Frances Marion
WritingFrances 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.
Known For
Filmography — Acting
Filmography — Crew
Anna Christie
Screenplay
Camille
Screenplay
Dinner at Eight
Screenplay
The Champ
Writer
The Wind
Screenplay
Blondie of the Follies
Screenplay
Knight Without Armour
Writer
Love
Writer
Cynara
Screenplay
The Big House
Writer
Love from a Stranger
Screenplay
Pollyanna
Screenplay
The Scarlet Letter
Screenplay
Mr. Wu
Writer
The Winning of Barbara Worth
Writer
Secrets
Screenplay
The Rogue Song
Writer
Green Hell
Screenplay
Their Own Desire
Screenplay
Stella Dallas
Screenplay
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Writer
M'Liss
Writer
The Secret Six
Writer
Thank You
Screenplay
How Could You, Jean?
Screenplay
Good News
Screenplay
The Lady
Writer
The Flapper
Screenplay
Let Us Be Gay
Writer
The Poor Little Rich Girl
Writer
Lazybones
Screenplay
Johanna Enlists
Writer
Zander the Great
Screenplay
Dulcy
Writer
The Masks of the Devil
Writer
A Girl's Folly
Writer
Sundown
Writer
Riffraff
Screenplay
Sonny
Screenplay
Hold Your Man
Writer
The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
Screenplay
Bringing Up Father
Writer
The World and His Wife
Screenplay
Min and Bill
Writer
Within the Law
Screenplay
The New York Hat
Writer
Stella Maris
Writer
Back Pay
Writer
Darkest Russia
Writer
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Writer
A Little Princess
Writer
A Thief in Paradise
Screenplay
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Writer
Anne of Green Gables
Writer
Esmeralda
Writer
Cytherea
Screenplay
The Restless Sex
Writer
A Regular Girl
Writer
La Vie de Bohème
Writer
Humoresque
Writer
The French Doll
Writer
The Foundling
Writer
The Big House
Writer
The Son of the Sheik
Screenplay
The Eagle's Talons
Writer
Tarnish
Screenplay
His Supreme Moment
Screenplay
The Goat
Screenplay
Graustark
Screenplay
All Man
Writer
The Love Light
Director
The Rise of Susan
Writer
The Song of Love
Director
The Big House
Writer
The Eternal Flame
Writer
Through the Dark
Writer
The Web of Desire
Writer
He Comes Up Smiling
Writer
Sherlock Brown
Writer
The Mask of Lopez
Writer
The Heart of a Hero
Writer
The Crucial Test
Writer
The Temple Of Dusk
Writer
Camille
Screenplay
Rags
Writer
The First Year
Writer
Lightnin'
Screenplay
The Toll of the Sea
Writer
Paris at Midnight
Writer
The City of Dim Faces
Screenplay
The Callahans and the Murphys
Writer
East Is West
Writer
The Crimson Dove
Writer
Madame Pompadour
Writer
A Woman's Way
Writer
Secrets
Screenplay
The Misleading Widow
Writer
A Woman Alone
Writer
The Voice from the Minaret
Screenplay
The Battle of Hearts
Writer
The Famous Mrs. Fair
Screenplay
Fanchon, the Cricket
Writer
The Hidden Scar
Writer
The Cinema Murder
Screenplay
A Square Deal
Writer
The Dark Angel
Writer
The Summer Girl
Writer
Partners Again
Screenplay
The Gilded Cage
Writer
The Dark Star
Writer
The Nth Commandment
Writer
Tillie Wakes Up
Writer
Straight Is the Way
Writer
Jesse James
Screenplay
Potash and Perlmutter
Writer
The Divorce Game
Writer
A Sister's Burden
Writer
The Feast of Life
Screenplay
The Amazons
Writer
Ridin' the Wind
Writer
Captain Kidd, Jr.
Writer
The Social Leper
Writer
The Primitive Lover
Writer
The Pioneer Scout
Writer
A Hungry Heart
Writer
The Revolt
Writer
Forget-Me-Not
Writer
Then I'll Come Back to You
Writer
Just Around the Corner
Director
Beloved Adventuress
Screenplay
On Dangerous Ground
Writer
The Social Highwayman
Writer
Bought and Paid For
Writer
The Stolen Paradise
Writer
Friday the 13th
Writer