# Ben Lyon

Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American film actor and a studio executive at 20th Century-Fox who later acted in British radio, films and TV.

## Early life and career

Lyon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alvine W. (Wiseberg) and Ben Lyon, a travelling salesman. His family was Jewish. Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923) and steadily developed into a leading man. He was successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era, including Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Barbara La Marr, Viola Dana, Anna Q. Nilsson, Mary Astor and Blanche Sweet. In 1925, a writer for Photoplay wrote of him, "Girls, Ben Lyon looks harmless but we have reliable information that he's irresistible, so watch your step. Besides he's a mighty fine actor and if the ladies must fall in love with him he can't help it."
He had success as an actor in the 1930 film Hell's Angels. The film was a major success and brought Jean Harlow to prominence, but Lyon's performance as a heroic World War I aviator was also highly regarded and was a personal friend of Howard Hughes. For the next decade he was constantly in demand, but his popularity began to wane by the early 1940s. By the mid 1940s he was working for 20th Century-Fox. On July 17, 1946, he met a young aspiring actress named Norma Jeane Dougherty. After his first meeting with her, he stated that she was "Jean Harlow all over again!" He organized a color screen test for the actress, renamed her, and finally signed her as Marilyn Monroe to her first studio contract.
During World War II, when the United States was still neutral, Lyon and his wife, actress Bebe Daniels, settled in London. The couple, along with the comedian Vic Oliver, starred in the radio series Hi, Gang!, which ran from 1940 to 1949. Hi Gang was succeeded in 1950 by Life with the Lyons, which also featured their real-life son Richard and daughter Barbara, and spawned a couple of theatrical films as well as a television series on BBC and independent television from 1954 until 1960. Bebe Daniels had top billing in these series, similar to the concurrent American show starring married couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in March 1963, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre.

## Military service

Lyon served as a pilot in the 322nd Pursuit Squadron in the early 1930s. During World War II he served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Air Forces Special Services.

## Personal life and death

Lyon married actress Bebe Daniels in June 1930. They had two children, daughter Barbara in 1931 and an adopted son Richard. In an issue of the contemporary magazine Radio Pictorial, Bebe explained how she saw Richard peering through the railings at a London orphanage and instantly thought "A brother for Barbara". Daniels suffered a severe stroke in 1963 and withdrew from public life. She suffered a second stroke in late 1970. She died at the couple's London home in March 1971.
On April 1, 1972, Lyon married the actress Marian Nixon, whom he had known since the 1920s. They remained married until his death. She died five years later, also at age 78.
On March 22, 1979, Lyon and his second wife, Marian Nixon, were vacationing together on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship near Honolulu, Hawaii, when Lyon suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 78 years old. His body was cremated and is interred in the Chapel Columbarium at Hollywood Forever Cemetery next to his first wife, Bebe Daniels.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ben Lyon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street.
Jill Allgood lived with Bebe and Ben Lyon for many years in their large apartment at Dolphin Square, London. Bebe and Ben Lyon were the godparent to Allgood's niece, Suzanne Allgood.

## Filmography

| Year | Film | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1918 | The Transgressor | | | |
| 1919 | Open Your Eyes | Harold Connors | Gilbert P. Hamilton | |
| 1921 | The Heart of Maryland | Bob Telfair | Tom Terriss | Lost film |
| 1923 | The Custard Cup | Dick Chase | Herbert Brenon | Lost film |
| 1923 | Potash and Perlmutter | Boris Andrieff | Clarence G. Badger | Lost film |
| 1923 | Flaming Youth | Monty Standish | John Francis Dillon | Incomplete, one reel survives |
| 1924 | Painted People | Don Lane | Clarence G. Badger | Lost film |
| 1924 | The White Moth | Douglas Morley | Maurice Tourneur | |
| 1924 | Wine of Youth | Lynn Talbot | King Vidor | |
| 1924 | Lily of the Dust | Lt. Prell | Dimitri Buchowetzki | Lost film |
| 1924 | Wages of Virtue | Marvin | Allan Dwan | Lost film |
| 1924 | So Big | Dirk DeJong | Charles Brabin | Lost film |
| 1925 | One Way Street | Bobby Austin | John Francis Dillon | Lost film |
| 1925 | The Necessary Evil | Frank Jerome | George Archainbaud | Lost film |
| 1925 | Winds of Chance | Pierce Phillips | Frank Lloyd | |
| 1925 | The Pace That Thrills | Danny Wade | Webster Campbell | Lost film |
| 1925 | The New Commandment | Billy Morrow | Howard Higgin | Lost film |
| 1925 | Bluebeard's Seven Wives | John Hart / Don Juan Hartez | Alfred Santell | Lost film |
| 1926 | The Reckless Lady | Ralph Hilliwe | Howard Higgin | Lost film |
| 1926 | The Savage | Danny Terry | Fred C. Newmeyer | Lost film |
| 1926 | The Great Deception | Cyril Mansfield | Howard Higgin | Lost film |
| 1926 | Prince of Tempters | Francis | Lothar Mendes | |
| 1927 | The Perfect Sap | Herbert Alden | Howard Higgin | Lost film |
| 1927 | High Hat | Jerry | James Ashmore Creelman | |
| 1927 | The Tender Hour | Wally McKenzie | George Fitzmaurice | |
| 1927 | Dance Magic | Leach Norcutt | Victor Halperin | Lost film |
| 1927 | For the Love of Mike | Mike | Frank Capra | Lost film |
| 1927 | Dancing Vienna | Jonny Conzaga | Frederic Zelnik | Lost film |
| 1929 | The Air Legion | Dave | Bert Glennon | |
| 1929 | All Faces West | Mathew | Raymond K. Johnson | |
| 1929 | The Quitter | Neal Abbott | Joseph Henabery | |
| 1929 | The Flying Marine | Steve Moran | Albert S. Rogell | |
| 1930 | Lummox | Rollo Farley | Ray_Lissner | |
| 1930 | Alias French Gertie | Jimmy Hartigan | George Archainbaud | |
| 1930 | Hell's Angels | Monte Rutledge | Howard Hughes James Whale (dialogue) | |
| 1930 | What Men Want | Kendall James | Ernst Laemmle | |
| 1930 | A Soldier's Plaything | Georgie | Michael Curtiz | |
| 1931 | The Hot Heiress | 'Hap' Harrigan | Clarence G. Badger | |
| 1931 | Misbehaving Ladies | Phil Hunter | William Beaudine | |
| 1931 | Indiscreet | Tony Blake | Leo McCarey | |
| 1931 | Aloha | Jimmy Bradford | Albert S. Rogell | |
| 1931 | My Past | Robert 'Bob' Byrne | Roy Del Ruth | |
| 1931 | Night Nurse | Mortie | William A. Wellman | |
| 1931 | Bought! | Nick Amory | Archie Mayo | |
| 1931 | Her Majesty, Love | Fred von Wellingen | William Dieterle | |
| 1931 | Compromised | Sidney Brock | Ben Silvey | Lost film |
| 1932 | Lady with a Past | Guy Bryson | E. J. Babille | |
| 1932 | The Big Timer | Cooky Bradford | Edward Buzzell | |
| 1932 | Week Ends Only | Jack Williams | Alan Crosland | |
| 1932 | By Whose Hand? | Jimmy | Benjamin Stoloff | |
| 1932 | The Crooked Circle | Brand Osborne | H. Bruce Humberstone | |
| 1932 | Hat Check Girl | Buster Collins | Sidney Lanfield | |
| 1933 | Girl Missing | Henry Gibson | Robert Florey | |
| 1933 | I Cover the Waterfront | H. Joseph 'Joe' Miller | James Cruze | |
| 1933 | The Women in His Life | Roger McKane | George B. Seitz | |
| 1934 | I Spy | Wally Sawyer | | |
| 1934 | Crimson Romance | Bob Wilson | David Howard | |
| 1934 | Lightning Strikes Twice | Steven 'Steve' Brewster | Ben Holmes | |
| 1935 | Together We Live | Max | Willard Mack | |
| 1935 | Navy Wife | Dr. Peter Milford | Allan Dwan | |
| 1935 | Frisco Waterfront | Glenn Burton | Arthur Lubin |
| 1936 | Dancing Feet | Peyton Wells | Joseph Santley | |
| 1936 | Down to the Sea | Steve Londos | Lewis D. Collins | |
| 1936 | Treachery on the High Seas | Johnny Hammond | Emil-Edwin Reinert | |
| 1938 | Stardust | Royal Harley | Melville W. Brown | |
| 1939 | I Killed the Count | Bernard Froy | Frederic Zelnik | |
| 1939 | Confidential Lady | Jim Brent | Arthur B. Woods | Lost film |
| 1941 | Hi Gang! | Her Other Half | Marcel Varnel | |
| 1942 | This Was Paris | Butch, Sydney Chronicle Reporter | John Harlow | |
| 1943 | The Dark Tower | Phil Danton | John Harlow | |
| 1954 | Life with the Lyons | Himself | Val Guest | |
| 1955 | The Lyons in Paris | Ben | Val Guest | |