Ben Lyon
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Feb 6, 1901
- Died
- Mar 22, 1979 (aged 78)
- Place of birth
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Credits
- 75
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.
Known for
Filmography
Hollywood
1980TV
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962TV
Self
The Lyons in Paris
1955Movie
Ben
Life with the Lyons
1954Movie
Ben Lyon
The Dark Tower
1943Movie
Phil Danton
This Was Paris
1942Movie
Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
Hi Gang!
1941Movie
Her Other Half
Confidential Lady
1939Movie
Jim Brent
I Killed the Count
1939Movie
Bernard Froy
Stardust
1938Movie
Roy Harley
Down to the Sea
1936Movie
Steve Londos
Dancing Feet
1936Movie
Peyton Wells
Frisco Waterfront
1935Movie
Glenn Burton
Navy Wife
1935Movie
Dr. Peter Milford
Together We Live
1935Movie
Max
Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8
1935Movie
Lightning Strikes Twice
1934Movie
Steve Brewster
Crimson Romance
1934Movie
Bob Wilson
I Spy
1934Movie
Wally Sawyer
The Women in His Life
1933Movie
Roger McKane
I Cover the Waterfront
1933Movie
H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
Girl Missing
1933Movie
Henry Gibson
Hollywood on Parade No. A-3
1932Movie
Self
Hat Check Girl
1932Movie
Buster Collins
The Crooked Circle
1932Movie
Brand Osborne
Hollywood on Parade No. A-1
1932Movie
Self
By Whose Hand?
1932Movie
Jimmy Hawley
Week Ends Only
1932Movie
Jack Williams
The Big Timer
1932Movie
Cooky Bradford
Lady with a Past
1932Movie
Guy Bryson
Her Majesty, Love
1931Movie
Fred von Wellingen
Compromised
1931Movie
Sidney Brock
Bought!
1931Movie
Nick Amory
Night Nurse
1931Movie
Mortie
My Past
1931Movie
Robert 'Bob' Byrne
Aloha
1931Movie
Jimmy Bradford
Indiscreet
1931Movie
Tony Blake
Misbehaving Ladies
1931Movie
Phil Hunter
The Stolen Jools
1931Movie
Ben Lyon
The Hot Heiress
1931Movie
Hap Harrigan
Hell's Angels
1930Movie
Monte Rutledge
A Soldier's Plaything
1930Movie
Georgie
What Men Want
1930Movie
Kendall James
Alias French Gertie
1930Movie
Jimmy Hartigan
Lummox
1930Movie
Rollo Farley
The Flying Marine
1929Movie
Steve Moran
The Quitter
1929Movie
Neal Abbott
All Faces West
1929Movie
Matthew
The Air Legion
1929Movie
Dave Grayson
Das tanzende Wien
1927Movie
Jonny Conzaga
Life in Hollywood No. 2
1927Movie
Himself
For the Love of Mike
1927Movie
Mike
The Tender Hour
1927Movie
Wally McKenzie
The Perfect Sap
1927Movie
Herbert Alden
The Prince of Tempters
1926Movie
Francis
The Great Deception
1926Movie
Cyril Mansfield
The Savage
1926Movie
Danny Terry
The Reckless Lady
1926Movie
Ralph Hilliwe
Bluebeard's Seven Wives
1926Movie
John Hart / Don Juan Hartez
The New Commandment
1925Movie
Billy Morrow
The Pace That Thrills
1925Movie
Danny Wade
Winds of Chance
1925Movie
Pierce Phillips
The Necessary Evil
1925Movie
Frank Jerome
One Way Street
1925Movie
Bobby Austin
So Big
1924Movie
Dirk DeJong
Wages of Virtue
1924Movie
Marvin
Wine of Youth
1924Movie
Lynn Talbot
Lily of the Dust
1924Movie
Lt. Prell
The White Moth
1924Movie
Douglas Vantine
Painted People
1924Movie
Don Lane
Flaming Youth
1923Movie
Monty Standish
Potash and Perlmutter
1923Movie
Boris Andrieff
The Custard Cup
1923Movie
Dick Chase
The Heart of Maryland
1921Movie
Bob Telfair
Open Your Eyes
1919Movie
Harold Connors