Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Karen Morley(1909-2003)

  • Actress
  • Additional Crew
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Karen Morley
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:49
Black Fury (1935)
3 Videos
99+ Photos
Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa on December 12, 1909, Karen Morley was adopted by a well-to-do family who moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1920s. She enrolled at Hollywood High School and studied for a career in medicine at UCLA, but a class in theater changed her career ambitions.

After studying at Pasadena Playhouse, she was signed by Fox Studios and her big chance came when producer Howard Hughes selected her to play the blond moll in the 1932 crime epic, Scarface (1932), Morley was put on a contract by MGM and starred in such early 1930s movies as Mata Hari (1931) (with Greta Garbo), Arsène Lupin (1932) (with John Barrymore), Dinner at Eight (1933) (with Jean Harlow), as well as films with Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Boris Karloff. In 1934, Morley left MGM after arguments about her roles and her private life, including her intention to start a family and her marriage to director Charles Vidor. She continued working as a freelance performer, appearing in King Vidor's Our Daily Bread (1934), Michael Curtiz' Black Fury (1935) and Pride and Prejudice (1940).

In 1947, her screen career came to a halt when she testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and refused to answer questions about her possible enrollment in the Communist Party. Afterward, she continued promoting left-wing causes and married actor Lloyd Gough. In 1954, she ran unsuccessfully as a New York lieutenant governor candidate for the American Labor Party. Morley died March 8, 2003 at the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills.
BornDecember 12, 1909
DiedMarch 8, 2003(93)
BornDecember 12, 1909
DiedMarch 8, 2003(93)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos131

Karen Morley and Paul Muni in Black Fury (1935)
Karen Morley and Paul Muni in Black Fury (1935)
Karen Morley and Paul Muni in Black Fury (1935)
Wally Albright and Karen Morley in Black Fury (1935)
William Gargan and Karen Morley in Black Fury (1935)
Karen Morley in Black Fury (1935)
Karen Morley in Black Fury (1935)
Karen Morley in M (1951)
Karen Morley in M (1951)
Karen Morley in M (1951)
Edward Arnold and Karen Morley in Wednesday's Child (1934)
Karen Morley and Franchot Tone in Gabriel Over the White House (1933)

Known for

Ann Dvorak, Paul Muni, and Osgood Perkins in Scarface (1932)
Scarface
7.7
  • Poppy
  • 1932
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
The Mask of Fu Manchu
6.2
  • Sheila Barton
  • 1932
Arsène Lupin (1932)
Arsène Lupin
6.9
  • Sonia
  • 1932
Tom Keene and Karen Morley in Our Daily Bread (1934)
Our Daily Bread
7.0
  • Mary Sims
  • 1934

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Angie Dickinson in Police Woman (1974)
    Police Woman
    • The Landlady
    • TV Series
    • 1975
  • Kojak (1973)
    Kojak
    • Mrs. Webber
    • TV Series
    • 1973
  • Kung Fu (1972)
    Kung Fu
    • Mrs. Roper
    • TV Series
    • 1973
  • Chuck Courtney in Born to the Saddle (1953)
    Born to the Saddle
    • Kate Daggett
    • 1953
  • David Wayne in M (1951)
    M
    • Mrs. Coster
    • 1951
  • Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah (1949)
    Samson and Delilah
    • (uncredited)
    • 1949
  • Glenn Ford and Janis Carter in Framed (1947)
    Framed
    • Beth
    • 1947
  • Richard Dix, Bernadene Hayes, John Kellogg, and Karen Morley in The Thirteenth Hour (1947)
    The Thirteenth Hour
    • Eileen Blair
    • 1947
  • Jeff Donnell and Karen Morley in The Unknown (1946)
    The Unknown
    • Rachel Martin Arnold
    • 1946
  • Nils Asther, John Loder, and Jane Randolph in Jealousy (1945)
    Jealousy
    • Dr. Monica Anderson
    • 1945
  • Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson in Pride and Prejudice (1940)
    Pride and Prejudice
    • Mrs. Collins
    • 1940
  • Walter Brennan, Richard Greene, and Loretta Young in Kentucky (1938)
    Kentucky
    • Mrs. Goodwin (1861)
    • 1938
  • Karen Morley and Grant Richards in On Such a Night (1937)
    On Such a Night
    • Gail Stanley
    • 1937
  • Lew Ayres and Dorothy Lamour in The Last Train from Madrid (1937)
    The Last Train from Madrid
    • Baroness Helene Rafitte
    • 1937
  • Karen Morley in The Girl from Scotland Yard (1937)
    The Girl from Scotland Yard
    • Linda Beech
    • 1937

Additional Crew

  • Hell-Bent for Election (1944)
    Hell-Bent for Election
    • production assistant
    • Short
    • 1944

Soundtrack

  • Lionel Barrymore and Karen Morley in The Washington Masquerade (1932)
    The Washington Masquerade
    • performer: "Etude in E Op.10 No.3" (1829-32) (uncredited)
    • 1932
  • Ann Dvorak, Paul Muni, and Osgood Perkins in Scarface (1932)
    Scarface
    • performer: "Some of These Days" (1910)
    • 1932

Videos3

The Littlest Rebel
Clip 1:36
The Littlest Rebel
Black Fury
Trailer 2:49
Black Fury
Dinner At Eight
Trailer 3:01
Dinner At Eight

Personal details

Edit
  • Born
    • December 12, 1909
    • Ottumwa, Iowa, USA
  • Died
    • March 8, 2003
    • Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(pneumonia)
  • Spouses
      Lloyd GoughOctober 25, 1972 - July 23, 1984 (his death)
  • Children
    • Child
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared in Rachel Crothers' play "Susan and God," Cape Playhouse, Dennis, MA.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article
    • 4 Pictorials
    • 2 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Originally a pretty starlet/ingenue in Hollywood, Morley's career was ruined 50 years ago by the Hollywood Blacklist/McCarthyism. She has long been a staunch left-wing activist around the San Francisco area. Now in her 90s, she appeared in a Vanity Fair photoshoot featuring other surviving victims of the Blacklist in December, 1999.
  • Quotes
    Nobody could imagine just how terrible McCarthyism would be. So many careers went down the toilet.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Production art
List
The Best Things to Watch in June
See the list
Production art
Photos
See These Trending Actors in Early Roles
Can you place the face?

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Demo reel thumbnail
Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel
Demo reel thumbnail

How much have you seen?

Keep track of how much of Karen Morley’s work you have seen. Go to your list.
Production art
Photos
LGBTQIA+ Power Couples of Hollywood
See the photos

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.