Frances Marion
- Known for
- Writing
- Born
- November 18, 1888
- Died
- May 12, 1973 (aged 84)
- Birthplace
- San Francisco, California, USA
Biography
Frances Marion (November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. She was the first writer to win two Academy Awards. Born Marion Benson Owens in San Francisco, California, she worked as a journalist and served overseas as a combat correspondent during World War I. On her return home, she moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a writing assistant, an actress and general assistant by "Lois Weber Productions", a film company owned and operated by pioneer female film director Lois Weber.She has a face as an actor, but she preferred a work that she isn't in the camera. She learned how to write a scenario from Weber. Marion wrote a story for a movie for her, but it burned before it was released. As "Frances Marion", she wrote many scripts for actress/filmmaker Mary Pickford, including Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and The Poor Little Rich Girl, as well as scripts for numerous other successful films of the 1920s and 1930s.Marion went to New York for her job, and her husband decline to live with her and divorced. She became the first female to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1930 for the film The Big House, she received the Academy Award for Best Story for The Champ in 1932, both featuring Wallace Beery, and co-wrote Min and Bill starring her friend Marie Dressler and Beery in 1930. She was credited with writing 300 scripts and over 130 produced films. She directed and occasionally appeared in some of Mary Pickford's early movies. For many years she was under contract to MGM Studios, but, independently wealthy, she left Hollywood in 1946 to devote more time to writing stage plays and novels. Frances Marion published a memoir Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood in 1972. Marion died the following year of a ruptured aneurysm in Los Angeles.
Known For
Filmography
Dinner at Eight
Movie · Original Film Writer
The Champ
Movie · Story
Molly and Me
Movie · Novel
Green Hell
Movie · Original Story, Screenplay
Love from a Stranger
Movie · Screenplay, Adaptation
Knight Without Armour
Movie · Adaptation, Writer
Camille
Movie · Screenplay
Riffraff
Movie · Screenplay, Story
The Prizefighter and the Lady
Movie · Story
Secrets
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Dinner at Eight
Movie · Screenplay
Hold Your Man
Movie · Writer
Emma
Movie · Story
Blondie of the Follies
Movie · Screenplay, Story
Cynara
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Secret Six
Movie · Writer
The Champ
Movie · Writer, Story
The Big House
Movie · Writer
The Big House
Movie · Story, Dialogue, Writer
The Big House
Movie · Writer
Anna Christie
Movie · Screenplay
Good News
Movie · Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Let Us Be Gay
Movie · Writer, Dialogue
Anna Christie
Movie · Adaptation
The Rogue Song
Movie · Writer
Min and Bill
Movie · Writer
Their Own Desire
Movie · Screenplay
The Wind
Movie · Screenplay
The Masks of the Devil
Movie · Writer
The Awakening
Movie · Story
Bringing Up Father
Movie · Writer
The Sunset Legion
Movie · Story, Scenario Writer
The Cossacks
Movie · Adaptation
The Pioneer Scout
Movie · Writer
Kit Carson
Movie · Story
The Scarlet Letter
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Love
Movie · Writer
The Red Mill
Movie · Adaptation, Scenario Writer
Mr. Wu
Movie · Writer
Madame Pompadour
Movie · Writer
The Callahans and the Murphys
Movie · Writer
Jesse James
Movie · Screenplay, Story
Don Mike
Movie · Story
The Son of the Sheik
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Winning of Barbara Worth
Movie · Writer
Partners Again
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The First Year
Movie · Writer
Paris at Midnight
Movie · Writer
The Tough Guy
Movie · Story
Hands Across the Border
Movie · Story
The Two-Gun Man
Movie · Co-Writer
Lone Hand Saunders
Movie · Story
A Thief in Paradise
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Stella Dallas
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Lightnin'
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Zander the Great
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Lady
Movie · Writer
Lazybones
Movie · Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Thank You
Movie · Screenplay
His Supreme Moment
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Dark Angel
Movie · Writer
Graustark
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Ridin' the Wind
Movie · Writer
The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
Movie · Screenplay, Story
Sundown
Movie · Writer
Secrets
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
Cytherea
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Movie · Writer
Through the Dark
Movie · Writer
Tarnish
Movie · Screenplay
The Mask of Lopez
Movie · Writer
The Eagle's Talons
Movie · Writer
The Toll of the Sea
Movie · Story, Writer
Potash and Perlmutter
Movie · Writer
The Famous Mrs. Fair
Movie · Screenplay
Dulcy
Movie · Writer
Within the Law
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Nth Commandment
Movie · Writer
The Voice from the Minaret
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Song of Love
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The French Doll
Movie · Writer, Scenario Writer
The Love Piker
Movie · Scenario Writer
The Primitive Lover
Movie · Writer
Back Pay
Movie · Writer
The Eternal Flame
Movie · Writer
Sonny
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
East Is West
Movie · Writer
Sherlock Brown
Movie · Writer
The Love Light
Movie · Writer
Just Around the Corner
Movie · Writer
Straight Is the Way
Movie · Writer
The World and His Wife
Movie · Screenplay
Go and Get It
Movie · Scenario Writer
Humoresque
Movie · Writer
The Restless Sex
Movie · Writer
Pollyanna
Movie · Adaptation, Screenplay
The Flapper
Movie · Screenplay, Story
The Misleading Widow
Movie · Writer
Anne of Green Gables
Movie · Writer
The Cinema Murder
Movie · Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Captain Kidd, Jr.
Movie · Writer
The Dark Star
Movie · Writer
A Regular Girl
Movie · Writer
Stella Maris
Movie · Writer
M'Liss
Movie · Writer
How Could You, Jean?
Movie · Screenplay
The City of Dim Faces
Movie · Screenplay
Johanna Enlists
Movie · Writer
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Movie · Writer
He Comes Up Smiling
Movie · Writer
The Temple Of Dusk
Movie · Writer
The Goat
Movie · Screenplay, Story
The Poor Little Rich Girl
Movie · Scenario Writer
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Movie · Writer
The Web of Desire
Movie · Writer
Tillie Wakes Up
Movie · Writer
The Social Leper
Movie · Writer
A Square Deal
Movie · Writer
Forget-Me-Not
Movie · Writer
A Little Princess
Movie · Writer
On Dangerous Ground
Movie · Writer
The Amazons
Movie · Writer
A Girl's Folly
Movie · Writer
The Stolen Paradise
Movie · Writer
A Woman Alone
Movie · Writer
Beloved Adventuress
Movie · Screenplay, Story
Darkest Russia
Movie · Writer
The Crimson Dove
Movie · Writer
The Divorce Game
Movie · Writer
A Hungry Heart
Movie · Writer
The Heart of a Hero
Movie · Writer
The Gilded Cage
Movie · Writer
The Hidden Scar
Movie · Writer
The Revolt
Movie · Writer
A Woman's Way
Movie · Writer
The Rise of Susan
Movie · Writer
A Circus Romance
Movie · Story
The Foundling
Movie · Writer
The Crucial Test
Movie · Writer
All Man
Movie · Writer
The Summer Girl
Movie · Writer
The Battle of Hearts
Movie · Writer
The Yellow Passport
Movie · Scenario Writer
The Feast of Life
Movie · Screenplay
La Vie de Bohème
Movie · Writer
Then I'll Come Back to You
Movie · Writer
The Social Highwayman
Movie · Writer
Bought and Paid For
Movie · Writer
Friday the 13th
Movie · Writer
A Sister's Burden
Movie · Writer
A Daughter of the Sea
Movie · Story
Fanchon, the Cricket
Movie · Writer
Rags
Movie · Writer
Camille
Movie · Screenplay
Esmeralda
Movie · Writer
The New York Hat
Movie · Writer