Marion Martin

Marion Martin, born Marion Suplee on June 7, 1909, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American stage and film actress. Her father was an executive at Bethlehem Steel. Following the loss of the family's fortune in the Wall Street crash of 1929, she pursued a career in acting, performing on Broadway between 1927 and 1931. Her stage credits included the play Lombardi, Ltd., the musical Sweet Adeline, the revue George White's Scandals, and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931.

Martin launched her film career with She's My Lillie, I'm Her Willie and went on to appear frequently as a showgirl in early roles, a number of which were in musicals. She demonstrated ability as a singer during this period. As the 1930s progressed, she secured leading roles in several "B" pictures, among them James Whale's Sinners in Paradise (1938), which stands as one of her more notable film performances. Her work in higher-profile productions, however, was often limited to supporting parts, as in His Girl Friday (1940). While comedy was her most frequent genre, she also took on dramatic roles, including a part in Boom Town (1940) as a dance hall singer briefly romanced by Clark Gable.

In the early 1940s, Martin appeared in three films in the Lupe Vélez "Mexican Spitfire" series in a secondary capacity. She served as a comic foil for the Marx Brothers in The Big Store, in which Harpo cuts away the back of her skirt. Among her more substantial roles from this period was Alice Angel, a showgirl character, in the murder mystery Lady of Burlesque alongside Barbara Stanwyck. She also appeared in The Big Street (1942) with Lucille Ball, the western The Woman of the Town with Claire Trevor, Angel on My Shoulder, and The Great Mike at PRC in 1944. She played a ghost in Gildersleeve's Ghost, a production connected to a widely reported 1943 incident in which the film's star, Harold Peary, and Warner Bros. studio figure Bud Stevens engaged in a fistfight at the Mocambo nightclub, with Martin at the center of the dispute.

By the late 1940s, Martin's screen roles had diminished in size and frequency. She is remembered by Three Stooges fans for her portrayal of a cowgirl named Gladys in Merry Mavericks. In 1950, she appeared in a Lone Ranger television episode titled "Pardon for Curley," playing a character named Belle Farnol. Her final film appearance came in 1952, after which she retired following her marriage to a physicist. She expressed interest in returning to acting but did not receive suitable offers.

Martin was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in recognition of her contributions to motion pictures. She died of cardiac arrest on August 13, 1985, in Los Angeles, California, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.