Marie Prevost
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Marie Prevost (November 8, 1898 - January 21, 1937) was a Canadian-born actress of the early days of cinema.
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[edit] Early life
Born Mary Bickford Dunn in Sarnia, Ontario, when she was still a child her family moved first to Denver, Colorado and then later to Los Angeles, California. While working as a secretary, she applied and obtained an acting job at the Hollywood studio owned by Mack Sennett. Himself from a small Canadian town outside of Montreal, Sennett dubbed her as the exotic French girl, adding Mary Dunn to his collection of bathing beauties under the stage name of Marie Prevost.
[edit] Career Rise
One of her first publicly successful film roles came in the 1920 romantic film Love, Honor, and Behave opposite another newcomer and Sennett protegé, George O'Hara. Initially cast 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. 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.
It was there that she got her first big break appearing in a standout role in the F. Scott Fitzgerald story, The Beautiful and Damned. Her performance brought good reviews and director Ernst Lubitsch chose her for a major role opposite Adolphe Menjou in 1924's The Marriage Circle. 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.
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. But, just when her career was blossoming, tragedy struck her family again in 1926. 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.
[edit] Decline
Devastated, the loss of her only remaining parent led to an addiction to alcohol and to Marie Prevost's own ultimate destruction. Married to actor Kenneth Harlan since 1924, that marriage soon ended in a 1927 divorce.
Prevost tried to get past her personal torment by burying herself in her work, starring in numerous roles as the temptingly beautiful seductress who in the end was always the honorable heroine.
However, her depression caused her to binge on food resulting in significant weight gain. By the 1930s she was working less and less being offered only secondary parts. A notable exception was Paid, in 1930, a role for which she got good reviews.
As a result of all this, her financial income declined and her growing dependency on alcohol added to her weight problems. By 1934, she had no work at all and her financial situation deteriorated dramatically. 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.
On January 21, 1937, at the age of 38, secluded and hiding away from the world, living alone in an apartment house, Marie Prevost died from a combination of alcoholism and her self-imposed malnutrition. The primary cause of death was a heart attack. Her body was not discovered until January 23rd, when neighbors had complained about her dog's incessant barking. The police report stated that her pet dachshund (named John Kelly for unknown reasons) "had chewed up her arms and legs in a futile attempt to awaken her." Among her few possessions was an I.O.U. note which read as follows : "Joan Crawford, I.O.U. $300". It was signed by Marie and dated January 21, 1937. She was cremated and her ashes were mixed with those of her mother who had died and was cremated in the 1920's.
After having performed in some 120 films Marie Prevost has now been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Blvd.
[edit] References in pop culture
British musician Nick Lowe retold the story of Prevost's death in his satirical song "Marie Provost" (the misspelling is Lowe's) from his 1978 album Pure Pop for Now People. The song's refrain: "She was a winner/Who became the doggie's dinner."
Marie and her pet are also referenced in the play Legends, wherein Carol Channing's character warns Mary Martin's that it wouldn't be safe for her to die with the dog on the premises unless it knew how to operate a can opener.
In Chuck Palahniuk's 2008 novel Snuff, Prevost's death is referenced several times, although the cause of her depression and decline in popularity are attributed to a heavy Bronx accent being revealed at the inception of movies with sound.
[edit] Films
- Two Crooks - (1917)
- Her Nature Dance - (1917)
- She Loved Him Plenty - (1918)
- His Smothered Love - (1918)
- His Hidden Purpose - (1918)
- Hide and Seek Detectives - (1918)
- The Village Chestnut - (1918)
- Yankee Doodle in Berlin - (1919)
- When Love is Blind - (1919)
- Down on the Farm - (1920)
- Love, Honor and Behave - (1920)
- Nobody's Fool - (1921)
- Princess Virtue - (1921)
- A Parisian Scandal - (1921)
- Don't Get Personal - (1922)
- The Crossroads of New York - (1922)
- Kissed - (1922)
- Her Night of Nights - (1922)
- Red Lights - (1922)
- The Beautiful and Damned - (1923)
- Three Women - (1924)
- The Marriage Circle - (1924)
- Kiss Me Again - (1925)
- Other Women's Husbands - (1926)
- Up In Mabel's Room - (1926)
- Getting Gertie's Garter - (1927)
- The Rush Hour - (1927)
- Getting Gertie's Garter - (1927)
- The Girl in the Pullman - (1927)
- The Racket - (1928)
- A Blonde for a Night - (1928)
- Rush Hour - (1928)
- Godless Girl - (1929)
- The Flying Fool - (1929 )
- The Sideshow - (1930)
- Party Girl - (1930)
- Ladies of Leisure - (1930)
- Sweethearts on Parade - (1930)
- War Nurse - (1930)
- The Runaround - (1931)
- The Good Bad Girl - (1931)
- Reckless Living - (1931)
- Slightly Married - (1932)
- Hell Divers - (1931)
- Strange Marriage - (1932)
- Parole Girl - (1933)
- The Eleventh Commandment - (1933)
- Keystone Hotel - (1935)
- Hands Across the Table - (1935)
- Tango - (1936 )
- Ten Laps To Go - (1937) - (Her final film)
