Marilyn Harris (actress)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marilyn Harris (born July 17, 1924 in San Fernando , California , † December 1, 1999 in Los Angeles , California) was an American actress .

life and career

Marilyn Harris was placed in a Los Angeles orphanage shortly after she was born in San Fernando until she was taken in by adoptive parents at the age of one month. Harris got into show business early on through her adoptive mother, a failed actress who projected her unfulfilled starting dreams onto her daughter and treated her with harsh methods. Harris said her adoptive mother slapped her on many parts of the body, but rarely in the face - with wounds and scars on her face, she would have had less chance of being cast in film roles.

Harris gained particular fame through her role as the little girl Maria in the film Frankenstein from 1931. In one of the most famous scenes of the film, her character meets the monster played by Boris Karloff and is friendly to him, but the monster throws her through a misunderstanding into a lake where she drowns. Harris later expressed his admiration for Karloff, who had treated her extremely affectionately on the set. The shooting was exhausting, however, as her death scene took several takes and Harris, a good swimmer despite her young age, had to be thrown into the water several times. Out of a guilty conscience, director James Whale asked her what a wish he could grant her. Since her mother kept her on a diet, she asked for a dozen boiled eggs, so he brought her two dozen boiled eggs. The death of her character in the film was special because in the classic Hollywood of the studio system, the violent death of children was usually a taboo.

In addition to Frankenstein , she played in 17 other films, although mostly only in smaller roles. She made three more films with James Whale: In the Frankenstein sequel Frankenstein's Bride (1935, in this film she runs away from Frankenstein's monster screaming) and the musical Show Boat (1936) she had extra roles , in Whales The Road Back - one Film adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel The Way Back - in 1937 she took on a slightly larger role as the sister of the main character Ernst. Harris last appeared in 1944 at the age of 19 in the teenage film Henry Aldrich's Little Secret , opposite Jimmy Lydon .

Harris was married to bouncer Wally Watkins from 1944 until his death in 1981, and the couple had a son. Her second husband Carl died in 1988. Marilyn Harris's whereabouts were unknown until the 1980s, when she answered a call from Frankenstein's female lead Mae Clarke on local Los Angeles television. Until her death on December 1, 1999 at the age of 75, Harris gave interviews to several film historians about her life and the filming of Frankenstein .

Filmography

  • 1930: Neighbors (short film)
  • 1930: The Big Trail (The Big Trall)
  • 1931: Frankenstein
  • 1931: Over the Hill
  • 1932: The Unexpected Father
  • 1932: Tom accounts (Destry Rides Again)
  • 1932: Wild Girls
  • 1932: 6 hours to live
  • 1933: The Harbor Annie (Tugboat Annie)
  • 1934: A Wicked Woman
  • 1935: The Bride of Frankenstein (Bride of Frankenstein)
  • 1936: Show Boat
  • 1937: Maienzeit (Maytime)
  • 1937: The Road Back
  • 1943: Henry Aldrich Gets Glamor
  • 1943: Young Ideas
  • 1944: Standing Room Only
  • 1944: Henry Aldrich's Little Secret

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gregory W. Mank: Women In Horror Films (1930s). McFarland, Jefferson 2000, pp. 75-76.
  2. ^ Gregory W. Mank: Women In Horror Films (1930s). McFarland, Jefferson 2000, p. 79.
  3. ^ Marilyn Harris (IMDb). Retrieved April 12, 2019 .
  4. ^ Gregory William Mank: Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together . McFarland, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7864-5472-3 ( google.de [accessed April 12, 2019]).
  5. ^ Gregory William Mank: Women in Horror Films, 1930s . McFarland, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4766-0954-6 ( google.de [accessed April 12, 2019]).
  6. ↑ Porfle Popnecker: The Little Girl Who Met Frankenstein's Monster Twice: Marilyn Harris. February 13, 2019, accessed April 12, 2019 .
  7. ^ Gregory W. Mank: Women In Horror Films (1930s). McFarland, Jefferson 2000, p. 80.
  8. ^ Gregory William Mank: Women in Horror Films, 1930s . McFarland, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4766-0954-6 ( google.de [accessed April 12, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Harris, Marilyn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH San Fernando , California
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 1999
Place of death Los Angeles , California