Marion Davies (January 3 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress of the silent era.

Davies was born Marion Cecilia Dourvas in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children born to Bernard J. Dourvas, a lawyer who moved in New York City political circles, and Rose Reilly, formerly of Jersey City, New Jersey. Her elder siblings included Rose, Reine, and Ethel. A brother, Charles, drowned at the age of 15 in 1906. His name was subsequently given to Marion's favourite nephew, the screenwriter Charles Lederer, the son of Marion's sister Reine Davies.

The Dourvas family lived near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The sisters changed their surname to Davies, which one of them spotted on a realtor's sign in the neighborhood. Even at a time when New York was the melting pot for new immigrants, having an Anglo-Saxon surname greatly helped one's prospects.

The sisters all hit the Great White Way, and Marion was signed on as a chorine in Florenz Ziegfeld's annual "Ziegfeld Follies" revues.

Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Even during her career, her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career. In her posthumously published memoirs, Davies claimed she wasn't an actress, knew nothing about politics, and described herself as a "silly, giggly idiot."

After making her screen debut in late 1916 in a fashion newsreel, modeling gowns by Lucile (Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon), she appeared in her first feature film in 1917's Runaway Romany. It was a film written by herself and directed by her brother-in-law, the prominent Broadway producer George W. Lederer. The following year she starred in three films, The Burden of Proof, Beatrice Fairfax, and Cecilia of the Pink Roses. Playing mainly light comedic roles, she quickly became a major movie personality, making a small fortune which enabled her to provide financial assistance for her family and friends.

Cecilia of the Pink Roses in 1918 was her first film backed by Hearst. She was on her way to being the most famously advertised actress in the world. During the next 10 years she appeared in 29 films, an average of almost three films a year.

By the mid-1920s, however, her career was often overshadowed by her relationship with the married Hearst and their fabulous social life at San Simeon and Ocean House in Santa Monica dubbed the biggest house on the beach, "the beach between San Diego and Vancouver".

Hearst had met her soon after she'd started working in movies, and formed Cosmopolitan Pictures solely to produce starring vehicles for her. Hearst's relentless efforts to promote her career instead had a detrimental effect, but he persisted, making Cosmopolitan's distribution deals first with Paramount, then Goldwyn, and then Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Davies, in her published memoirs The Times We Had, concluded that Hearst's over-the-top promotion of her career, in fact, had a negative result.

Hearst loved seeing her in expensive costume pictures, but she also appeared in contemporary comedies like Tillie the Toiler, The Fair Co-Ed (both 1927), and especially two directed by King Vidor, The Patsy and the backstage-in-Hollywood saga Show People (both 1928). The Patsy contains her imitations, that she usually did for friends, of silent stars Lillian Gish, Mae Murray and Pola Negri.

The coming of sound made Davies nervous, because she had never completely overcome a childhood stutter. Her career survived, however, and she made several comedies and musicals during the 1930s, including Marianne (1929), Not So Dumb (1930), The Florodora Girl (1930), The Bachelor Father (1931), Five and Ten (1931) with Leslie Howard, Polly of the Circus (1932) with Clark Gable, Blondie of the Follies (1932), Peg o' My Heart (1933), Going Hollywood (1933) with Bing Crosby, and Operator 13 (1934) with Gary Cooper. She was involved with many aspects of her films and was considered an astute businesswoman. Her career, however, was hampered by Hearst's insistence that she play distinguished, dramatic parts, as opposed to the comic roles that were her forte. She also harboured an increasing dependence on alcohol, hiding bottles of liquor in San Simeon's toilet tanks. However, her body of work has often been praised by contemporary critics.

Hearst reportedly had tried to push MGM executives to hire Davies for the role of Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette (1938). Louis B. Mayer hired producer Irving Thalberg's wife Norma Shearer for the part instead. Hearst reacted by pulling his newspaper support for MGM, and moved Cosmopolitan Pictures to Warner Bros.'s studios, but stayed only a few years. Davies' films there included Page Miss Glory (1935), Hearts Divided, Cain and Mabel (both 1936), and Ever Since Eve (1937), her last film. Cosmopolitan Pictures folded, so she left the screen and retreated to San Simeon.

Hearst and Davies lived as a couple for decades but were never married, as Hearst's wife refused to get a divorce. At one point, he reportedly came close to marrying Davies, but decided his wife's settlement demands were too high.

Davies, although with Hearst for years, also privately dated other actors. In the mid-1920s, Davies became involved in an affair with actor Charlie Chaplin, and in the mid-1930s she was involved with actor Dick Powell. Hearst was incredibly jealous and possessive of her, even though he was married throughout their relationship.

Her relationship with Chaplin became the stuff of legend in 1924 when he, Hearst, Davies (among other actresses and actors) were on Hearst's yacht with film producer Thomas Ince when Ince died.

In spite of no supporting evidence, rumors have circulated since that time that Hearst mistook Ince for Chaplin and shot him in a jealous rage. The rumors were dramatised in the play The Cat's Meow, which was later made into Peter Bogdanovich's 2001 film of the same name starring Edward Herrmann as Hearst, Kirsten Dunst as Davies, Eddie Izzard as Chaplin and Cary Elwes as Ince.

By the late-1930s, Hearst was suffering financial reversals; Davies bailed him out by selling off $1 million of her jewelry. When Hearst died, his family had every trace of Davies' presence in his home removed, and when discussing his life and legacy, made no reference to her.

Ten weeks after Hearst's death, Davies married Horace Brown on October 31, 1951. It was not a happy marriage; he allegedly encouraged her drinking. Davies filed for divorce twice, but neither was finalised. Her friends, and the media, noticed a remarkable physical similarity between Brown and the young Hearst.

In her last years, Davies was involved with charity work: in 1952 she donated $1.9 million to establish a children's clinic at UCLA, which still bears her name. She also fought childhood diseases through the Marion Davies Foundation.

She suffered a minor stroke in 1956, and was later diagnosed with cancer of the jaw. She had an operation which appeared to be successful; Davies fell and broke her leg in 1960. The last time Davies was seen by the American public was on January 10, 1960 on an NBC TV special called Hedda Hopper's Hollywood.

Davies died of cancer in Hollywood, California on September 22, 1961. Her funeral was attended by many Hollywood legends including Mary Pickford and Mrs. Clark Gable (Kay Spreckels), as well as President Herbert Hoover. She is buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood. She left an estate estimated at more than $30 million.

After the death of Davies' niece, Patricia Lake (née Van Cleeve), Lake's family announced that she was in fact the daughter of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst. Prior to the announcement, it had been said that Lake was the daughter of Rosemary Davies (Marion's sister) and her first husband, George Van Cleeve. Although the claim does not appear to have been verified independently, Lake and her husband — Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood in numerous films — were buried beside Davies in the Douras family mausoleum.

Part of the Medical Center at UCLA is named the Marion Davies Clinic.

Davies was rumoured to be the inspiration for the Susan Alexander character portrayed in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, which was based loosely on Hearst's life. This portrayal has led to various portrayals of Davies as a talentless opportunist, the most recent of which was Melanie Griffith's in HBO's RKO 281.

Welles himself, as stated in his foreword to Davies autobiography The Times We Had, said he deeply regretted that so many assumed Susan Alexander was a carbon copy of Davies, and that the real Davies was a great actress and a wonderful woman. He also claimed that the Susan Alexander character owed as much to the Chicago tycoon Samuel Insull's mistress for whom he built an opera house.

Davies was also portrayed by Virginia Madsen in the telefilm The Hearst and Davies Affair (1985) with Robert Mitchum as Hearst, and Heather McNair in Chaplin (1992). Madsen later became a Davies fan and said that she felt she had inadvertently portrayed her as a stereotype, rather than as a real person.

Many film historians and fans resent the negative reputation Kane garnered her, and have worked to restore her image in the public eye. Their efforts included a documentary film Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (2001), which premiered on Turner Classic Movies and which featured appearances by friends and costars who tearfully remembered Davies, even four decades after her death.

Kristen Dunst portrayed Marion Davies in the 2001 movie 'The Cat's Meow'.

In addition to these films, Davies reputedly appeared as an extra in Chaplin's The Pilgrim (1923) and also as an extra in Ben Hur (1925).

*History of Santa Monica, California in the 1920s A short history of Ocean House. The Los Angeles Times reported on September 28, 2006 that the remaining portions of the residence may be restored as a public beach club, expected to open in 2010. The property is located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway.

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