Marion Byron | |
---|---|
![]() Byron in 1929 | |
Born | Miriam Bilenkin 1911 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | 1985 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
Other names | Peanuts |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1928–1938 |
Children | 2 |
Marion Byron (born Miriam Bilenkin; 1911 – 1985) [1] was an American silent film actress and comedian.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, [2] Byron was one of five daughters of Louis and Bertha Bilenkin. [3]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2021) |
She made her first stage appearance at the age of 13 and followed it with a role in actor-producer Lupino Lane's Hollywood Music Box Revue opposite Fannie Brice. It was while appearing in this production that she was given the nickname "Peanuts" because of her short stature. While appearing in The Strawberry Blonde, she came to the attention of Buster Keaton who signed her as his leading lady in the film Steamboat Bill, Jr. in 1928 when she was just 16. (Keaton, standing 5' 5", was careful to cast ingenues who were petite, so they would photograph well opposite Keaton.)
From there she was hired by Hal Roach [4] who teamed her with Anita Garvin in a bid to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy. The pairing was not a commercial success and they made only three short comedies: Feed 'Em and Weep (1928), A Pair of Tights (1928), and Going Ga-Ga (1929).
She left the Roach studio before it made talking comedies, then worked in musical features like the Vitaphone film Broadway Babies (1929) with Alice White, and the early Technicolor feature Golden Dawn (1930).
Her parts slowly got smaller until they were unbilled walk-ons in movies like Meet the Baron (1933), starring Jack Pearl and Hips Hips Hooray (1934) with Wheeler and Woolsey; she returned to the Hal Roach studio for a bit part in the Charley Chase short It Happened One Day (1934). Her final screen appearance was as a baby nurse to the Dionne Quintuplets in Five of a Kind (1938).
Byron married screenwriter Lou Breslow in 1932 and they had two sons, Lawrence and Daniel. They remained together until her death in Santa Monica on July 5, 1985, following a long illness. Her ashes were later scattered in the sea.[ citation needed ]
Anita Garvin was an American stage performer and film actress who worked in both the silent and sound eras. Before her retirement in 1942, she reportedly appeared in over 350 shorts and features for various Hollywood studios. Her best known roles are as supporting characters in Hal Roach comedies starring Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase.
Richard Armstrong Whiting was an American composer of popular songs, including the standards "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop". He also wrote lyrics occasionally, and film scores most notably for the standard "She's Funny That Way".
The Our Gang personnel page is a listing of the significant cast and crew from the Our Gang short subjects film series, originally created and produced by Hal Roach which ran in movie theaters from 1922 to 1944.
Walter Lang was an American film director.
William Gilbert Barron, known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows beginning in 1929.
Charlie Hall was an English film actor. He is best known as the "Little Nemesis" of Laurel and Hardy. He performed in nearly 50 films with them, making Hall the most frequent supporting actor in the comedy duo's productions.
Nobert Brodine, also credited as Norbert F. Brodin and Norbert Brodin, was an American film cinematographer. The Saint Joseph, Missouri-born cameraman worked on over 100 films in his career before retiring from film making in 1953, at which time he worked exclusively in television until 1960.
Sally O'Neil was an American film actress of the 1920s. She appeared in more than 40 films, often with her name above the title.
June Clyde was an American actress, singer and dancer known for roles in such pre-Code films as A Strange Adventure (1932) and A Study in Scarlet (1933).
Vivien Oakland, was an American actress best known for her work in comedies in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably with the Hal Roach Studios. Oakland appeared in 157 films between 1915 and 1951.
Dorothy Karolyn Granger was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedies in Hollywood.
Dorothea Sally Eilers was an American actress.
Dorothy Lee was an American actress and comedian during the 1930s. She appeared in 28 films, usually appearing alongside the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey.
Symona Ferner Boniface was an American film actress, most frequently seen in bit parts in comedy shorts, mostly at Columbia Pictures, particularly those of The Three Stooges. She appeared in 120 films between 1925 and 1950.
Otto Hugo Fries was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1920 and 1938.
Edgar Warren Hymer was an American theatre and film actor.
Phyllis Barry was an English film actress. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Seth Henry and Bertha Hillyard, Barry appeared in over 40 films between 1925 and 1947.
Pitts and Todd were a 1930s movie comedy duo consisting of actresses ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd. Assembled by Hal Roach as the female counterparts to Laurel and Hardy, the duo's members changed over the years and included actresses Patsy Kelly, Pert Kelton and Lyda Roberti.
A Pair of Tights is a 1928 silent comedy short film starring Anita Garvin, Marion Byron, Edgar Kennedy and Stuart Erwin.