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IMDbPro

Ben Lyon(1901-1979)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Ben Lyon
A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.
Play trailer2:34
Night Nurse (1931)
1 Video
99+ Photos
Ben Lyon was your average boyish, easy-going, highly appealing film personality of the Depression-era 1930s. Although he never rose above second-tier stardom, he would enjoy enduring success both in the United States and in the UK.

Born Ben Lyon, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia, the future singer/actor was the son of Alvine Valentine (Wiseberg) and Benjamin Bethel "Ben" Lyon, a pianist-turned-businessman, and the youngest of four. His maternal grandparents were German Jewish immigrants. Raised in Baltimore, he started performing in amateur productions as a teen before earning marquee value on Broadway opposite such stars as Jeanne Eagels.

Hollywood took notice of the baby-faced charmer and soon Ben was ingratiating filmgoers opposite silent film's most honored leading ladies. He appeared with Pola Negri in Langennut ruusu (1924), Gloria Swanson in Muukalaislegioonan tytär (1924), Barbara La Marr in The White Moth (1924), Mary Astor in Voittamisen tahto (1925) and Claudette Colbert, in her only silent feature, in For the Love of Mike (1927). He advanced easily into talkies and was particularly noteworthy as the dashing hero in Howard Hughes' Hornan enkelit (1930), in which Ben actually piloted his own plane (Ben had trained as a pilot during WWI) and filmed some of the airborne scenes for Hughes himself. That same year was also a banner year for him in his personal life after marrying Paramount Pictures film star Bebe Daniels, with whom he had appeared in Alias French Gertie (1930).

As both of their movie careers started to decline, the talented twosome decided to work up a husband-and-wife music hall and vaudeville act. They took their show to England and became a hit at the London Palladium. At one point he served in the U.S. Army Air Force and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in charge of Special Services for the U.S. Air Corps in England. Soldiers, sailors and airmen (from 1939) listened to Ben and Bebe weekly on the air waves with their popular, long-running BBC broadcast "Hi, Gang!" The couple remained in England throughout WWII performing on stage and doing their valid part to entertain and honor the troops.

After a brief postwar stay in Hollywood in 1946, where Ben had taken an executive position with Fox, the couple returned to England and headlined another popular 1950s radio show, "Life with the Lyons," which spawned two family-styled films that included children Barbara Lyon and Richard Lyon. In the early 1960s Bebe suffered multiple strokes and left the limelight, passing away in 1971. Ben remarried (to former actress Marian Nixon) and settled in the US, where he died in 1979 of a heart attack while on vacation.
BornFebruary 6, 1901
DiedMarch 22, 1979(78)
BornFebruary 6, 1901
DiedMarch 22, 1979(78)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 1 win

Photos191

Virginia Lee Corbin and Ben Lyon in The Perfect Sap (1927)
Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon, and Richard Lyon in Touhukas perhe (1954)
Barbara Lyon and Ben Lyon in Touhukas perhe (1954)
Ben Lyon and Norman Trevor in Muukalaislegioonan tytär (1924)
Ben Lyon and Gloria Swanson in Muukalaislegioonan tytär (1924)
Ruth Hall and Ben Lyon in Her Majesty, Love (1931)
Claudette Colbert, Hugh Cameron, Ben Lyon, George Sidney, and Ford Sterling in For the Love of Mike (1927)
Ben Lyon in Winds of Chance (1925)
Ben Lyon, Natalie Moorhead, and Lewis Stone in My Past (1931)
James Hall and Ben Lyon in Hornan enkelit (1930)
Juliette Compton and Ben Lyon in Compromised (1931)
Donald Reed, Ben Lyon, and Raquel Torres in Aloha (1931)

Known for:

Jean Harlow and Ben Lyon in Hornan enkelit (1930)
Hornan enkelit
7.3
  • Monte Rutledge
  • 1930
Lightning Strikes Twice (1934)
Lightning Strikes Twice
5.0
  • Steven 'Steve' Brewster
  • 1934
Ben Lyon and Ona Munson in The Hot Heiress (1931)
The Hot Heiress
5.7
  • 'Hap' Harrigan
  • 1931
Ben Lyon, Shirley Mason, and Jason Robards Sr. in The Flying Marine (1929)
The Flying Marine
2.6
  • Steve Moran
  • 1929

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Touhukas perhe Pariisissa (1955)
    Touhukas perhe Pariisissa
    6.6
    • Ben
    • 1955
  • The Dark Tower (1943)
    The Dark Tower
    6.0
    • Phil Danton
    • 1943
  • Ann Dvorak and Ben Lyon in This Was Paris (1942)
    This Was Paris
    5.7
    • Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
    • 1942
  • Hi Gang! (1941)
    Hi Gang!
    7.1
    • Her Other Half
    • 1941
  • Confidential Lady
    • Jim Brent
    • 1940
  • I Killed the Count (1939)
    I Killed the Count
    6.4
    • Bernard Froy
    • 1939
  • Wallace Ford and Lupe Velez in Stardust (1938)
    Stardust
    4.3
    • Roy Harley
    • 1938
  • Treachery on the High Seas
    • Johnny Hammond
    • 1936
  • Russell Hardie and Ann Rutherford in Down to the Sea (1936)
    Down to the Sea
    6.0
    • Steve Londos
    • 1936
  • Sonny Lamont, Ben Lyon, Joan Marsh, and Edward J. Nugent in Dancing Feet (1936)
    Dancing Feet
    6.7
    • Peyton Wells
    • 1936
  • Ben Lyon and Helen Twelvetrees in Frisco Waterfront (1935)
    Frisco Waterfront
    4.7
    • Glenn Burton
    • 1935
  • Ralph Bellamy and Claire Trevor in Navy Wife (1935)
    Navy Wife
    5.8
    • Dr. Peter Milford
    • 1935
  • Peck's Bad Boy (1934)
    Together We Live
    5.8
    • Max
    • 1935
  • Lightning Strikes Twice (1934)
    Lightning Strikes Twice
    5.0
    • Steven 'Steve' Brewster
    • 1934
  • Erich von Stroheim, Ben Lyon, and Sari Maritza in Crimson Romance (1934)
    Crimson Romance
    5.6
    • Bob Wilson
    • 1934

Writer

  • Hi Gang! (1941)
    Hi Gang!
    7.1
    • radio series
    • 1941

Soundtrack

  • Ann Dvorak and Ben Lyon in This Was Paris (1942)
    This Was Paris
    5.7
    • performer: "What Goes Up Must Come Down" (uncredited)
    • 1942
  • Hi Gang! (1941)
    Hi Gang!
    7.1
    • performer: "Hi Gang!", "My Son", "It's a Small World"
    • 1941
  • Wallace Ford and Lupe Velez in Stardust (1938)
    Stardust
    4.3
    • performer: "Oh So Beautiful" (uncredited)
    • 1938
  • Her Majesty, Love (1931)
    Her Majesty, Love
    5.9
    • performer: "Because of You" (1931), "Though You're Not the First One" (1931) ("Though You're Not the First One" (1931), uncredited)
    • 1931
  • Ben Lyon and Ona Munson in The Hot Heiress (1931)
    The Hot Heiress
    5.7
    • performer: "Nobody Loves a Riveter" (1931), "You're the Cats" (1931), "Like Ordinary People Do" ("You're the Cats" (1931), uncredited)
    • 1931
  • Harry Langdon, Lotti Loder, and Ben Lyon in A Soldier's Plaything (1930)
    A Soldier's Plaything
    4.3
    • performer: "Forever" (uncredited)
    • 1930
  • Jean Harlow and Ben Lyon in Hornan enkelit (1930)
    Hornan enkelit
    7.3
    • performer: "Ach, Du Lieber Augustin/Did You Ever See a Lassie?", "Sailing, Sailing Over the Bounding Main" ("God Save the King", uncredited)
    • 1930

Videos1

Official Trailer
Trailer 2:34
Official Trailer

Personal details

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  • Height
    • 1.83 m
  • Born
    • February 6, 1901
    • Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  • Died
    • March 22, 1979
    • aboard a cruise ship near Honolulu, Hawaii, USA(heart attack)
  • Spouses
      Marian NixonApril 8, 1972 - March 22, 1979 (his death)
  • Children
    • Barbara Lyon
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 13 Articles
    • 3 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    While working as casting director at 20th Century-Fox, BL discovered and named Marilyn Monroe

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