Ben Lyon
0.6Acting

Ben Lyon

Feb 6, 1901 - Atlanta, Georgia, USA

From Wikipedia

Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American actor and a studio executive at 20th Century Fox.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923), and steadily developed into a leading man. He was most successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era including Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Barbara La Marr, Viola Dana, Anna Q. Nilsson, Mary Astor and Blanche Sweet.

He had success as an actor in the 1930 film Hell's Angels. The film was a major success and brought Jean Harlow to prominence, but Lyon's performance as an heroic World War I aviator was also highly regarded. For the next decade he was constantly in demand, but his popularity began to wane by the early 1940s. By the mid-1940s he was working for 20th Century Fox. On July 17, 1946 he met a young aspiring actress named Norma Jeane Dougherty.[2] After his first meeting with her he stated that she was "Jean Harlow all over again!". He organized a color screen test for the actress, renamed her, and finally signed her as Marilyn Monroe to her first studio contract.

During World War II, Lyons and his wife, actress Bebe Daniels, settled in London. The couple, along with the comedian Vic Oliver, starred in the radio series Hi, Gang!, which ran from 1940 to 1949. Hi Gang was succeeded in 1950 by Life with the Lyons, which also featured their real life son Richard and daughter Barbara, and had a run on BBC and independent television from 1954 until 1960.

Lyon married actress Bebe Daniels in June 1930. They had two children: daughter Barbara in 1932 and a son Richard whom they adopted. Daniels suffered a severe stroke in 1963 and withdrew from public life. She suffered a second stroke in late 1970. She died at the couple's London home in March 1971.

In 1974, Lyon married the actress Marian Nixon whom he had known since the 1920s.

On March 22, 1979, Lyon and his second wife Marian Nixon were vacationing together on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship near Honolulu, Hawaii, when Lyon suffered a fatal heart attack. He is interred in the Chapel Columbarium at Hollywood Forever Cemetery next to his first wife, Bebe.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ben Lyon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street.

Credits

Cast

Media
Movie1930Hell's AngelsMonte Rutledge
Movie1933I Cover the WaterfrontH. Joseph 'Joe' Miller
Movie1925The Necessary EvilFrank Jerome
Movie1925The New CommandmentBilly Morrow
Movie1929The QuitterNeal Abbott
Movie1925The Pace That ThrillsDanny Wade
Movie1931Night NurseMortie
Movie1954Life with the LyonsBen Lyon
Movie1955The Lyons in ParisBen
Movie1931IndiscreetTony Blake
Movie1942This Was ParisButch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter
Movie1932Lady with a PastGuy Bryson
Movie1932Hollywood on Parade No. A-1Self
Movie1931Her Majesty, LoveFred von Wellingen
Movie1932The Crooked CircleBrand Osborne
Movie1932By Whose Hand?Jimmy Hawley
Movie1931Bought!Nick Amory
Movie1943The Dark TowerPhil Danton
Movie1930A Soldier's PlaythingGeorgie
Movie1933Girl MissingHenry Gibson
Movie1934Lightning Strikes TwiceSteve Brewster
Movie1931The Hot HeiressHap Harrigan
Movie1932Hollywood on Parade No. A-3Self
Movie1936Down to the SeaSteve Londos
Movie1931My PastRobert 'Bob' Byrne
Movie1925Winds of ChancePierce Phillips
Movie1934Crimson RomanceBob Wilson
Movie1932The Big TimerCooky Bradford
Movie1923The Custard CupDick Chase
Movie1930Alias French GertieJimmy Hartigan
Movie1932Hat Check GirlBuster Collins
Movie1923Potash and PerlmutterBoris Andrieff
Movie1933The Women in His LifeRoger McKane
Movie1927For the Love of MikeMike
Movie1924Wine of YouthLynn Talbot
Movie1936Dancing FeetPeyton Wells
Movie1935Together We LiveMax
Movie1931CompromisedSidney Brock
Movie1926The Great DeceptionCyril Mansfield
Movie1926The SavageDanny Terry
Movie1935Navy WifeDr. Peter Milford
Movie1924So BigDirk DeJong
Movie1924Lily of the DustLt. Prell
Movie1931AlohaJimmy Bradford
Movie1939Confidential LadyJim Brent
Movie1932Week Ends OnlyJack Williams
Movie1939I Killed the CountBernard Froy
Movie1931The Stolen JoolsBen Lyon
Movie1934I SpyWally Sawyer
Movie1931Misbehaving LadiesPhil Hunter
Movie1941Hi Gang!Her Other Half
Movie1924Painted PeopleDon Lane
Movie1930LummoxRollo Farley
Movie1935Frisco WaterfrontGlenn Burton
Movie1930What Men WantKendall James
Movie1927The Tender HourWally McKenzie
Movie1926Bluebeard's Seven WivesJohn Hart / Don Juan Hartez
Movie1926The Reckless LadyRalph Hilliwe
Movie1938StardustRoy Harley
Movie1926The Prince of TemptersFrancis
Movie1924The White MothDouglas Vantine
Movie1924Wages of VirtueMarvin
Movie1927Das tanzende WienJonny Conzaga
Movie1919Open Your EyesHarold Connors
Movie1927Life in Hollywood No. 2Himself
Movie1929All Faces WestMatthew
Movie1929The Flying MarineSteve Moran
Movie1921The Heart of MarylandBob Telfair
Movie1935Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8
TV Show1962The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonSelf1

Crew

No crew credits available.