Frances Marion

Personal Info

Known For Writer

Gender Female

Birthday 1888-11-18

Deathday 1973-05-12 (84 years old)

Place of Birth San Francisco, California, USA

Also Known As Frank M. Clifton

Frances Marion

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

Writer

1989
Dinner at Eight

as Writer

1979
The Champ

as Story

1945
Molly and Me

as Novel

1940
Green Hell

as Screenplay

1940
Green Hell

as Original Story

1937
Love from a Stranger

as Screenplay

1937
Knight Without Armour

as Adaptation

1937
Love from a Stranger

as Adaptation

1937
1936
Camille

as Screenplay

1936
Riffraff

as Screenplay

1936
Riffraff

as Story

1933
Secrets

as Adaptation

1933
Secrets

as Screenplay

1933
Dinner at Eight

as Screenplay

1932
Emma

as Story

1932
1932
Cynara

as Adaptation

1932
Cynara

as Screenplay

1931
The Secret Six

as Writer

1931
The Champ

as Writer

1931
The Big House

as Writer

1930
The Big House

as Dialogue

1930
The Big House

as Story

1930
The Big House

as Writer

1930
Anna Christie

as Screenplay

1930
Good News

as Scenario Writer

1930
Let Us Be Gay

as Dialogue

1930
Let Us Be Gay

as Writer

1930
Anna Christie

as Adaptation

1930
The Rogue Song

as Writer

1930
Min and Bill

as Writer

1930
The Big House

as Writer

1930
Good News

as Screenplay

1929
Their Own Desire

as Screenplay

1928
The Wind

as Screenplay

1928
The Awakening

as Story

1928
1928
1928
The Sunset Legion

as Scenario Writer

1927
The Scarlet Letter

as Adaptation

1927
Love

as Writer

1927
The Red Mill

as Scenario Writer

1927
Mr. Wu

as Writer

1927
The Red Mill

as Adaptation

1927
1927
The Scarlet Letter

as Screenplay

1927
Jesse James

as Screenplay

1927
Jesse James

as Story

1927
Don Mike

as Story

1926
The Son of the Sheik

as Adaptation

1926
Partners Again

as Adaptation

1926
The First Year

as Writer

1926
1926
The Tough Guy

as Story

1926
The Son of the Sheik

as Screenplay

1926
Partners Again

as Screenplay

1926
The Two-Gun Man

as Co-Writer

1925
A Thief in Paradise

as Adaptation

1925
Stella Dallas

as Adaptation

1925
Lightnin'

as Adaptation

1925
Zander the Great

as Adaptation

1925
The Lady

as Writer

1925
Lazybones

as Scenario Writer

1925
Thank You

as Screenplay

1925
The Dark Angel

as Writer

1925
His Supreme Moment

as Adaptation

1925
Graustark

as Adaptation

1925
Zander the Great

as Screenplay

1925
Graustark

as Screenplay

1925
Lazybones

as Screenplay

1925
Stella Dallas

as Screenplay

1925
Lightnin'

as Screenplay

1925
A Thief in Paradise

as Screenplay

1925
His Supreme Moment

as Screenplay

1925
Ridin' the Wind

as Writer

1924
Sundown

as Writer

1924
Secrets

as Adaptation

1924
Cytherea

as Adaptation

1924
1924
Tarnish

as Screenplay

1924
Secrets

as Screenplay

1924
Cytherea

as Screenplay

1923
1923
1923
1923
The Famous Mrs. Fair

as Screenplay

1923
1923
Dulcy

as Writer

1923
Within the Law

as Adaptation

1923
1923
The Song of Love

as Adaptation

1923
1923
The French Doll

as Writer

1923
1923
Within the Law

as Screenplay

1923
The Song of Love

as Screenplay

1923
The French Doll

as Scenario Writer

1923
The Love Piker

as Scenario Writer

1922
1922
Back Pay

as Writer

1922
1922
Sonny

as Adaptation

1922
East Is West

as Writer

1922
Sonny

as Screenplay

1922
Sherlock Brown

as Writer

1921
The Love Light

as Writer

1921
1920
1920
Go and Get It

as Scenario Writer

1920
Humoresque

as Writer

1920
1920
Pollyanna

as Adaptation

1920
The Flapper

as Screenplay

1920
The Flapper

as Story

1920
Pollyanna

as Screenplay

1919
1919
1919
The Cinema Murder

as Scenario Writer

1919
1919
The Dark Star

as Writer

1919
The Cinema Murder

as Screenplay

1918
Stella Maris

as Writer

1918
M'Liss

as Writer

1918
How Could You, Jean?

as Screenplay

1918
The City of Dim Faces

as Screenplay

1918
Johanna Enlists

as Writer

1918
1918
1917
The Poor Little Rich Girl

as Scenario Writer

1917
1917
Tillie Wakes Up

as Writer

1917
1917
A Square Deal

as Writer

1917
Forget-Me-Not

as Writer

1917
1917
1917
The Amazons

as Writer

1917
A Girl's Folly

as Writer

1917
1917
A Woman Alone

as Writer

1916
1916
The Gilded Cage

as Writer

1916
The Hidden Scar

as Writer

1916
A Woman's Way

as Writer

1916
The Revolt

as Writer

1916
1916
1916
The Foundling

as Writer

1916
1915
1915
1915
Rags

as Writer

1915
Camille

as Screenplay

1915
Esmeralda

as Writer

1912

Director

1923
The Song of Love

as Director

1921
The Love Light

as Director

1921

Actor

2016
The Women Who Run Hollywood

as Self (archive footage)

1915
A Girl of Yesterday

as Rosanna Danford

Producer

1923

Crew

1948
The Pirate

as Additional Writing