About

Known credits:
48
Birthday:
1895-12-11
Place of birth:
Jackson, Michigan, USA
Website:
N/A

Gene Markey

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eugene Willford "Gene" Markey (December 11, 1895 – May 1, 1980) was an American author, producer, screenwriter, and highly decorated naval officer.

Early life

Markey was born in Michigan in the year 1895. His father, Eugene Lawrence Markey, was a colonel in the United States Army. His uncle, Daniel P. Markey, had been Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1918.

Chicago

He was a skilled sketch artist, which gained him entry, after World War I, into the Art Institute of Chicago starting in 1919 and finishing in 1920. There, he claimed to have "studied painting and learned nothing". After that, he worked as a journalist in Chicago for several newspapers and magazines, including Photoplay magazine. It was during the 1920s that Gene Markey first became a writer, specializing in novels about the Jazz Age. Among his titles were Anabel; Stepping High; Women, Women, Everywhere; and His Majesty's Pyjamas. His book "Literary Lights" (March 1923, Alfred A. Knopf, New York) was a collection of fifty of America's most important literary authors of the day. He personally sketched each caricature.

Hollywood

He went to Hollywood in 1929 and became a screenwriter for Twentieth Century Fox. His screen credits included King of Burlesque (1936) starring Alice Faye, Girls' Dormitory (1936) featuring Herbert Marshall, and On the Avenue (1937), starring Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, and Alice Faye. He was also the producer of the 1937 Shirley Temple film, Wee Willie Winkie, among others.

Although he was not overly handsome, he was a very skilled conversationalist and he quickly became a popular fixture in Hollywood society. Among his good friends in Hollywood were producer John Hay Whitney, composer Irving Berlin, and actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Ward Bond and John Wayne. He would often go fishing with Bond and Wayne off Catalina Island. A 1946 article in the Washington Times Herald said, "Other Men Say: What's Gene Markey Got That We Haven't Got?" The article ran a photo of Rudolph Valentino with the caption, "NOT SO HOT – By Comparison. Though all American womanhood swooned over him in his day, Rudolph Valentino was no Markey." Soon after he arrived in Hollywood in 1929, it was also reported that, "Markey became the most sought after unattached man in the cinema firmament, so sprinkled with far handsomer, richer male stars." Markey was married three times to prominent film actresses. His first wife was Joan Bennett, from 1932 to 1937 (which produced a daughter, Melinda, in 1934). He was married to Hedy Lamarr from 1939 to 1940 and to Myrna Loy from 1946 to 1950. At first, Loy claimed mental cruelty, but later retracted it, saying, "He could make a scrubwoman think she was a queen and he could make a queen think she was the queen of queens."

More information can be found at Wikipedia.

Known for

Acting
1940 Cavalcade of the Academy Awards Actor Self 59
Average

Writing
1956 Glory Writing Story 59
Average
1953 Meet Me at the Fair Writing Novel 59
Average
1951 The Wonder Kid Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1949 That Dangerous Age Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1937 On the Avenue Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1936 Love in Exile Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1936 White Hunter Writing Story N/A
N/A
1936 Girls Dormitory Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1936 Private Number Writing Writer 59
Average
1936 Champagne Charlie Writing Writer 58
Average
1936 King of Burlesque Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1936 The Big Noise Writing Story N/A
N/A
1935 Let's Live Tonight Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1934 A Lost Lady Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1934 The Merry Frinks Writing Story 58
Average
1934 The Merry Frinks Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1934 A Modern Hero Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1934 Fashions of 1934 Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1933 Female Writing Writer 59
Average
1933 Baby Face Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1933 Midnight Mary Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1933 Lilly Turner Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1933 Luxury Liner Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1932 As You Desire Me Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1932 As You Desire Me Writing Writer 59
Average
1931 The Great Lover Writing Writer 58
Average
1931 Inspiration Writing Writer 59
Average
1930 The Florodora Girl Writing Writer 59
Average
1930 The Florodora Girl Writing Dialogue 59
Average
1930 Prince of Diamonds Writing Story 58
Average
1929 The Battle of Paris Writing Writer 59
Average
1929 Lucky In Love Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1929 Mother's Boy Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1929 Mother's Boy Writing Story N/A
N/A
1929 Syncopation Writing Author 59
Average
1923 Blinky Writing Story N/A
N/A

Production
1947 Moss Rose Production Producer 59
Average
1940 Lillian Russell Production Associate Producer 58
Average
1939 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Production Associate Producer 61
Fair
1939 Second Fiddle Production Producer 58
Average
1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles Production Associate Producer 62
Fair
1939 The Little Princess Production Associate Producer 60
Fair
1938 Kentucky Production Producer 59
Average
1938 Suez Production Associate Producer 58
Average
1938 Josette Production Associate Producer 59
Average
1938 Sally, Irene and Mary Production Producer 58
Average
1937 On the Avenue Production Associate Producer 59
Average