Joan Marion

Joan Marion, born Joan Marion Nicholls on 28 September 1908 in Australia, was a stage, film, and television actress who built a distinguished career primarily in Britain. She died on 5 November 2001. Her family relocated to Britain when she was three years old, and at eighteen she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she adopted the professional name Joan Marion.

Marion's stage career spanned several decades and included work on both the West End and Broadway. Her Broadway appearances ran from 1929 to 1935 and encompassed three productions: the play Zeppelin, The Mask and the Face, and Libel. On the West End, she appeared in Sorry You've Been Troubled in 1929, Good Losers in 1931, and Men in White and Without Witness in 1934. Her simultaneous appearance in both Men in White, which starred Ralph Richardson, and Without Witness in 1934 placed her in the record books. She also appeared in Blondie White in 1937.

In addition to her stage work, Marion maintained an active film career throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s. Her screen credits include Her Night Out and The River House Ghost, both from 1932, followed by several productions in 1933 including The Stolen Necklace, The Melody-Maker, Little Fella, Double Wedding, Out of the Past, and Lord of the Manor. She continued with Tangled Evidence in 1934, Sensation in 1936, For Valour in 1937, Premiere in 1938, and multiple films in 1939 and 1940, among them Black Limelight, Dead Man's Shoes, Ten Days in Paris, and Spies of the Air. She returned to film with Tons of Trouble in 1956.

Despite opportunities to expand her career to Hollywood, Marion declined an offer from Jack Warner, whom she described as a horrid little man. She continued working in British theatre and film until her marriage to wine expert Louis Everette de Rouet. Following the birth of her daughter, Marion spent a number of years traveling the world with her family.