Marion Davies

Marion Cecilia Douras was born on January 3, 1897, in Brooklyn, the youngest of five children born to Bernard J. Douras, a lawyer and judge in New York City and Rose Reilly. Her father performed the civil marriage of socialite Gloria Gould Bishop. She had three older sisters, Ethel, Rose, and Reine. An older brother, Charles, drowned. His name was subsequently given to Davies' nephew, screenwriter Charles Lederer, the son of Davies' sister Reine Davies. The Douras family lived near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Educated in the Sacred Heart religious convent near the Hudson River and later a religious convent near Tours, France, Davies was uninterested in her academic studies and very unhappy as a child supervised by Catholic nuns. Her family was close friends with architect Stanford White, and Davies grew up learning about the Evelyn Nesbit sex scandal. Davies struggled with her stutter as a child, and convinced her mother to let her leave school early due to the torment of her classmates and teachers. As a teenager, Marion left school to pursue a career as a showgirl. When her sister Reine adopted the stage name of Davies after seeing a real estate billboard advertisement, Marion followed suit. == Career ==

Early career on stage and in film Davies worked as a chorus line dancer starting with Chin-Chin, a 1914 musical starring David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone, at the old Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia. When not dancing, she modeled for illustrators Harrison Fisher and Howard Chandler Christy. While working for Florenz Ziegfeld, a cavalcade of admirers pursued her sexually. She came to loathe young college men: "The stage-door-Johnnies I didn't like. Especially those who came from Yale." During one infamous show starring Gaby Deslys, rowdy undergraduates from Yale pelted Davies and other chorus dancers with tomatoes and rotten eggs to show their displeasure with the performance. While the photos were being taken, Davies realized Hearst secretly was present in the darkness of the photography studio. They did not become intimate until sometime later. After making her screen debut in 1916, and modelling gowns by Lady Duff-Gordon in a fashion newsreel, Davies appeared in Runaway Romany (1917), her first feature film. Davies wrote the film, She continued to alternate between stage and screen until 1920 when she made her last revue appearance in ''Ed Wynn's Carnival. After she signed, 21-year-old Davies and 58-year-old Hearst began a sexual relationship. His newsreels touted her social activities, and a reporter from the Los Angeles Examiner'' was assigned the full-time job of recounting Davies' daily exploits in print. Hearst expended an estimated $7 million on promoting Davies' career (). Hearst ensured that, "Marion's new abode was nothing less than a palace fit for a movie-queen—especially since the queen would frequently be receiving the press on the premises." Cecilia of the Pink Roses in 1918 was her first film, backed by Hearst. He next secured Cosmopolitan's distribution deals, first with Paramount Pictures, One of her best known roles was as Mary Tudor in When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), directed by Robert G. Vignola, with whom she collaborated on several films. The 1922–23 period may have been her most successful as an actress, with both When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York ranking among the top three box-office hits of those years. Other hit silent films included: Beverly of Graustark, The Cardboard Lover, Enchantment, ''The Bride's Play, Lights of Old Broadway, Zander the Great, The Red Mill, Yolanda, Beauty's Worth, and The Restless Sex''. In 1926, Hearst's wife Millicent Hearst moved to New York, and Hearst and Davies moved to the palatial Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Upon visiting the sprawling Hearst Castle with its Greek statues and celestial suites, playwright George Bernard Shaw reportedly quipped: "This is what God would have built if he had the money." When not holding court at San Simeon, Hearst and Davies resided at Marion's equally luxurious beach house in Santa Monica, at Hearst's rustic Wyntoon estate in Northern California, and St Donat's Castle in Wales. During the heyday of the Jazz Age, the couple spent much of their time entertaining and holding extravagant soirees with famous guests, including many Hollywood actors and political figures. Frequent habitues and occasional visitors included Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Harpo Marx, Clark Gable, Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart, among others. Such unceasing publicity irritated the public. "In New York city there were big signs, blocks and blocks of signs," Davies recalled, "and people got so tired of the name Marion Davies that they would actually insult me." Hearst's jealousy also interfered with Davies' career, especially in her earlier films and her stage roles. According to Davies, he often vetoed the casting of attractive leading men and typically would not permit her to be embraced on the screen or in stage plays. In her memoirs, Davies claimed to have repeatedly assailed Hearst's jealous stewardship in vain: "Everyone has to do a little embrace in pictures, just for the audience's sake," she told him. Hearst insisted on personally rewriting Davies' film scripts, and his constant meddling often exasperated film directors such as Lloyd Bacon. Hearst further hindered Davies' career by insisting she star only in costume dramas in which she often played "a doll-sweetheart out of the 1890s, in the manner of D. W. Griffith heroines". Davies herself was more inclined to develop her comic talents alongside her friends Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford at United Artists, but Hearst pointedly discouraged this. He preferred seeing her in expensive historical pictures, but she also appeared in contemporary comedies like Tillie the Toiler, The Fair Co-Ed (both 1927), and especially three directed by King Vidor, Not So Dumb (1930), The Patsy and the backstage-in-Hollywood saga Show People (both 1928). The Patsy contains her imitations, which she usually did for friends, of silent stars Lillian Gish, Mae Murray and Pola Negri. Vidor saw Davies as a comedic actress instead of the dramatic actress that Hearst wanted her to be. He noticed she was the life of parties and incorporated that into his films. Sound films and career decline The coming of sound made Davies nervous because of her persistent stutter. During the filming of Operator 13, Hearst repeatedly caused problems on the set and insisted on directing a scene, much to film director Richard Boleslawski's consternation. Several of Davies's early sound films were musicals, and she sang and danced frenetically in the all-star revue The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Her musical talents were modest, but her personality and abilities as a light comedian mean she is always watchable. At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Davies was often involved with many aspects of her films and was considered an astute businesswoman. However, her career continued to be hampered by Hearst's insistence that she play dramatic historical parts as opposed to the comic roles which were her forte. This rejection followed a previous one where Davies had been denied the female lead in The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which went to Shearer as well. Despite Davies' friendship with the Thalbergs, Hearst reacted angrily by pulling his newspaper support for MGM and moving Davies and Cosmopolitan Pictures' distribution to Warner Brothers. Pepi had been a permanent resident at San Simeon for many years. She was a closeted lesbian who had sexual relationships with actresses Louise Brooks, Nina Mae McKinney, and others. At some point during the affair between Pepi and Brooks, Hearst became cognizant of Lederer's lesbianism. In June 1935, mere days after her institutionalization, Pepi committed suicide by leaping to her death from an upper floor window of the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. Mirroring earlier events at MGM, Warner Brothers purchased the rights to Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 play Tovarich for Davies, but the lead role in the 1937 film adaptation was given to Claudette Colbert. Hearst shopped Davies and Cosmopolitan for another year, but no deals were made, and the actress officially retired. In 1943, Davies was offered the role of Mrs. Brown in Claudia, but Hearst dissuaded her from taking a supporting role and tarnishing her starring career. In her 45 feature films, over a 20-year period, Davies had never been anything but the star and, except for uncredited cameo appearances, had always received top billing. == Personal life ==

Relationship with Hearst In her memoirs, Davies claimed that she and publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst began their sexual relationship when she was a teenage chorus girl. they never married, because Hearst's wife refused to grant him a divorce. At one point, Hearst reportedly came close to marrying Davies, but decided his wife's settlement demands were too high. Although he was a notorious philanderer, Grey quoted Davies as saying: Despite their well-known jealous attachment to one another, both Davies and Hearst had many sexual liaisons with others while living together in San Simeon and elsewhere. Dick Powell, According to Davies' friend and confidant Louise Brooks, Davies was particularly incensed by Hearst's indiscreet relations with Swor. Davies became irate when Hearst's newspapers began openly promoting Swor's career in a nearly identical fashion to their earlier promotion of hers. After selling many of the contents of St Donat's Castle, Davies sold her jewelry, stocks and bonds and wrote a check for $1 million to Hearst to save him from bankruptcy. Alleged biological daughter Since the early 1920s, rumors claimed that Davies and Hearst had a child between 1919 and 1923. In later years, the child was rumored to be Patricia Lake (née Van Cleve), who publicly identified herself as Davies' niece. Shortly before her death, her son claimed that Lake revealed she was the biological daughter of Davies and Hearst. However, factual evidence casts doubt on these claims. Lake's birth date in 1919 is confirmed by birthday telegrams and photo documentation, and Davies did not go to Europe for the first time until 1922. Davies' film schedule was very busy in 1919, and she shows no sign of pregnancy in any of them. When responding to the allegation that Lake was the daughter of Davies and Hearst, a spokesman for Hearst Castle commented that, "It's a very old rumor and a rumor is all it ever was." Ince was put on a train bound for Los Angeles. When his condition worsened, he was removed from the train at Del Mar. Dr. T. A. Parker and a nurse, Jesse Howard, provided him with medical attention. Ince allegedly told them he had drunk a strong liquor aboard Hearst's yacht. Years later, Chaplin's wife Lita Grey repeated claims that Chaplin had sexually pursued Marion Davies aboard Hearst's yacht and that a violent altercation had occurred. However, there was never any substantive evidence to support these allegations. After Ince's death, District Attorney Chester C. Kempley of San Diego conducted an inquiry and issued a public statement which declared "the death of Thomas H. Ince was caused by heart failure as a result of an attack of acute indigestion". Despite the district attorney's declaration, and the fact that three physicians and a nurse had attended Ince before he died, the rumors persisted. Consequently, "one can still hear solemn stories in Hollywood today that Ince was murdered" in a jealous dispute over Davies. == Later years ==

Retirement and Hearst's death By 1937, Hearst was $126 million in debt (). However, Davies was intensely ambitious, and she faced the harsh reality at age forty that she could no longer play young heroines, as in her earlier films. Although Hearst and Davies "were still playing the gracious lord and his lady, and the guests were still responding with grateful expressions of joy," nevertheless "the life had gone out of their performances". After a long period of illness, Hearst died on August 14, 1951, age 88. Eleven weeks and one day after Hearst's death, Davies married sea captain Horace Brown on October 31, 1951, in Las Vegas. Davies filed for divorce twice, but neither was finalized, despite Brown admitting he treated her badly: "I'm a beast," he said. "I took him back. I don't know why," she explained. "I guess because he's standing right beside me, crying. Thank God we all have a sense of humor." Throughout her later years, Davies was "noted for her kindness" and renowned for her generosity to charities. The clinic's name was changed to the Mattel Children's Hospital in 1998. Davies also fought childhood diseases through the Marion Davies Foundation. ==Illness and death==

. In the summer of 1956, after many decades of heavy drinking, Davies had a minor cerebral stroke and was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. After the stroke, her Hollywood friends noted that "much of her old spirit and fire were gone". She quipped to columnist Hedda Hopper that "we blondes seem to be falling apart". Not long afterwards, Davies was diagnosed with cancer. Davies made her last public appearance on January 10, 1960, on an NBC television special titled ''Hedda Hopper's Hollywood''. During this same period, Joseph P. Kennedy rented Davies' mansion and worked from behind the scenes to secure his son John F. Kennedy's nomination during the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Her health failed rapidly over the summer. Davies died of the malignant osteomyelitis on September 22, 1961, in Hollywood. Over 200 mourners and many Hollywood celebrities, including her friends Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Glenn Ford, Kay Williams, and Johnny Weissmuller attended her funeral at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hollywood. She left an estate estimated at $20 million (). == Cultural legacy ==

Susan Alexander Kane ) in Citizen Kane (1941) was assumed to have been inspired by Davies, but Orson Welles repeatedly denied that the character was based on her. According to biographers, the release of Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) destroyed Davies' reputation. Film audiences mistakenly assumed Davies was the unalloyed inspiration for the character of Susan Alexander in the film, which was based loosely on Hearst's life. Over time, the popular association with the character of Susan Alexander Kane led to later revisionist portrayals of Davies as a talentless opportunist. "As for Marion," Welles said, "she was an extraordinary woman—nothing like the character Dorothy Comingore played in the movie ... Marion was much better than Susan—whom people wrongly equated with her". Gradually, the consensus among film critics became more appreciative of her efforts, particularly in comedy. According to biographers, "if Hearst had allowed her great talents as a mime and comic to come to full flower in a long series of comedies as bright as her Show People and The Patsy, her screen reputation could not have been so readily damaged by the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane". ABC inaccurately marketed the film as "the scandalous love affair between one of the richest and most powerful men in America and the obscure Ziegfeld girl he promoted to stardom". In subsequent decades, Davies was portrayed by Heather McNair in Chaplin (1992) and by Gretchen Mol in Cradle Will Rock (1999). The 1999 HBO movie RKO 281 focuses on the production of Citizen Kane and Hearst's efforts to prevent its release, with Melanie Griffith portraying Davies. The movie depicts Davies growing irritated with Hearst's lifestyle and political views. In 2001, director Peter Bogdanovich's film ''The Cat's Meow'' debuted with 19-year-old Kirsten Dunst starring as Davies. Seyfried was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. In the 2022 film Babylon, Davies is portrayed by Chloe Fineman. == Filmography ==