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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
February 6, 1901
Died
March 22, 1979
Place of Birth
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Ben Lyon
0.3 Popularity
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.
Known For
7.4
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
3.5
Ben
The Lyons in Paris
1955
6.0
Ben Lyon
Life with the Lyons
1954
6.1
Phil Danton
The Dark Tower
1943
5.5
Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
This Was Paris
1942
5.5
Her Other Half
Hi Gang!
1941
🎬
2.0
Jim Brent
Confidential Lady
1939
🎬
0.0
Bernard Froy
I Killed the Count
1939
4.0
Roy Harley
Stardust
1938
🎬
4.5
Steve Londos
Down to the Sea
1936
Credits
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1962
7.4
The Lyons in Paris
as Ben
1955
3.5
Life with the Lyons
as Ben Lyon
1954
6.0
The Dark Tower
as Phil Danton
1943
6.1
This Was Paris
as Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
1942
5.5
Hi Gang!
as Her Other Half
1941
5.5
🎬
Confidential Lady
as Jim Brent
1939
2.0
🎬
I Killed the Count
as Bernard Froy
1939
0.0
Stardust
as Roy Harley
1938
4.0
🎬
Down to the Sea
as Steve Londos
1936
4.5
Dancing Feet
as Peyton Wells
1936
5.2
Frisco Waterfront
as Glenn Burton
1935
0.0
Navy Wife
as Dr. Peter Milford
1935
5.0
Together We Live
as Max
1935
0.0
🎬
Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8
1935
0.0
Lightning Strikes Twice
as Steve Brewster
1934
4.7
Crimson Romance
as Bob Wilson
1934
3.5
I Spy
as Wally Sawyer
1934
6.0
The Women in His Life
as Roger McKane
1933
4.0
I Cover the Waterfront
as H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
1933
5.1
Girl Missing
as Henry Gibson
1933
5.1
Hollywood on Parade No. A-3
as Self
1932
0.0
Hat Check Girl
as Buster Collins
1932
6.0
The Crooked Circle
as Brand Osborne
1932
4.8
Hollywood on Parade No. A-1
as Self
1932
4.0
By Whose Hand?
as Jimmy Hawley
1932
6.0
Week Ends Only
as Jack Williams
1932
0.0
The Big Timer
as Cooky Bradford
1932
3.5
Lady with a Past
as Guy Bryson
1932
5.8
Her Majesty, Love
as Fred von Wellingen
1931
6.0
Compromised
as Sidney Brock
1931
1.0
Bought!
as Nick Amory
1931
6.0
Night Nurse
as Mortie
1931
6.7
My Past
as Robert 'Bob' Byrne
1931
3.8
Aloha
as Jimmy Bradford
1931
0.0
Indiscreet
as Tony Blake
1931
6.0
Misbehaving Ladies
as Phil Hunter
1931
0.0
The Stolen Jools
as Ben Lyon
1931
5.6
The Hot Heiress
as Hap Harrigan
1931
5.3
Hell's Angels
as Monte Rutledge
1930
6.5
A Soldier's Plaything
as Georgie
1930
4.5
What Men Want
as Kendall James
1930
1.0
Alias French Gertie
as Jimmy Hartigan
1930
5.0
Lummox
as Rollo Farley
1930
0.0
The Flying Marine
as Steve Moran
1929
0.0
The Quitter
as Neal Abbott
1929
0.0
All Faces West
as Matthew
1929
0.0
Das tanzende Wien
as Jonny Conzaga
1927
0.0
Life in Hollywood No. 2
as Himself
1927
0.0
For the Love of Mike
as Mike
1927
5.0
🎬
The Tender Hour
as Wally McKenzie
1927
0.0
The Prince of Tempters
as Francis
1926
0.0
The Great Deception
as Cyril Mansfield
1926
0.0
The Savage
as Danny Terry
1926
0.0
The Reckless Lady
as Ralph Hilliwe
1926
0.0
Bluebeard's Seven Wives
as John Hart / Don Juan Hartez
1926
0.0
The New Commandment
as Billy Morrow
1925
0.0
The Pace That Thrills
as Danny Wade
1925
0.0
Winds of Chance
as Pierce Phillips
1925
4.8
The Necessary Evil
as Frank Jerome
1925
0.0
So Big
as Dirk DeJong
1924
0.0
Wages of Virtue
as Marvin
1924
0.0
Wine of Youth
as Lynn Talbot
1924
8.0
Lily of the Dust
as Lt. Prell
1924
0.0
The White Moth
as Douglas Vantine
1924
5.8
Painted People
as Don Lane
1924
0.0
Potash and Perlmutter
as Boris Andrieff
1923
0.0
🎬
The Custard Cup
as Dick Chase
1923
0.0
The Heart of Maryland
as Bob Telfair
1921
0.0
Open Your Eyes
as Harold Connors
1919
6.0