Marcia Mae Jones

Acting

Marcia Mae Jones

Born 1924-08-01 · Los Angeles, California, USA

Marcia Mae Jones was born on August 1, 1924, to an acting family. Her mother, Freda Jones, was an actress, and all three of her siblings - Margaret Jones, Macon Jones, and Marvin Jones - were child actors. But Marcia Mae had the most successful career, and she was the only one of her siblings to become a child star. She made her acting debut when just six months old, when director James Cruze saw her in her baby carriage and immediately cast her as the baby in his film Mannequin (1926). Her first major role was in Night Nurse (1931), in which she played a sick child that a sinister hospital staff was trying to murder. By age 10, Marcia Mae had appeared in several dramatic films. In 1936, she played a terrified victim of school bullying in These Three (1936), a role that brought her much attention. In 1937, she played the crippled Klara in Heidi (1937). The film starred two other child actors, Delmar Watson and Shirley Temple. Despite a four-year age difference, Marcia Mae and Shirley acted well with each other, and they appeared together again in The Little Princess (1939). Besides Shirley Temple and Delmar Watson, Marcia Mae worked with several other child stars of the 1930s, including Jane Withers, Bonita Granville, Jackie Moran, Sybil Jason, and her favorite, Jackie Cooper. Marcia Mae's film career began to slow down in the early 1950s, after which she largely appeared in television roles. Her adult life was marred by the suicide of her second husband, Bill Davenport, and problems with alcohol. She eventually conquered her alcohol dependency and became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Marcia Mae Jones died on 2 September 2007 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.

Acting credits

The Way We Were poster
7.0

Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky, a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner, a feckless WASP. Years later, in the wake of World War II, they meet once again and, despite their obvious differences, attempt to make their love for each other work.

The Way We Were

1973

The Little Princess poster
6.6

A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.

The Little Princess

1939

Nine Girls poster
5.8

One of the members of a sorority is found murdered. Although the police are called in to investigate, some of the girls decide to do some sleuthing on their own to unmask the killer.

Nine Girls

1944

The Champ poster
7.1

A broken-down alcoholic prizefighter struggles to keep custody of his adoring son.

The Champ

1931

Live a Little, Love a Little poster
5.5

Photographer Greg Nolan moonlights in two full-time jobs to pay the rent, but has trouble finding time to do them both without his bosses finding out.

Live a Little, Love a Little

1968

The Gang's All Here poster
5.4

Two friends take jobs as truck drivers, unaware that the trucking company is being targeted by a gang of saboteurs who will stop at nothing, including murder, to stop them.

The Gang's All Here

1941

Heidi poster
6.9

Heidi is orphaned and her uncaring maternal Aunt Dete takes her to the mountains to live with her reclusive, grumpy paternal grandfather, Adolph Kramer. Heidi brings her grandfather back into mountain society through her sweet ways and sheer love. When Dete later returns and steals Heidi away to become the companion of a rich man's wheelchair-bound daughter, the grandfather is heartsick to discover his little girl missing and immediately sets out to get her back.

Heidi

1937

Tucson poster
7.5

The story of Andy Bryant, a University of Arizona student whose grades suffer because of his preoccupation with an upcoming intercollegiate rodeo. Andy's father is more interested in embarrassing a rival at the rodeo than he is with his son's academic progress. When his lack of focus nearly causes a tragic accident in the university chemistry lab, Andy decides to hunker down and study.

Tucson

1949

Imitation of Life poster
7.0

A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.

Imitation of Life

1934

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer poster
6.6

Tom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral and witnessing a murder.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

1938

First Love poster
7.6

In this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She's hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin's boyfriend.

First Love

1939

These Three poster
7.1

Close friends Martha and Karen build a private boarding school together with the aid of the local doctor Joe. The school takes off and many students enroll, one of whom is a trouble-maker who tells a scandalous lie that threatens to destroy the trio's lives.

These Three

1936

Nice Girl? poster
6.4

Jane is a nice girl and has had her eyes on a young man who seems more interested in his hand-built car than in Jane. She decides to shed her "nice girl" image when an associate of her father comes to town on his way to study Australian Aboriginal tribes.

Nice Girl?

1941

The Life of Emile Zola poster
6.7

A fictionalized account of famous French writer Emile Zola and his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair. After struggling to establish himself, Zola wins success writing about the unsavory side of Paris and settles into a comfortable upper-class life. However, Zola's complacency is shaken when Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus is imprisoned for being a spy. Realizing that Dreyfus is an innocent victim of anti-Semitism, Zola boldly pens a newspaper article exposing the truth, is charged with libel and must defend himself in a dramatic courtroom testimony.

The Life of Emile Zola

1937

A Great American Tragedy poster
7.5

A middle-aged aerospace engineer has his whole life changed when he is suddenly laid off from his job. Unable to find work because of his age and a bad economy, he watches his bills pile up, his wife forced to go back to work and his marriage start to break up.

A Great American Tragedy

1972

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

Hi-Jacked poster
5.4

A parolee, working for a trucking line, struggles to clear his name after being accused of involvement with hijackers.

Hi-Jacked

1950

Street Scene poster
6.8

The setting is a city block during a sweltering summer, where the residents serve as representatives of the not-very-idealized American melting pot. There is idle chitchat, gossip, jealousy, racism, adultery, and suddenly but not unexpectedly, a murder.

Street Scene

1931

King of Jazz poster
6.3

A large-scale revue musical built around Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, presenting a series of musical performances, sketches, and staged tableaux in early two-color Technicolor, emblematic of Hollywood’s early sound-era “all-star” musical productions.

King of Jazz

1930

The Youngest Profession poster
5.3

Best friends Joan and Patricia are teenage autograph seekers who spend most of their day bumping into and having tea with movie stars like Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on disinformation from a meddling governess, Joan also devotes some time to working on the no-problem marriage of her parents.

The Youngest Profession

1943

Mannequin poster
10.0

Adapted from the Fannie Hurst story of the same name, Mannequin is the story of Joan Herrick, kidnapped in infancy from her wealthy parents and raised by a slatternly slum woman. The film is still extant.

Mannequin

1926

Anne of Windy Poplars poster
6.0

Sentimental drama about an ambitious young teacher who arrives in a small town to take the job of vice-principal. Based on one of L M Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables' sequels.

Anne of Windy Poplars

1940

Mountain Justice poster
6.3

Stalwart Appalachian woman finds romance as she struggles to better herself and her people amid prejudice and familial abuse.

Mountain Justice

1937

The Star poster
7.2

Actress Margaret Elliot is well past her prime but refuses to retire from the acting business. Despite entreaties from both her daughter, Gretchen, and one-time professional colleague Jim Johannsen, Margaret remains convinced that she can regain her former glory. As she sets her sights on a coveted Hollywood role, Johannsen tries doggedly to get his unrequited love to see the folly of her ways.

The Star

1952