Marie Prevost

After having performed in 105 films Marie Prevost has now been honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Blvd. On television, she portrayed Suzanne Pleshette's mother on the popular Bob Newhart Show during the 1970s. Her body was not discovered for days, and the police report stated that her pet dachshund "had chewed up her arms and legs in a futile attempt to awaken her." Her pauper's burial place is unknown. On radio, Ann Rutherford replaced Penny Singleton as Blondie. At the age of 38, almost penniless, and living alone in a rundown apartment house, Marie Prevost died of alcoholism and malnutrition. She retired from films in 1950, but returned to her old studio in 1972 to make They Only Kill Their Masters on the old Andy Hardy set. The downward spiral became greatly aggravated when her weight problems forced her into repeated crash dieting in order to keep whatever bit part a movie studio offered. She left MGM to freelance in the early 1940s, starring in such films as Orchestra Wives (1942) (with the Glen Miller Orchestra), Two O'Clock Courage (1945) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

By 1934, she had no work at all and her financial situation deteriorated dramatically. She also starred in a series of mystery/comedies with Red Skelton (Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)). As a result of all this, her income declined and her growing dependency on alcohol added to her weight problems. From 1937 until 1942, she portrayed Polly Benedict in the very successful Andy Hardy series. By the 1930s she was working less and less being offered only secondary parts, frequently in humiliating roles as a cheap-talking floozy. She was loaned to Selznick International to appear as Careen O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939). However, her depression caused her to binge on food resulting in significant weight gain. At MGM, she appeared in such films as A Christmas Carol (1938) and Pride and Prejudice (1940).

She tried to get past her personal torment by burying herself in her work, becoming one of the busiest actresses of the day, starring in numerous roles as the temptingly beautiful seductress who in the end was always the honorable heroine. Afterward, she was placed under contract with MGM. Devastated, the loss of her only remaining parent led to an addiction to alcohol and to Marie Prevost's own ultimate destruction. Mascot merged with Republic Pictures, and Miss Rutherford soon established herself as a popular leading lady of Westerns with Gene Autry and John Wayne. While her mother was traveling in Florida with actress Vera Steadman and another Canadian friend, Hollywood studio owner, Al Christie, an automobile accident took her mother's life. She began her film career in starring roles in Waterfront Lady for Mascot Pictures in 1935. But, just when her career was blossoming, tragedy struck her family again in 1926. At an early age, she performed in various radio shows.

This impressive performance, praised by the New York Times, resulted in Lubitsch casting her in Three Women in 1924 and in Kiss Me Again the following year. Miss Rutherford was born in Toronto, Canada. Of her performance as the beautiful seductress, Ernst Lubitsch said that she was one of the few actresses in Hollywood who knew how to underplay comedy to achieve the maximum effect. In the long-running, Academy Award-winning Andy Hardy film series, she played Polly twelve times, with the last appearance being in Andy Hardy's Double Life in 1942. Her performance brought good reviews and director Ernst Lubitsch chose her for a major role opposite Adolphe Menjou in The Marriage Circle. It was in 1938 that her first notable role came as Andy Hardy's girlfriend, Polly Benedict, in Judge Hardy's Children. Scott Fitzgerald story, The Beautiful and the Damned. She appeared in seventeen films between 1935 and 1938.

It was there that she got her first big break appearing in a standout role in the F. Her first film role was in Melody Trail in 1935. At Universal, Marie Prevost was still relegated to light comedies and after making only eight films she left to sign with Warner Brothers in 1922. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films. Placed in numerous minor comedic roles as the sexy, innocent young girl, she worked in several films for Sennett's studio until 1921 when she signed with Universal Studios. Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1920 - ) is a Canadian/American actress in film, radio, and television. Himself from a small town outside Montreal, Mack Sennett dubbed her as the exotic French girl, adding Mary Dunn to his collection of bathing beauties under the stage name of Marie Prevost.

While working as a secretary, the girl applied and obtained an acting job at the Hollywood studio owned by Mack Sennett. Following the early death of her beloved father, she moved with her mother and sister to Los Angeles, California. Born Mary Bickford Dunn in Sarnia, Ontario, she was educated in a Catholic convent school in Montreal, Quebec. Marie Prevost (November 8, 1898 - January 23, 1937) was an actress of the early days of cinema.

Ten Laps To Go - (1937) - (Her final film). Tango - (1936 ). Hands Across the Table - (1935). Keystone Hotel - (1935).

The Eleventh Commandment - (1933). Parole Girl - (1933). Strange Marriage - (1932). Hell Divers - (1931).

Slightly Married - (1932). Reckless Living - (1931). The Good Bad Girl - (1931). The Runaround - (1931).

War Nurse - (1930). Sweethearts on Parade - (1930). Ladies of Leisure - (1930). Party Girl - (1930).

The Sideshow - (1930). The Flying Fool - (1929 ). Godless Girl - (1929). Rush Hour - (1928).

A Blonde for a Night - (1928). The Girl in the Pullman - (1927). Getting Gertie's Garter - (1927). The Rush Hour - (1927).

Getting Gertie's Garter - (1927). Up In Mabel's Room - (1926). Kiss Me Again - (1925). The Marriage Circle - (1924).

Three Women - (1924). The Beautiful and the Damned - (1923). Red Lights - (1922). Her Night of Nights - (1922).

Kissed - (1922). The Crossroads of New York - (1922). Don't Get Personal - (1922). A Parisian Scandal - (1921).

Princess Virtue - (1921). Nobody's Fool - (1921). Love, Honor and Behave - (1920). Down on the Farm - (1920).

When Love is Blind - (1919). Yankee Doodle in Berlin - (1919). The Village Chestnut - (1918). Hide and Seek Detectives - (1918).

His Hidden Purpose - (1918). His Smothered Love - (1918). She Loved Him Plenty - (1918). Her Nature Dance - (1917).

Two Crooks - (1917).