Frances Marion
Writing
Born: November 18, 1888 · San Francisco, California, USA
Died: May 12, 1973 (aged 84)
Highest Rated
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.
Known for
The Champ
1979
Camille
1936
The Wind
1928
Dinner at Eight
1933
The Pirate
1948
The Champ
1931
Anna Christie
1930
The Big House
1930
The Poor Little Rich Girl
1917
Love
1927
The Son of the Sheik
1926
The Scarlet Letter
1927
Movies (1)
Self / Appearances (2)
Directing (3)
Writing (192)
The Champ
Story
Camille
Screenplay
The Wind
Screenplay
Camille
Screenplay
Secrets
Adaptation
Secrets
Screenplay
The Crimson Dove
Writer
Dinner at Eight
Screenplay
The Champ
Writer
The Champ
Story
The Lady
Writer
Kit Carson
Story
Anna Christie
Screenplay
Blondie of the Follies
Screenplay
Blondie of the Follies
Story
Darkest Russia
Writer
Humoresque
Writer
Don Mike
Story
The Toll of the Sea
Story
The Toll of the Sea
Writer
Cynara
Adaptation
Cynara
Screenplay
Esmeralda
Writer
Green Hell
Original Story
Green Hell
Screenplay
The Son of the Sheik
Adaptation
The Son of the Sheik
Screenplay
Sonny
Adaptation
Sonny
Screenplay
The Scarlet Letter
Adaptation
The Scarlet Letter
Screenplay
Rags
Writer
La Vie de Bohème
Writer
The Big House
Writer
The Big House
Story
The Big House
Dialogue
The Big House
Writer
The Cossacks
Adaptation
Dinner at Eight
Original Film Writer
Anna Christie
Adaptation
Dulcy
Writer
Riffraff
Screenplay
Riffraff
Story
Sherlock Brown
Writer
The Pioneer Scout
Writer
Emma
Story
Love from a Stranger
Screenplay
Love from a Stranger
Adaptation
Straight Is the Way
Writer
A Woman Alone
Writer
Lone Hand Saunders
Story
Hold Your Man
Writer
Hands Across the Border
Story
The Love Light
Writer
Knight Without Armour
Adaptation
Knight Without Armour
Writer
The New York Hat
Writer
The Gilded Cage
Writer
Fanchon, the Cricket
Writer
The Restless Sex
Writer
Mr. Wu
Writer
The Yellow Passport
Scenario Writer
Bringing Up Father
Writer
Love
Writer
Then I'll Come Back to You
Writer
Within the Law
Adaptation
Within the Law
Screenplay
The Awakening
Story
The Secret Six
Writer
Let Us Be Gay
Writer
Let Us Be Gay
Dialogue
A Hungry Heart
Writer
Stella Dallas
Adaptation
Stella Dallas
Screenplay
Stella Maris
Writer
Their Own Desire
Screenplay
The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
Screenplay
The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
Story
Beloved Adventuress
Screenplay
Beloved Adventuress
Story
Johanna Enlists
Writer
The Poor Little Rich Girl
Scenario Writer
The Poor Little Rich Girl
Writer
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Writer
The Flapper
Screenplay
The Flapper
Story
Pollyanna
Adaptation
Pollyanna
Screenplay
The Song of Love
Adaptation
The Song of Love
Screenplay
A Circus Romance
Story
Anne of Green Gables
Writer
A Girl's Folly
Writer
The Mask of Lopez
Writer
He Comes Up Smiling
Writer
The Web of Desire
Writer
Potash and Perlmutter
Writer
The Tough Guy
Story
M'Liss
Writer
The Winning of Barbara Worth
Writer
The Rogue Song
Writer
Bought and Paid For
Writer
The Prizefighter and the Lady
Story
Good News
Scenario Writer
Good News
Screenplay
The Sunset Legion
Story
The Sunset Legion
Scenario Writer
The Hidden Scar
Writer
A Sister's Burden
Writer
The Eternal Flame
Writer
Captain Kidd, Jr.
Writer
Just Around the Corner
Writer
His Supreme Moment
Adaptation
His Supreme Moment
Screenplay
The Nth Commandment
Writer
The Social Highwayman
Writer
The Stolen Paradise
Writer
The Feast of Life
Screenplay
The World and His Wife
Screenplay
The Battle of Hearts
Writer
Cytherea
Adaptation
Cytherea
Screenplay
The Crucial Test
Writer
Friday the 13th
Writer
Back Pay
Writer
The French Doll
Writer
The French Doll
Scenario Writer
Min and Bill
Writer
The Primitive Lover
Writer
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Writer
Go and Get It
Scenario Writer
The Famous Mrs. Fair
Screenplay
The Social Leper
Writer
East Is West
Writer
The City of Dim Faces
Screenplay
A Little Princess
Writer
Zander the Great
Adaptation
Zander the Great
Screenplay
The Two-Gun Man
Co-Writer
Lightnin'
Adaptation
Lightnin'
Screenplay
The First Year
Writer
Through the Dark
Writer
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Writer
Molly and Me
Novel
The Dark Star
Writer
The Big House
Writer
The Voice from the Minaret
Adaptation
The Voice from the Minaret
Screenplay
Jesse James
Screenplay
Jesse James
Story
A Woman's Way
Writer
The Foundling
Writer
Graustark
Adaptation
Graustark
Screenplay
How Could You, Jean?
Screenplay
The Heart of a Hero
Writer
Lazybones
Scenario Writer
Lazybones
Screenplay
Forget-Me-Not
Writer
Secrets
Adaptation
Secrets
Screenplay
The Callahans and the Murphys
Writer
The Red Mill
Adaptation
The Red Mill
Scenario Writer
Sundown
Writer
Madame Pompadour
Writer
The Amazons
Writer
The Eagle's Talons
Writer
The Dark Angel
Writer
A Thief in Paradise
Adaptation
A Thief in Paradise
Screenplay
All Man
Writer
The Temple Of Dusk
Writer
The Misleading Widow
Writer
The Love Piker
Scenario Writer
The Goat
Screenplay
The Goat
Story
Ridin' the Wind
Writer
Tarnish
Screenplay
Paris at Midnight
Writer
Thank You
Screenplay
Partners Again
Adaptation
Partners Again
Screenplay
The Masks of the Devil
Writer
On Dangerous Ground
Writer
A Daughter of the Sea
Story
The Cinema Murder
Scenario Writer
The Cinema Murder
Screenplay
The Summer Girl
Writer
The Rise of Susan
Writer
A Square Deal
Writer