Marion Martin
Biography
Dubbed "Hollywood's blonde menace," brassy, curvaceous Marion Martin (born Marion Suplee) was the daughter of a well-to-do Bethlehem Steel executive and reared in Main Line society. She attended exclusive schools until the family fortune was wiped out in the stock market crash of 1929. Forced to work, she found employment as a chorine in one of Earl Carroll's New York stage revues. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. got a gander at the dazzling beauty and signed her to replace Gypsy Rose Lee in his Follies of 1933 wearing little but "a feather and some beads." After a few other fetching Broadway appearances, she was signed by Universal in 1938 and adopted the stage name of Marion (or sometimes Marian) Martin. At first superfluously put in short films, she received her big break in Sinners in Paradise (1938), a downed-plane-on-a-desert-island adventure which emphasized her physical attributes. Quickly pigeonholed as a stripper, chorus girl or brazen, gold-digger type, her feline roles actually belied her off-camera personality as a shy, intelligent and chic lady. In the 1940s Marion played sexy foils to the Marx Brothers and dug up a few support roles in mostly secondary features. Her career, never rising above the "B"-level ranks, pretty much ended by the 1950s. She happily retired in 1951 and found stability in marriage, donating much of her time to charitable causes. She died in 1985.
Sinners in Paradise
Iris Compton
Lighthouse
JoJo - The Blonde (as Marian Martin)
Ellery Queen, Master Detective
Cornelia
Terry Vance
The Three Stooges: Merry Mavericks
Gladys
Cupid Takes a Holiday
Annabelle Postal -1st Prospective Bride
Invitation to Happiness
Lola Snow
One Romantic Night
Mitzi
Fly-By-Night
Nurse
Two Knights from Brooklyn
Marcia's Friend (archive footage)
Cowards Bend the Knee
Mrs. Maddin
Oklahoma Annie
La Belle La Tour (uncredited)
Journey Into Light
Diana (as Marian Martin)
The Three Stooges: Merry Mavericks
Gladys
Geheimagent in Wildwest
Blonde Singer
Key to the City
Emmy
Oh, You Beautiful Doll
Big Blonde (uncredited)
Come to the Stable
Rossi's Manicurist (uncredited)
My Dream Is Yours
Blonde at Club Babita (uncredited)
Two Knights from Brooklyn
Marcia's Friend (archive footage)
State of the Union
Blonde Girl (uncredited)
Lighthouse
JoJo - The Blonde (as Marian Martin)
Tough Girl
Marion, Natalie's Girl Friend (as Marian Martin)
Nobody Lives Forever
Lou, Blonde (uncredited)
Angel on My Shoulder
Mrs. Bentley
Black Angel
Millie
Suspense
Shooting Gallery Blond (uncredited)
The Phantom Speaks
Betty Hanzel (as Marian Martin)
Terry Vance
It Happened Tomorrow
Nurse (uncredited)
Lady of Burlesque
Alice Angel
The Big Street
Mimi Venus
Tales of Manhatten
'Squirrel'
El Rayo Exterminador
Sue, Blonde Piano Player
Fly-By-Night
Nurse
Lady Scarface
Ruby - aka Mary Jordan
One Romantic Night
Mitzi
The Big Store
Peggy Arden
The Lady from Cheyenne
Gertie (uncredited)
Tall, Dark and Handsome
Dawn
Ellery Queen, Master Detective
Cornelia
Boom Town
Whitey
His Girl Friday
Evangeline - Louie's Blonde Associate (uncredited)
Invisible Stripes
Blonde (uncredited)
The Man In The Iron Mask
Mlle. de la Valliere (as Marian Martin)
Invitation to Happiness
Lola Snow
Sinners in Paradise
Iris Compton
Cupid Takes a Holiday
Annabelle Postal -1st Prospective Bride
Theatre Cashier (uncredited)
