Ben Lyon

Acting

Ben Lyon

Born 1901-02-06 · Atlanta, 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.

Acting credits

Hell's Angels poster
6.6

When the Great War breaks out, brothers Roy and Monte Rutledge, each attending Oxford University, enlist with the Royal Flying Corps.

Hell's Angels

1930

The Necessary Evil poster
8.0

Ben Lyon and Viola Dana co-star in this heavy society drama

The Necessary Evil

1925

Night Nurse poster
6.8

Lora Hart manages to land a job in a hospital as a trainee nurse. Upon completion of her training she goes to work as a night nurse for two small children who seem to be very sick, though something much more sinister is going on.

Night Nurse

1931

The Stolen Jools poster
5.6

Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanatorium.)

The Stolen Jools

1931

Painted People poster
10.0

Ellie Byrne and Don Lane, chums, living in the poor section of a factory town, go away to make their fortunes. Ellie wishes to become a lady so that she can marry Preston Dutton, a society chap, and Don becoming infatuated with Stephanie Parrish, daughter of a wealthy man. Ellie becomes a leading actress and Don the author of her first play. Ellie refuses Dutton’s suit when she learns he is after her money, and Stephanie returns Don’s engagement ring. Ellie and Don go back to the factory town disillusioned. They realize that they love each other and in reality had not bettered themselves for someone else but for each other. A lost film.

Painted People

1924

The Air Legion poster
9.0

The Air Legion is a 1929 American aviation silent film about airmail directed by Bert Glennon.

The Air Legion

1929

Her Majesty, Love poster
6.7

The wealthy von Wellingens are shocked when the father of their son Fred's fiancée Lia juggles desserts at a formal dinner. They encourage Fred to break the engagement. Lia goes to Berlin to marry a Baron von Schwarzdorf, and Fred arrives too late to stop the marriage.

Her Majesty, Love

1931

By Whose Hand? poster
6.6

On the night express train from Los Angeles to San Francisco everyone’s a suspect when a jewelry magnate is found stabbed to death and an escaped killer is feared on board. It’s up to newspaper reporter Jimmy Hawley (Ben Lyon) to unravel the secrets of the motley group of passengers and find the killer before he strikes again in this tense and atmospheric whodunit.

By Whose Hand?

1932

No artwork available
6.0

Jill Trevor vows revenge on newspaper baron Sir Joshua Morple, who she holds responsible for ruining her father. Her very public antics to draw attention to Morple's despicable conduct come to the notice a rival newspaper, who send journalist Jim Brent to offer to write up Jill's story.....

Confidential Lady

1939

Alias French Gertie poster
6.3

A safecracker poses as a French maid in order to gain access to wealthy homes. In the midst of a nocturnal search for a cache of valuables, she is interrupted by another safecracker. Narrowly escaping arrest, they decide to pool their talents, but she gets the urge to reform and encourages him to do the same.

Alias French Gertie

1930

One Way Street poster
9.0

Bobby Austin is sent to Madrid on a diplomatic mission. He is followed by Lady Sylvia Hutton, a society adventuress who is infatuated with him. She takes him on a yachting trip to Monte Carlo where he meets Kathleen Lawrence, a notorious "kept" woman, who tries to save him from the ruin that Lady Sylvia bears in her wake.

One Way Street

1925

Lady with a Past poster
6.3

A wealthy girl hires a male escort to make one of her male friends jealous. She spreads rumours about her character that makes her popular amongst all bachelors in the city including her friend.

Lady with a Past

1932

Hat Check Girl poster
7.5

Gerry Marsh is a hat-check girl in a nightclub surrounded by bootleggers, blackmailers and others before she falls in love with millionaire playboy Buster Collins. Gerry is supported by her girlfriend Jessie.

Hat Check Girl

1932

Hi Gang! poster
6.7

Hi Gang! is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon and Vic Oliver. It was a spin-off from the popular radio series Hi Gang!.

Hi Gang!

1941

Dancing Feet poster
6.0

Peyton Wells (Ben Lyon) rescues Judy Jones (Joan Marsh) from a very dull young man, at a sedate party given for her by her multi-millionaire grandfather Silas P. Jones (Purnell Pratt.) Judy refuses to accompany Peyton on a slumming trip to a cheap dance hall, and Peyton dances with several of the dowagers and tells them that Silas is practically dying of scarlet fever. The guests hastily depart and Joan joins Peyton at the Dreamland Dance Hall. She is mistaken by Jimmy Cassidy (Edward J. Nugent) as one of the hostesses and decides to dance with him as a lark. One thing follows another and Judy gets disinherited and takes a job at the dance hall through Jimmy and his friend Mabel(Isabel Jewell.) Jimmy confides to Judy his ambition to become a dance instructor over the radio and Judy decides to help him but can't get the needed financial backing. She gets Peyton to front the money, promising him she will reconsider his offer of marriage if Jimmy's plan fails.

Dancing Feet

1936

No artwork available
5.3

Greek sponge divers in Tarpon Springs, Florida duel over diving methods and fight over the same girl, and only one will survive.

Down to the Sea

1936

Lightning Strikes Twice poster
5.3

An actress goes up to a dude ranch for relaxation, when she falls in love with a ranch owner recently acquitted of his wife's murder.

Lightning Strikes Twice

1934

The Reckless Lady poster
10.0

Set amidst French resorts and featuring gambling casinos and an automobile race, a mother and wife develops a mania for gambling, much to the dismay of her husband and daughter. A lost film.

The Reckless Lady

1926

Navy Wife poster
6.0

A Hawaiian naval nurse weds a widowed officer partly because he has a crippled daughter.

Navy Wife

1935

Aloha poster
8.0

In the South Seas, a half-caste island girl refuses to follow tradition and marry a fellow islander, instead falling in love with a white man and heir to an American fortune.

Aloha

1931

My Past poster
4.0

A stage star finds herself torn between a wealthy older man and a handsome younger one.

My Past

1931

What Men Want poster
3.3

A playboy's mistress falls in love with another man. Her younger sister arrives in town. Complications ensue.

What Men Want

1930

I Cover the Waterfront poster
5.1

An investigative reporter romances a suspected smuggler's daughter.

I Cover the Waterfront

1933

Misbehaving Ladies poster
9.0

Ellen, a young American girl who married a European prince and moved to his country, is preparing to return to the US, after having paid off all the debts left by her now-deceased husband. However, when she returns early, no one recognizes her and even her aunt Kate mistakes her for the princess' dressmaker. Her ex-boyfriend Joe, who recognizes her immediately, suggests that Ellen continue with the charade and have some fun, but a series of misunderstandings causes trouble for her.

Misbehaving Ladies

1931