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Marion Davies

(1897-1961), Actress

Sitter in 2 portraits
Marion Davies (née Douras) began her career as a dancer, first at the Globe Theatre in New York and then in the notorious Ziegfeld Follies. Her first film The Runaway Romany (1917) was a success and in 1918 she became the mistress of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst who became her life-long patron. Davies was one of five American women selected for inclusion in Hoppé's The Book of Fair Women. A public figure as much for her sometimes scandalous private life as for her acting ability, Davies was nevertheless one of the silent era actresses who continued to work in the talking pictures of the 1930s, before retiring from the industry in 1937.

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Marion Davies, by Cecil Beaton - NPG x40081

Marion Davies

by Cecil Beaton
bromide contact print, 1920s
NPG x40081

Marion Davies, by E.O. Hoppé - NPG Ax132948

Marion Davies

by E.O. Hoppé
photogravure, 26 January 1921
NPG Ax132948

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