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Marilyn Miller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marilyn Miller (born Mary Ellen Reynolds) (September 1, 1898 – April 7, 1936) was a well-known American 1920s musicals star and tap dancer.
Born in Evansville, Indiana, she was hired by producer Lee Shubert, who saw her in a London club and brought her to New York for his "Passing Show" revues of 1914, 1915 and 1917. She then joined the Ziegfeld Follies and became a top headliner in the Follies shows of 1918 and 1919 (and Florenz Ziegfeld's mistress). Miller became famous in the hit Ziegfeld production Sally for her performance of the song "Look for the Silver Lining" and for her outstanding dancing. Miller appeared in a series of Broadway shows during the 1920s. She played the title role in Peter Pan and then Sunny, a hit that made her the highest paid star on Broadway. In 1928 she starred in the Gershwin musical Rosalie.
Miller's film career, however, was not as successful and she made only three films: a film adaptation of Sally (1929); Sunny (1930); and Her Majesty, Love (1931). From 1922 to 1927, she was married to actor Jack Pickford, the brother of film star Mary Pickford. Her last Broadway show was the innovative 1933 Irving Berlin musical, As Thousands Cheer.
Miller was married three times. Her first husband, stage actor Frank Carter, was killed in a car crash after only a year of marriage; second husband Jack Pickford was a drug and alcohol abuser (they divorced); and third husband, stage manager Chester "Chet" O'Brien, was an opportunist. She died before they were divorced. Miller had a long history of sinus infections (and an increasing dependency on alcohol) and died from complications following surgery on her nasal passages at the age of 37. She died in New York City and was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.
In the late 1940s, Norma Jean Baker changed her name to Marilyn Monroe, at the urging of Ben Lyon, a casting diretor at 20th Century Fox, who said she reminded him of Marilyn Miller.