About

Known credits:
188
Birthday:
1888-11-18
Place of birth:
San Francisco, California, USA
Website:
N/A

Frances Marion

Overview

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

Acting
2016 The Women Who Run Hollywood Actor Self (archive footage) 59
Average
2000 Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood Actor Self (archive footage) 59
Average
1915 A Girl of Yesterday Actor Rosanna Danford N/A
N/A

Directing
1923 The Song of Love Directing Director 58
Average
1921 Just Around the Corner Directing Director 59
Average
1921 The Love Light Directing Director 59
Average

Writing
1989 Dinner at Eight Writing Writer 58
Average
1979 The Champ Writing Original Story 61
Fair
1979 The Champ Writing Story 61
Fair
1945 Molly and Me Writing Novel 58
Average
1940 Green Hell Writing Original Story 58
Average
1940 Green Hell Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1937 Knight Without Armour Writing Writer 58
Average
1937 Knight Without Armour Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1937 Love from a Stranger Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1937 Love from a Stranger Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1936 Camille Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1936 Riffraff Writing Story 58
Average
1936 Riffraff Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1933 Dinner at Eight Writing Screenplay 60
Fair
1933 The Prizefighter and the Lady Writing Story 58
Average
1933 Hold Your Man Writing Writer 58
Average
1933 Secrets Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1933 Secrets Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1932 Cynara Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1932 Cynara Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1932 Blondie of the Follies Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1932 Blondie of the Follies Writing Story 58
Average
1932 Emma Writing Story 58
Average
1931 The Champ Writing Story 60
Fair
1931 The Champ Writing Writer 60
Fair
1931 The Big House Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1931 The Secret Six Writing Writer 58
Average
1930 Anna Christie Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1930 Min and Bill Writing Writer 59
Average
1930 The Big House Writing Writer 59
Average
1930 Good News Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1930 Good News Writing Scenario Writer 58
Average
1930 Let Us Be Gay Writing Writer 58
Average
1930 Let Us Be Gay Writing Dialogue 58
Average
1930 The Big House Writing Dialogue 59
Average
1930 The Big House Writing Story 59
Average
1930 The Big House Writing Writer 59
Average
1930 Anna Christie Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1930 The Rogue Song Writing Writer 58
Average
1929 Their Own Desire Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1928 The Masks of the Devil Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1928 The Awakening Writing Story N/A
N/A
1928 The Wind Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1928 The Sunset Legion Writing Story N/A
N/A
1928 The Sunset Legion Writing Scenario Writer N/A
N/A
1928 Bringing Up Father Writing Writer 58
Average
1927 Love Writing Writer 59
Average
1927 Jesse James Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1927 Jesse James Writing Story N/A
N/A
1927 Madame Pompadour Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1927 The Callahans and the Murphys Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1927 Mr. Wu Writing Writer 58
Average
1927 The Red Mill Writing Scenario Writer 59
Average
1927 The Red Mill Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1927 Don Mike Writing Story N/A
N/A
1927 The Scarlet Letter Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1927 The Scarlet Letter Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1926 The Winning of Barbara Worth Writing Writer 59
Average
1926 The Son of the Sheik Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1926 The Son of the Sheik Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1926 The Two-Gun Man Writing Co-Writer N/A
N/A
1926 Hands Across the Border Writing Story 58
Average
1926 Paris at Midnight Writing Writer 59
Average
1926 Partners Again Writing Adaptation N/A
N/A
1926 Partners Again Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1926 The Tough Guy Writing Story N/A
N/A
1926 The First Year Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1925 Stella Dallas Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1925 Stella Dallas Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1925 Lazybones Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1925 Lazybones Writing Scenario Writer 59
Average
1925 Thank You Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1925 The Dark Angel Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1925 Graustark Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1925 Graustark Writing Adaptation N/A
N/A
1925 Lightnin' Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1925 Lightnin' Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1925 Ridin' the Wind Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1925 A Thief in Paradise Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1925 A Thief in Paradise Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1925 Zander the Great Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1925 Zander the Great Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1925 His Supreme Moment Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1925 His Supreme Moment Writing Adaptation N/A
N/A
1925 The Lady Writing Writer 58
Average
1924 Sundown Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1924 In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1924 Tarnish Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1924 Cytherea Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1924 Cytherea Writing Adaptation N/A
N/A
1924 Secrets Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1924 Secrets Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1924 The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1924 The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln Writing Story N/A
N/A
1924 Through the Dark Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1923 The Song of Love Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1923 The Song of Love Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1923 Potash and Perlmutter Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1923 The French Doll Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1923 The French Doll Writing Scenario Writer N/A
N/A
1923 Dulcy Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1923 The Love Piker Writing Scenario Writer N/A
N/A
1923 The Eagle's Talons Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1923 Within the Law Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1923 Within the Law Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1923 The Nth Commandment Writing Writer 58
Average
1923 The Famous Mrs. Fair Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1923 The Voice from the Minaret Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1923 The Voice from the Minaret Writing Adaptation N/A
N/A
1923 The Toll of the Sea Writing Writer 59
Average
1923 The Toll of the Sea Writing Story 59
Average
1922 East Is West Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1922 The Eternal Flame Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1922 Sherlock Brown Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1922 Sonny Writing Adaptation N/A
N/A
1922 Sonny Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1922 The Primitive Lover Writing Writer 59
Average
1922 Back Pay Writing Writer 59
Average
1921 Just Around the Corner Writing Writer 59
Average
1921 Straight Is the Way Writing Writer 59
Average
1921 The Love Light Writing Writer 59
Average
1920 The Restless Sex Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1920 The World and His Wife Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1920 Go and Get It Writing Scenario Writer 58
Average
1920 Humoresque Writing Writer 59
Average
1920 The Flapper Writing Story 59
Average
1920 The Flapper Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1920 Pollyanna Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1920 Pollyanna Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1919 The Cinema Murder Writing Scenario Writer N/A
N/A
1919 The Cinema Murder Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1919 Anne of Green Gables Writing Writer 59
Average
1919 The Misleading Widow Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1919 The Dark Star Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1919 Captain Kidd, Jr. Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1918 The Temple Of Dusk Writing Writer 58
Average
1918 Johanna Enlists Writing Writer 59
Average
1918 He Comes Up Smiling Writing Writer 59
Average
1918 The City of Dim Faces Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1918 How Could You, Jean? Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1918 M'Liss Writing Writer 59
Average
1918 Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley Writing Writer 58
Average
1918 Stella Maris Writing Writer 59
Average
1917 A Little Princess Writing Writer 58
Average
1917 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Writing Writer 59
Average
1917 The Amazons Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 Beloved Adventuress Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1917 Beloved Adventuress Writing Story N/A
N/A
1917 The Divorce Game Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 The Stolen Paradise Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 The Crimson Dove Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 Darkest Russia Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 Forget-Me-Not Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 The Social Leper Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 The Poor Little Rich Girl Writing Scenario Writer 58
Average
1917 The Poor Little Rich Girl Writing Writer 58
Average
1917 The Web of Desire Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 A Girl's Folly Writing Writer 59
Average
1917 A Square Deal Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1917 Tillie Wakes Up Writing Writer 59
Average
1917 On Dangerous Ground Writing Writer 59
Average
1917 A Woman Alone Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 The Rise of Susan Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 All Man Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 The Heart of a Hero Writing Writer 59
Average
1916 The Hidden Scar Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 The Gilded Cage Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 The Revolt Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 The Summer Girl Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 A Woman's Way Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 The Crucial Test Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1916 A Circus Romance Writing Story N/A
N/A
1916 The Foundling Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1915 Camille Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1915 A Daughter of the Sea Writing Story N/A
N/A
1915 Esmeralda Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1915 Rags Writing Writer 59
Average
1915 A Sister's Burden Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1915 Fanchon, the Cricket Writing Writer 59
Average
1912 The New York Hat Writing Writer 58
Average

Production
1923 The Nth Commandment Production Producer 58
Average

Crew
1948 The Pirate Crew Additional Writing 59
Average