Dubbed "Hollywood's blonde menace," brassy, curvaceous Marion Martin (born Marion Suplee) was the daughter of a well-to-do Bethlehem Steel executive and reared in Main Line society. She attended exclusive schools until the family fortune was wiped out in the stock market crash of 1929. Forced to work, she found employment as a chorine in one of Earl Carroll's New York stage revues. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. got a gander at the dazzling beauty and signed her to replace Gypsy Rose Lee in his Follies of 1933 wearing little but "a feather and some beads." After a few other fetching Broadway appearances, she was signed by Universal in 1938 and adopted the stage name of Marion (or sometimes Marian) Martin. At first superfluously put in short films, she received her big break in Sinners in Paradise (1938), a downed-plane-on-a-desert-island adventure which emphasized her physical attributes. Quickly pigeonholed as a stripper, chorus girl or brazen, gold-digger type, her feline roles actually belied her off-camera personality as a shy, intelligent and chic lady. In the 1940s Marion played sexy foils to the Marx Brothers and dug up a few support roles in mostly secondary features. Her career, never rising above the "B"-level ranks, pretty much ended by the 1950s. She happily retired in 1951 and found stability in marriage, donating much of her time to charitable causes. She died 13 August 1985, in Santa Monica, California; and she is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. Culver City, California. Although she was often cast as a brassy stripper, showgirl or tough gun moll, off screen she was known to be extremely shy and retiring.
Movie | Oklahoma Annie | LaBelle La Tour | 1952-03-24 |
Movie | Merry Mavericks | Gladys | 1951-09-06 |
Movie | Journey Into Light | Diana (as Marian Martin) | 1951-09-28 |
Movie | Key to the City | Emmy | 1950-02-02 |
Movie | Dakota Lil | Blonde Singer | 1950-02-17 |
Movie | Come to the Stable | Rossi's Manicurist (uncredited) | 1949-07-27 |
Movie | Oh, You Beautiful Doll | Bar Blonde | 1949-11-11 |
Movie | Thunder in the Pines | Pearl (as Marian Martin) | 1948-11-11 |
Movie | Lighthouse | JoJo, the Blonde | 1947-01-10 |
Movie | Deadline for Murder | Laura Gibson | 1946-06-28 |
Movie | Cinderella Jones | Burlesque Queen | 1946-03-09 |
Movie | Suspense | Shooting Gallery Blond (uncredited) | 1946-06-15 |
Movie | Queen of Burlesque | Lola Cassell | 1946-07-24 |
Movie | Black Angel | Millie | 1946-08-02 |
Movie | That Brennan Girl | Marion, Natalie's Girl Friend (as Marian Martin) | 1946-12-23 |
Movie | Nobody Lives Forever | Lou, Blonde (uncredited) | 1946-11-01 |
Movie | Angel on My Shoulder | Mrs. Bentley | 1946-09-20 |
Movie | Eadie Was a Lady | Rose Allure | 1945-01-24 |
Movie | Gangs of the Waterfront | Rita (as Marian Martin) | 1945-07-03 |
Movie | The Phantom Speaks | Betty Hanzel | 1945-04-13 |
Movie | Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood | Miss Milbane | 1945-10-05 |
Movie | Girls of the Big House | Dixie | 1945-11-02 |
Movie | It Happened Tomorrow | Nurse (uncredited) | 1944-03-31 |
Movie | Sweethearts of the U.S.A. | Ghost of Josephine | 1944-03-07 |
Movie | The Merry Monahans | Soubrette | 1944-09-15 |
Movie | Gildersleeve's Ghost | Terry Vance | 1944-06-01 |
Movie | Mystery of the Riverboat | Celeste Eltree [Chs. 1-4, 7] | 1944-10-24 |
Movie | They Got Me Covered | Gloria | 1943-03-04 |
Movie | Lady of Burlesque | Alice Angel | 1943-05-01 |
Movie | The Woman of the Town | Daisy Davenport | 1943-12-31 |
Movie | Fly-By-Night | Nurse | 1942-01-19 |
Movie | Tales of Manhattan | 'Squirrel' Grey | 1942-08-05 |
Movie | Mexican Spitfire at Sea | Fifi Russell | 1942-03-13 |
Movie | Mexican Spitfire's Elephant | Diana De Corro | 1942-09-17 |
Movie | The McGuerins from Brooklyn | Myrtle | 1942-12-31 |
Movie | The Big Street | Mimi Venus | 1942-08-13 |
Movie | The Big Store | Peggy Arden | 1941-06-20 |
Movie | Tall, Dark and Handsome | Dawn | 1941-01-24 |
Movie | Love at First Fright | Liza Hatrack | 1941-06-25 |
Movie | Blonde Inspiration | Wanda | 1941-02-07 |
Movie | The Lady from Cheyenne | Gertie | 1941-04-11 |
Movie | Cracked Nuts | Flashy Blonde in Corridor | 1941-07-02 |
Movie | The Mexican Spitfire's Baby | Fifi | 1941-11-28 |
Movie | Weekend for Three | Mrs. Gloria Weatherby | 1941-12-12 |
Movie | Lady Scarface | Ruby / Mary Jordan | 1941-09-26 |
Movie | New Wine | Mitzi | 1941-09-10 |
Movie | His Girl Friday | Evangeline (uncredited) | 1940-01-18 |
Movie | Boom Town | Whitey | 1940-08-30 |
Movie | Ellery Queen, Master Detective | Cornelia | 1940-11-30 |
Movie | Sergeant Madden | Charlotte LePage | 1939-03-24 |
Movie | Invitation to Happiness | Lola Snow | 1939-06-07 |
Movie | Invisible Stripes | Blonde (uncredited) | 1939-12-30 |
Movie | The Man in the Iron Mask | Mlle. de la Valliere | 1939-07-13 |
Movie | The Miss They Missed | 1938-01-29 | |
Movie | Sinners in Paradise | Iris Compton | 1938-05-19 |
Movie | Youth Takes a Fling | Girl on Beach | 1938-09-22 |
Movie | His Exciting Night | Gypsy McCoy | 1938-11-11 |
Movie | Crime Without Passion | Theatre Cashier (uncredited) | 1934-08-30 |
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