Ben Lyon

Known for ActingBorn 1901-02-06Died 1979-03-22Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

Hollywood on Parade No. A-3

Week Ends Only

The Tender Hour

Das tanzende Wien

Bluebeard's Seven Wives

The Reckless Lady

The New Commandment

Painted People

The Custard Cup

Frisco Waterfront

Misbehaving Ladies

All Faces West

The Air Legion

Life in Hollywood No. 2

The Savage

The Prince of Tempters

The Pace That Thrills

One Way Street

So Big

Potash and Perlmutter

Wine of Youth

Bought!

Aloha

Lummox

The Quitter

The Flying Marine

The Necessary Evil

Lily of the Dust

Wages of Virtue

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Life with the Lyons

Hat Check Girl

I Killed the Count

Together We Live

I Spy

For the Love of Mike

The Perfect Sap

The Great Deception

The Heart of Maryland

Night Nurse

Hi Gang!

Her Majesty, Love

By Whose Hand?

Hell's Angels

Winds of Chance

Alias French Gertie

The Dark Tower

Lady with a Past