Marion Leonard

Marion Leonard
The Theater of Science (1914)
Born	(1881-06-09)June 9, 1881 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 9, 1956(1956-01-09) (aged 74) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1908–1915
Spouse	Stanner E.V. Taylor

Marion Leonard (June 9, 1881 – January 9, 1956) was an American stage actress who became one of the first motion picture celebrities in the early years of the silent film era.

Early career

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Marion Leonard began working in live theatre until the age of twenty-seven when she was signed by American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. She made her screen debut in the short film At the Crossroads of Life (1908) directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Jr. (1884–1928) from a screenplay by D. W. Griffith, who also appeared as an actor in this film.

Within a year, she had leading roles, frequently directed by Griffith. At a time when screen credits were not given to actors, she and Florence Auer were the first star actresses to be billed by the studio as a "Biograph Girl". Of her films made at Biograph, thirty-two were with an up-and-coming young actress named Mary Pickford.

Marriage and switch to Universal Pictures

While working for Biograph, Leonard met screenwriter/director Stanner E.V. Taylor and a personal relationship developed that led to marriage. The two would eventually leave Biograph to make films together for Universal Pictures and other studios and sometimes through their own production company.

In 1915, after appearing in more than one hundred and fifty films, Marion Leonard retired from film but did return eleven years later at age forty-five for one final appearance in a 1926 Mack Sennett comedy.

Marion Leonard died in 1956 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Selected filmography

• The Gibson Goddess (1909)
• The Prussian Spy (1909)
• A Fool's Revenge (1909)
• The Roue's Heart (1909)
• And a Little Child Shall Lead Them (1909)
• A Burglar's Mistake (1909)
• Two Memories (1909)
• Nursing a Viper (1909)

Further reading

• Menefee, David Sweet Memories (Menefee Publishing Inc., 2012) ISBN 1469966956

External links

• Marion Leonard at IMDb
• Marion Leonard at Women Film Pioneers Project