Marilyn Maxwell

Maxwell was a native of Clarinda, Iowa.{{cite news| title=Actress Marilyn Maxwell Dies| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3217109/the_la_crosse_tribune/| newspaper=La Crosse Tribune| date=March 21, 1972| page=14| via=Newspapers.com| access-date=September 13, 2015}} {{Open access}} During the 1930s, she worked as an usher in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Rialto Theater located at 2616 South Calhoun Street.{{cite book| title=Twentieth Century History of Fort Wayne| last=Ankenbruck| first=John| publisher=Twentieth Century Historical Fort Wayne, Inc.| year=1975| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYMCAAAAMAAJ&q=rialto| location=Fort Wayne| page=308}}

In Fort Wayne, she attended Central High School. She dropped out of school in her sophomore year to join an Indianapolis band as a singer.{{cite book| title=Legendary Locals of Fort Wayne| last=Harter| first=Randolph| publisher=Arcadia Publishing| year=2015| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZegCgAAQBAJ&q=marilyn+maxwell+&pg=PA100| page=101| isbn=9781439653067}}

File:Marilyn Maxwell in Stand By for Action trailer.jpg (1942)]]

She started her professional entertaining career as a radio singer and a singer on stage with Ted Weems' big band while still a teenager. She moved to Hollywood after being with the Pasadena Playhouse{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety |date=March 22, 1972 |page=79 |title=Obituaries|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1972-03-22_266_6/page/79/mode/1up?view=theater|access-date=December 10, 2023|via=Internet Archive}} and signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1942 as a contract player.{{cite web |url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/weems.html |title=Ted Weems and his Orchestra |publisher=RedHot Jazz.com |access-date=October 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125003448/http://www.redhotjazz.com/weems.html |archive-date=January 25, 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IgwkAAAAIBAJ&pg=1872,2187533&dq=perry+como+marilyn+maxwell&hl=en |title=Along Amusement Row |last=Herzog |first=Buck |date=October 15, 1962 |work=The Milwaukee Journal |access-date=November 5, 2010}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zZBRAAAAIBAJ&pg=3129,1117850&dq=elmo+tanner&hl=en |title=On the Stage |date=October 21, 1939 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=April 13, 2011}} Among the radio programs in which she appeared were Beat the Band,{{cite journal |title=Say Hello to ... |journal=Radio and Television Mirror |date=June 1940 |volume=14 |issue=2 |page=42 |url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/40/Mirror-1940-Jun.pdf |access-date=28 February 2015}} Kraft Music Hall and The Abbott and Costello Show. Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, insisted she change the Marvel part of her real name. She dropped her first name and kept the middle one.{{cite news |last=Wilson |first=Earl |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p-McAAAAIBAJ&pg=1956,3659688&dq=perry+como+marilyn+maxwell&hl=en |title=Another Marilyn! Are There Two? |date=September 28, 1952 |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |access-date=November 5, 2010}} She appeared in several Dr. Kildare films with Van Johnson - Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943); Three Men in White (1944); and Between Two Women (1945). Some of her other film roles included Lost in a Harem (1944) with Abbott and Costello; Champion (1949) with Kirk Douglas; The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) with Bob Hope; New York Confidential (1955) with Broderick Crawford; and Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958) with Jerry Lewis. She received critical praise for her performance in the musical Summer Holiday (1948). The popular Christmas song "Silver Bells" made its debut in The Lemon Drop Kid, sung by Maxwell and Hope.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ukk0AAAAIBAJ&pg=5157,5588917&dq=perry+como+marilyn+maxwell&hl=en |title=People in the News-Hope Favors 'Silver Bells' |date=November 14, 1977 |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |access-date=November 5, 2010}}

Maxwell appeared twice as a singer in the second season (1955–1956) of The Jimmy Durante Show.{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}} She sang at the Latin Quarter in New York and other top nightclubs of the time.

She appeared as the mystery guest of 'What's My Line ' on May 10, 1953. At one point, a blind-folded panelist asked whether or not she was Marilyn Monroe.

In 1961 she starred in the TV series Bus Stop but withdrew midway through the season.

Maxwell married three times; each ended in divorce. In September 1944, she married actor John Conte; the relationship was dissolved in June 1946. Her second marriage to restaurateur Anders McIntyre lasted just over a year from January 1, 1950{{cite news |title=Marilyn Maxwell Seeking Divorce |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3217076/the_oregon_statesman/ |work=The Oregon Statesman |date=February 17, 1951 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=September 13, 2015 |location=Hazelton, Penn}} {{Open access}} until March 23, 1951.{{cite news |title=Actress Gets Freedom |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3217013/the_plain_speaker/ |work=The Plain Speaker |date=March 23, 1951 |page=12 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=September 13, 2015 |location=Hazleton, Penn}} {{Open access}} Maxwell's six-year marriage to writer/producer Jerry Davis ended in 1960. Her only child, Matthew, was born to Maxwell and Davis in 1956.{{cite book |last1=Hagen |first1=Ray |title=Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames |year=2015 |publisher=McFarland |pages=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W63KwX1QtBAC&pg=PA130 |isbn=978-0-78-648073-9}}

Maxwell met and became friends with Frank Sinatra when they crossed paths, both of them in separate nationally renowned big bands in the late 1930s. Their friendship continued after Maxwell gave up singing for acting and moved to Hollywood and Sinatra had moved from New Jersey to Beverly Hills in the early 1940s. By 1945, the friendship had progressed into an extra-marital affair. Sinatra’s wife Nancy saw Maxwell wearing a diamond bracelet she had earlier seen in Sinatra’s car which she assumed was for her. Taking this as evidence of Sinatra’s infidelity, Nancy ordered Maxwell and her husband John Conte to immediately leave the Sinatra family Christmas gala of 1945. Confronted after the party, Sinatra admitted the affair to his wife, but claimed it was only casual. Soon after, Maxwell and Sinatra ended their sexual liaison.{{cite book |last1=Hagen |first1=Ray |title=Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |page=123 |isbn=978-0786480739 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W63KwX1QtBAC&pg=PA123}}{{cite book |last1=Taraborrelli |first1=J. Randy |title=Sinatra: Behind the Legend |year=2015 |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |edition=e-book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzHABQAAQBAJ&pg=PT100 |quote=Soon he was telling people that he and Marilyn belonged together and that he was going to – again – ask Nancy for a divorce. |isbn=978-1-455-53058-8}}[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10762387-frank Frank The Voice"], James Kaplan published by Anchor Books Nov. 2011.

File:Marilyn Maxwell in High Barbaree trailer.jpg

From 1950 to 1954, Maxwell had an affair with actor/comedian Bob Hope who was married to singer Dolores (Reade) Hope. Hope and Maxwell’s relationship was so open that many in Hollywood referred to her as Mrs. Bob Hope.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

During the 1950s, Maxwell became good friends with fellow actor Rock Hudson. After her marriage to Jerry Davis ended in 1960, Hudson's agent Henry Willson arranged for Maxwell to become one of several women Hudson publicly "dated" to counter rumors of the actor's homosexuality.[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/08/arts/review-television-the-life-death-and-secrets-of-rock-hudson.html John J O'Connor, "The Life, Death and Secrets of Rock Hudson"], New York Times, 8 January 1990.

On March 20, 1972, at age 50, Maxwell was found dead in her home by her 15-year-old son, who had arrived home from school. The cause was an apparent heart attack; she had been treated for hypertension and pulmonary disease. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Jack Benny were honorary pallbearers at her funeral.{{cite web |publisher=Eickemeyer Funeral Chapel |url=http://www.efc.cc/obituaries/prominent/marilyn_maxwell.htm |title=Marilyn Maxwell Obituary |access-date=January 25, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123161749/http://efc.cc/obituaries/prominent/marilyn_maxwell.htm |archive-date=January 23, 2009 }}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Stand by for Action (1942) – Audrey Carr
• Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943) – Ruth Edly
• Salute to the Marines (1943) – Helen Bailey
• Thousands Cheer (1943) – Drug Store Clerk in Red Skelton Skit
• Swing Fever (1943) – Ginger Gray
• Three Men in White (1944) – Ruth Edley
• Lost in a Harem (1944) – Hazel Moon
• Between Two Women (1945) – Ruth Edley
• The Show-Off (1946) – Amy Fisher Piper
• High Barbaree (1947) – Diana Case
• Summer Holiday (1948) – Belle
• Race Street (1948) – Robbie Lawrence
• Champion (1949) – Grace
• Key to the City (1950) – Sheila
• Outside the Wall (1950) – Charlotte Maynard
• The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) – 'Brainey' Baxter
• New Mexico (1951) – Cherry
• Off Limits (1952) – Connie Curtis
• East of Sumatra (1953) – Lory Hale
• Paris Model (1953) – Marion Parmalee
• New York Confidential (1955) – Iris Palmer
• Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958) – Carla Naples
• Critic's Choice (1963) – Ivy London
• Stage to Thunder Rock (1964) – Leah Parker
• The Lively Set (1964) – Marge Owens
• Arizona Bushwhackers (1968) – Molly
• From Nashville with Music (1969) – Mabel
• The Phynx (1970) – Herself

{{div col end}}

• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Bat (1950) – Herself
• Brooklyn Goes to Las Vegas (1956) – Herself

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |title=Radio Programs, 1924–1984 |year=1999 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-7864-0351-9}}

{{Portal|Biography|Iowa|California}}

{{Commons}}

• {{Discogs artist}}
• {{IMDb name}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180630110755/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f8ab5f2 Marilyn Maxwell] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140101043818/http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/B%20Series/Beat%20the%20Band/Beat%20the%20Band%2040-04-07%20(011)%20You%20Little%20Heartbreaker%20You.mp3 Audio of Beat the Band April 7, 1940 episode] Maxwell appears as Marvel Maxwell.

{{Ted Weems}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Marilyn}}

Category:1921 births

Category:1972 deaths

Category:American radio actresses

Category:Actresses from Iowa

Category:American film actresses

Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players

Category:People from Clarinda, Iowa

Category:Iowa Republicans

Category:California Republicans

Category:Singers from Iowa

Category:Singers from Indiana

Category:Actresses from Fort Wayne, Indiana

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers