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 | Suspense | Shooting Gallery Blond (uncredited) | 1946-06-15 |
Movie | Queen of Burlesque | Lola Cassell | 1946-07-24 |
Movie | Cinderella Jones | Burlesque Queen | 1946-03-09 |
Movie | That Brennan Girl | Marion, Natalie's Girl Friend (as Marian Martin) | 1946-12-23 |
Movie | Black Angel | Millie | 1946-08-02 |
Movie | Nobody Lives Forever | Lou, Blonde (uncredited) | 1946-11-01 |
Movie | Angel on My Shoulder | Mrs. Bentley | 1946-09-20 |
Movie | The Phantom Speaks | Betty Hanzel | 1945-04-13 |
Movie | Gangs of the Waterfront | Rita (as Marian Martin) | 1945-07-03 |
Movie | Eadie Was a Lady | Rose Allure | 1945-01-24 |
Movie | Girls of the Big House | Dixie | 1945-11-02 |
Movie | On Stage Everybody | Bubbles (uncredited) | 1945-07-13 |
Movie | Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood | Miss Milbane | 1945-10-05 |
Movie | Gildersleeve's Ghost | Terry Vance | 1944-06-01 |
Movie | Sweethearts of the U.S.A. | Ghost of Josephine | 1944-03-07 |
Movie | It Happened Tomorrow | Nurse (uncredited) | 1944-03-31 |
Movie | The Great Mike | Kitty Tremaine | 1944-11-15 |
Movie | Mystery of the Riverboat | Celeste Eltree [Chs. 1-4, 7] | 1944-10-24 |
Movie | The Merry Monahans | Soubrette | 1944-09-15 |
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 | Mexican Spitfire at Sea | Fifi Russell | 1942-03-13 |
Movie | Powder Town | Sue, Blonde Piano Player | 1942-06-07 |
Movie | Fly By Night | Nurse | 1942-01-19 |
Movie | The McGuerins from Brooklyn | Myrtle | 1942-12-31 |
Movie | Tales of Manhattan | 'Squirrel' Grey | 1942-08-05 |
Movie | Mexican Spitfire's Elephant | Diana De Corro | 1942-09-17 |
Movie | The Big Street | Mimi Venus | 1942-08-13 |
Movie | The Lady from Cheyenne | Gertie | 1941-04-11 |
Movie | Tall, Dark and Handsome | Dawn | 1941-01-24 |
Movie | The Big Store | Peggy Arden | 1941-06-20 |
Movie | Blonde Inspiration | Wanda | 1941-02-07 |
Movie | New Wine | Mitzi | 1941-09-10 |
Movie | Weekend for Three | Mrs. Gloria Weatherby | 1941-12-12 |
Movie | Cracked Nuts | Flashy Blonde in Corridor | 1941-07-02 |
Movie | The Mexican Spitfire's Baby | Fifi | 1941-11-28 |
Movie | Lady Scarface | Ruby / Mary Jordan | 1941-09-26 |
Movie | Untamed | 2nd Girl in Limousine (uncredited) | 1940-07-24 |
Movie | His Girl Friday | Evangeline (uncredited) | 1940-01-18 |
Movie | Boom Town | Whitey | 1940-08-30 |
Movie | Blondes and Blunders | Blondie, Jewel Thief | 1940-11-29 |
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 | Pirates of the Skies | 1939-01-01 | |
Movie | The Man in the Iron Mask | Mlle. de la Valliere | 1939-07-13 |
Movie | Invisible Stripes | Blonde (uncredited) | 1939-12-30 |
Movie | Sinners in Paradise | Iris Compton | 1938-05-19 |
Movie | The Miss They Missed | 1938-01-29 | |
Movie | Youth Takes a Fling | Girl on Beach | 1938-09-22 |
Movie | The Storm | Jane | 1938-10-28 |
Movie | His Exciting Night | Gypsy McCoy | 1938-11-11 |
Movie | Moon Over Manhattan | 1935-02-15 | |
Movie | Crime Without Passion | Theatre Cashier (uncredited) | 1934-08-30 |