Marion Byron

Marion Byron
Born Miriam Bilenkin
March 16, 1911
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Died July 5, 1985 (aged 74)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Other names Peanuts
Occupation Film actress, comedienne
Spouse(s) Lou Breslow

Marion "Peanuts" Byron (pseudonym; née Miriam Bilenkin; 16 March 1911 in Dayton, Ohio – 5 July 1985 in Santa Monica, California)[1] was a petite (4'11" in high heels),[2] plucky American movie comedienne.

She was born in Dayton, Ohio. After following her sister into a short stage career as a singer/dancer, she was given her first movie role as Buster Keaton's leading lady in the film Steamboat Bill Jr. in 1928. From there she was hired by Hal Roach to co-star in short subjects with Max Davidson, Edgar Kennedy, and Charley Chase, but most significantly with Anita Garvin, where tiny (5') Marion was teamed with 6' Anita for a brief (3 film) series as a "female Laurel & Hardy" in 1928–1929.

She left Roach before they made talkies, but she went on working, now in musical features, like the Vitaphone film Broadway Babies (1929) with Alice White, and the early Technicolor feature, Golden Dawn (1930). She never made a big splash, with her parts slowly getting smaller and smaller until they were unbilled walk-ons in films like Meet the Baron (1933) starring Jack Pearl and Hips Hips Hooray (1934) with Wheeler & Woolsey. Her final screen appearance was as a baby nurse to the Dionne Quintuplets in their film, Six of a Kind (1938).

Family

She married screenwriter Lou Breslow in 1932 and they had two sons, Lawrence Samuel Breslow (born 1939) and Daniel Robert Breslow (1944–1998). Marion Byron Breslow is buried at Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California.

Selected filmography

External links

References

  1. ↑ Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins,, fifth edition, by Adrian Richard West Room (born 1933), McFarland & Company (2010) OCLC 663110495
  2. ↑ Tiny for Stage, But Just Right for Film Role, San Diego Union, October 13, 1929, pg. 71