Ben Lyon
Acting • Born 1901-02-06 – Died 1979-03-22
Biography
From Wikipedia Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American actor and a studio executive at 20th Century Fox. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923), and steadily developed into a leading man. He was most successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era including Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Barbara La Marr, Viola Dana, Anna Q. Nilsson, Mary Astor and Blanche Sweet. He had success as an actor in the 1930 film Hell's Angels. The film was a major success and brought Jean Harlow to prominence, but Lyon's performance as an heroic World War I aviator was also highly regarded. For the next decade he was constantly in demand, but his popularity began to wane by the early 1940s. By the mid-1940s he was working for 20th Century Fox. On July 17, 1946 he met a young aspiring actress named Norma Jeane Dougherty.[2] After his first meeting with her he stated that she was "Jean Harlow all over again!". He organized a color screen test for the actress, renamed her, and finally signed her as Marilyn Monroe to her first studio contract. During World War II, Lyons and his wife, actress Bebe Daniels, settled in London. The couple, along with the comedian Vic Oliver, starred in the radio series Hi, Gang!, which ran from 1940 to 1949. Hi Gang was succeeded in 1950 by Life with the Lyons, which also featured their real life son Richard and daughter Barbara, and had a run on BBC and independent television from 1954 until 1960. Lyon married actress Bebe Daniels in June 1930. They had two children: daughter Barbara in 1932 and a son Richard whom they adopted. Daniels suffered a severe stroke in 1963 and withdrew from public life. She suffered a second stroke in late 1970. She died at the couple's London home in March 1971. In 1974, Lyon married the actress Marian Nixon whom he had known since the 1920s. On March 22, 1979, Lyon and his second wife Marian Nixon were vacationing together on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship near Honolulu, Hawaii, when Lyon suffered a fatal heart attack. He is interred in the Chapel Columbarium at Hollywood Forever Cemetery next to his first wife, Bebe. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ben Lyon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street.
Filmography
74 credits
Hell's Angels
Movie • 1930
Monte Rutledge
I Cover the Waterfront
Movie • 1933
H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
The Necessary Evil
Movie • 1925
Frank Jerome
The New Commandment
Movie • 1925
Billy Morrow
The Quitter
Movie • 1929
Neal Abbott
The Pace That Thrills
Movie • 1925
Danny Wade
Night Nurse
Movie • 1931
Mortie
Life with the Lyons
Movie • 1954
Ben Lyon
Indiscreet
Movie • 1931
Tony Blake
The Lyons in Paris
Movie • 1955
Ben
This Was Paris
Movie • 1942
Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
Lady with a Past
Movie • 1932
Guy Bryson
Hollywood on Parade No. A-1
Movie • 1932
Self
Her Majesty, Love
Movie • 1931
Fred von Wellingen
The Crooked Circle
Movie • 1932
Brand Osborne
By Whose Hand?
Movie • 1932
Jimmy Hawley
Bought!
Movie • 1931
Nick Amory
The Dark Tower
Movie • 1943
Phil Danton
A Soldier's Plaything
Movie • 1930
Georgie
Girl Missing
Movie • 1933
Henry Gibson
Lightning Strikes Twice
Movie • 1934
Steve Brewster
The Hot Heiress
Movie • 1931
Hap Harrigan
Hollywood on Parade No. A-3
Movie • 1932
Self
Down to the Sea
Movie • 1936
Steve Londos
My Past
Movie • 1931
Robert 'Bob' Byrne
Winds of Chance
Movie • 1925
Pierce Phillips
Crimson Romance
Movie • 1934
Bob Wilson
The Big Timer
Movie • 1932
Cooky Bradford
The Custard Cup
Movie • 1923
Dick Chase
Alias French Gertie
Movie • 1930
Jimmy Hartigan
Hat Check Girl
Movie • 1932
Buster Collins
Potash and Perlmutter
Movie • 1923
Boris Andrieff
The Women in His Life
Movie • 1933
Roger McKane
For the Love of Mike
Movie • 1927
Mike
Wine of Youth
Movie • 1924
Lynn Talbot
Dancing Feet
Movie • 1936
Peyton Wells
Together We Live
Movie • 1935
Max
Compromised
Movie • 1931
Sidney Brock
The Great Deception
Movie • 1926
Cyril Mansfield
The Savage
Movie • 1926
Danny Terry
Navy Wife
Movie • 1935
Dr. Peter Milford
So Big
Movie • 1924
Dirk DeJong
Lily of the Dust
Movie • 1924
Lt. Prell
Aloha
Movie • 1931
Jimmy Bradford
Confidential Lady
Movie • 1939
Jim Brent
Week Ends Only
Movie • 1932
Jack Williams
I Killed the Count
Movie • 1939
Bernard Froy
The Stolen Jools
Movie • 1931
Ben Lyon
I Spy
Movie • 1934
Wally Sawyer
Misbehaving Ladies
Movie • 1931
Phil Hunter
Hi Gang!
Movie • 1941
Her Other Half
Painted People
Movie • 1924
Don Lane
Lummox
Movie • 1930
Rollo Farley
Frisco Waterfront
Movie • 1935
Glenn Burton
What Men Want
Movie • 1930
Kendall James
The Tender Hour
Movie • 1927
Wally McKenzie
Bluebeard's Seven Wives
Movie • 1926
John Hart / Don Juan Hartez
The Reckless Lady
Movie • 1926
Ralph Hilliwe
Stardust
Movie • 1938
Roy Harley
The Prince of Tempters
Movie • 1926
Francis
The White Moth
Movie • 1924
Douglas Vantine
Wages of Virtue
Movie • 1924
Marvin
Das tanzende Wien
Movie • 1927
Jonny Conzaga
Open Your Eyes
Movie • 1919
Harold Connors
Life in Hollywood No. 2
Movie • 1927
Himself
All Faces West
Movie • 1929
Matthew
The Flying Marine
Movie • 1929
Steve Moran
The Heart of Maryland
Movie • 1921
Bob Telfair
Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8
Movie • 1935
The Perfect Sap
Movie • 1927
Herbert Alden
The Air Legion
Movie • 1929
Dave Grayson
One Way Street
Movie • 1925
Bobby Austin
Flaming Youth
Movie • 1923
Monty Standish
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self