Ben Lyon
Acting
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.
Born: February 6, 1901
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Known For
Filmography
as Ben
as Ben Lyon
as Phil Danton
as Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
as Her Other Half
as Roy Harley
as Peyton Wells
as Glenn Burton
as Dr. Peter Milford
as Max
as Steve Brewster
as Bob Wilson
as Wally Sawyer
as Roger McKane
as H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
as Henry Gibson
as Self
as Buster Collins
as Brand Osborne
as Self
as Jimmy Hawley
as Jack Williams
as Cooky Bradford
as Guy Bryson
as Fred von Wellingen
as Sidney Brock
as Nick Amory
as Mortie
as Robert 'Bob' Byrne
as Jimmy Bradford
as Tony Blake
as Phil Hunter
as Ben Lyon
as Hap Harrigan
as Monte Rutledge
as Georgie
as Kendall James
as Jimmy Hartigan
as Rollo Farley
as Steve Moran
as Neal Abbott
as Matthew
as Jonny Conzaga
as Himself
as Mike
as Francis
as Cyril Mansfield
as Danny Terry
as Ralph Hilliwe
as John Hart / Don Juan Hartez
as Billy Morrow
as Danny Wade
as Pierce Phillips
as Frank Jerome
as Dirk DeJong
as Marvin
as Lynn Talbot
as Lt. Prell
as Douglas Vantine
as Don Lane
as Boris Andrieff
as Bob Telfair
as Harold Connors