Marilyn Maxwell

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Marilyn Maxwell
from the trailer for High Barbaree (1947)
Born	Marvel Marilyn Maxwell August 3, 1921 Clarinda, Iowa, USA
Died	March 20, 1972, age 50 Beverly Hills, California, USA

Marilyn Maxwell (August 3, 1921 – March 20, 1972), born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell, was a platinum blonde, curvaceous movie actress and entertainer who, in addition to appearing in many films and radio programs, also entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope. She also appeared in a number of Hope's shows as a sexy but comic foil. She started her professional entertaining career as a radio singer while still a teenager before signing with MGM in 1942 as a contract player. Among the programs in which she appeared was The Abbott and Costello Show. The head of MGM, Louis B. Mayer, insisted she change the "Marvel" part of her real name. She dropped her first name and kept the middle. Some of her memorable film roles included Lost in a Harem (1944), Champion (1949), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), and Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958). Maxwell had such a long-running affair with the married Bob Hope that she was nicknamed "Mrs. Bob Hope" within the industry.(1)

[edit] Death

In 1972, Maxwell's 15-year-old son arrived home from school and found her dead at age 50 of an apparent heart attack, after she had been treated for high blood pressure and pulmonary disease. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Jack Benny were honorary pall bearers at her funeral.[1]