her more illustrious
colleagues Fay Wray and
Jean Arthur) when Paramount began to
forsake innocence and charm in favor of glamour and sophistication. From 1932 Mary freelanced and also performed occasionally in vaudeville
at the Palace Theater. Arguably her last good picture was the romantic
comedy Hard to Handle (1933), with
James Cagney as a grifter (hilariously
promoting grapefruit diets, spoofing his infamous scene with
Mae Clarke in
The Public Enemy (1931)). In
1936 Mary went to England, where she co-starred opposite
Cary Grant in
The Amazing Adventure (1936).
She then made several pictures for Poverty Row companies such as
Majestic and Monogram, including the low-budget potboiler I Escaped from the Gestapo (1943).
Mary's motion picture career faded after 1937 and she turned towards
the stage. In 1940 she went on tour with "Three after Three" ,
alongside Simone Simon and
Mitzi Green and later entertained American
troops in the South Pacific as part of the USO. In the 1950's, she
enjoyed a brief resurgence on television as the mother of a
"Gidget"-type teen in the syndicated sitcom
Meet Corliss Archer (1954).
After the death of her second husband, the film editor
George Tomasini, Mary spent her
retirement fulfilling a lifelong passion for portrait painting.