Biography
Frances Marion (November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. She was the first writer to win two Academy Awards. Born Marion Benson Owens in San Francisco, California, she worked as a journalist and served overseas as a combat correspondent during World War I. On her return home, she moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a writing assistant, an actress and general assistant by "Lois Weber Productions", a film company owned and operated by pioneer female film director Lois Weber.She has a face as an actor, but she preferred a work that she isn't in the camera. She learned how to write a scenario from Weber. Marion wrote a story for a movie for her, but it burned before it was released. As "Frances Marion", she wrote many scripts for actress/filmmaker Mary Pickford, including Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and The Poor Little Rich Girl, as well as scripts for numerous other successful films of the 1920s and 1930s.Marion went to New York for her job, and her husband decline to live with her and divorced. She became the first female to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1930 for the film The Big House, she received the Academy Award for Best Story for The Champ in 1932, both featuring Wallace Beery, and co-wrote Min and Bill starring her friend Marie Dressler and Beery in 1930. She was credited with writing 300 scripts and over 130 produced films. She directed and occasionally appeared in some of Mary Pickford's early movies. For many years she was under contract to MGM Studios, but, independently wealthy, she left Hollywood in 1946 to devote more time to writing stage plays and novels. Frances Marion published a memoir Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood in 1972. Marion died the following year of a ruptured aneurysm in Los Angeles.
Wrote 153
1980s
- 1989
Dinner at Eight
Original Film Writer
1970s
- 1979
1940s
- 1945
Molly and Me
Novel
- 1940
Green Hell
Original Story, Screenplay
1930s
- 1937
Knight Without Armour
Adaptation, Writer
- 1936
Riffraff
Screenplay, Story
- 1933
The Prizefighter and the Lady
Story
Hold Your Man
Writer
- 1932
Cynara
Adaptation, Screenplay
Blondie of the Follies
Screenplay, Story
Emma
Story
- 1931
The Champ
Writer, Story
The Big House
Writer
The Secret Six
Writer
- 1930
Anna Christie
Adaptation
The Big House
Writer
Good News
Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Let Us Be Gay
Writer, Dialogue
The Big House
Story, Dialogue, Writer
Anna Christie
Screenplay
The Rogue Song
Writer
1920s
- 1929
Their Own Desire
Screenplay
- 1928
The Masks of the Devil
Writer
The Awakening
Story
The Cossacks
Adaptation
The Sunset Legion
Story, Scenario Writer
Bringing Up Father
Writer
The Pioneer Scout
Writer
- 1927
Love
Writer
Jesse James
Story, Screenplay
Madame Pompadour
Writer
The Callahans and the Murphys
Writer
Mr. Wu
Writer
The Red Mill
Scenario Writer, Adaptation
The Scarlet Letter
Adaptation, Screenplay
- 1926
Lone Hand Saunders
Story
The Son of the Sheik
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Two-Gun Man
Co-Writer
Hands Across the Border
Story
Paris at Midnight
Writer
Partners Again
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Tough Guy
Story
The First Year
Writer
- 1925
Stella Dallas
Adaptation, Screenplay
Lazybones
Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Thank You
Screenplay
The Dark Angel
Writer
Graustark
Adaptation, Screenplay
Lightnin'
Adaptation, Screenplay
Ridin' the Wind
Writer
A Thief in Paradise
Adaptation, Screenplay
Zander the Great
Adaptation, Screenplay
His Supreme Moment
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Lady
Writer
- 1924
Sundown
Writer
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Writer
Tarnish
Screenplay
Cytherea
Adaptation, Screenplay
Secrets
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
Screenplay, Story
The Mask of Lopez
Writer
Through the Dark
Writer
- 1923
The Song of Love
Adaptation, Screenplay
Potash and Perlmutter
Writer
The French Doll
Writer, Scenario Writer
Dulcy
Writer
The Love Piker
Scenario Writer
The Eagle's Talons
Writer
Within the Law
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Nth Commandment
Writer
The Famous Mrs. Fair
Screenplay
The Voice from the Minaret
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Toll of the Sea
Story, Writer
- 1922
East Is West
Writer
The Eternal Flame
Writer
Sherlock Brown
Writer
Sonny
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Primitive Lover
Writer
Back Pay
Writer
- 1921
Just Around the Corner
Writer
Straight Is the Way
Writer
The Love Light
Writer
- 1920
The Restless Sex
Writer
The World and His Wife
Screenplay
Go and Get It
Scenario Writer
Humoresque
Writer
The Flapper
Story, Screenplay
Pollyanna
Adaptation, Screenplay
1910s
- 1919
The Cinema Murder
Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Anne of Green Gables
Writer
The Misleading Widow
Writer
The Dark Star
Writer
Captain Kidd, Jr.
Writer
- 1918
The Temple Of Dusk
Writer
The Goat
Screenplay, Story
Johanna Enlists
Writer
He Comes Up Smiling
Writer
The City of Dim Faces
Screenplay
How Could You, Jean?
Screenplay
M'Liss
Writer
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Writer
Stella Maris
Writer
- 1917
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Writer
The Amazons
Writer
Beloved Adventuress
Screenplay, Story
The Stolen Paradise
Writer
The Crimson Dove
Writer
Darkest Russia
Writer
Forget-Me-Not
Writer
The Social Leper
Writer
The Poor Little Rich Girl
Scenario Writer, Writer
The Web of Desire
Writer
A Girl's Folly
Writer
A Square Deal
Writer
A Hungry Heart
Writer
Tillie Wakes Up
Writer
On Dangerous Ground
Writer
A Woman Alone
Writer
- 1916
The Rise of Susan
Writer
All Man
Writer
Bought and Paid For
Writer
The Heart of a Hero
Writer
The Hidden Scar
Writer
The Gilded Cage
Writer
Friday the 13th
Writer
The Summer Girl
Writer
A Woman's Way
Writer
The Crucial Test
Writer
La Vie de Bohème
Writer
The Battle of Hearts
Writer
The Feast of Life
Screenplay
The Social Highwayman
Writer
Then I'll Come Back to You
Writer
The Yellow Passport
Scenario Writer
A Circus Romance
Story
The Foundling
Writer
- 1915
Camille
Screenplay
A Daughter of the Sea
Story
Esmeralda
Writer
Rags
Writer
A Sister's Burden
Writer
Fanchon, the Cricket
Writer
- 1912
The New York Hat
Writer
Directed 3
1920s
- 1923
The Song of Love
Director
- 1921
Just Around the Corner
Director
The Love Light
Director
Acted in 1
1910s
- 1915
A Girl of Yesterday
Rosanna Danford
Produced 1
1920s
- 1923
The Nth Commandment
Producer
Other crew 1
1940s
- 1948
Appearances2
2000s
- 2000
Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood
Self (archive footage)