Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 41

TV Involvements: 0


Most Famous Work

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.

Most Famous Work

Hell's Angels
Average
6

Hell's Angels

(1930) Monte Rutledge
I Cover the Waterfront
Average
5

I Cover the Waterfront

(1933) H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
Bought!
Average
6

Bought!

(1931) Nick Amory
The Dark Tower
Average
6

The Dark Tower

(1943) Phil Danton
The Hot Heiress
Average
5

The Hot Heiress

(1931) Hap Harrigan
This Was Paris
Average
6

This Was Paris

(1942) Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
The Necessary Evil
Average
0

The Necessary Evil

(1925) Frank Jerome
Alias French Gertie
Average
5

Alias French Gertie

(1930) Jimmy Hartigan

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1962 Self
1955 Ben
1954 Ben Lyon
1943 Phil Danton
1942 Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
1941 Her Other Half
1939 Jim Brent
Bernard Froy
1938 Roy Harley
1936 Steve Londos
Peyton Wells
1935 Glenn Burton
Dr. Peter Milford
Max
1934 Steve Brewster
Bob Wilson
Wally Sawyer
1933 Roger McKane
H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
Henry Gibson
1932 Self
Buster Collins
Brand Osborne
Self
Jimmy Hawley
Jack Williams
Cooky Bradford
Guy Bryson
1931 Fred von Wellingen
Nick Amory
Mortie
Robert 'Bob' Byrne
Jimmy Bradford
Tony Blake
Phil Hunter
Ben Lyon
Hap Harrigan
1930 Monte Rutledge
Georgie
Kendall James
Jimmy Hartigan
Rollo Farley
1929 Steve Moran
Neal Abbott
Matthew
1927 Jonny Conzaga
Himself
Mike
Wally McKenzie
1926 Francis
Cyril Mansfield
Danny Terry
Ralph Hilliwe
John Hart / Don Juan Hartez
1925 Billy Morrow
Danny Wade
Pierce Phillips
Frank Jerome
1924 Dirk DeJong
Marvin
Lynn Talbot
Lt. Prell
Douglas Vantine
Don Lane
1923 Boris Andrieff
Dick Chase
1919 Harold Connors
Year Character Movie/Tv

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