Frances Marion

**Frances Marion** (born **Marion Benson Owens**; November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist, and author. She is said to be one of the most famous female screenwriters of the 20th century. During her career, she wrote over 325 scripts. She was the first writer to win 2 Academy Awards. In her early career, she wrote many different silent movie scenarios scenarios for Mary Pickford. After that, she wrote many sound movies.

## Famous movies

|Year|Title|Featured Stars|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1912|_The New York Hat_|Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish|Contributing writer||
|rowspan=2|1915|_Camille_|Clara Kimball Young,	Paul Capellani,	Robert Cummings|Scenario|
|_A Girl of Yesterday_|Mary Pickford, Frances Marion, Glenn L. Martin|Actress|||
|rowspan="2"|1916|_The Foundling_|Mary Pickford, Mildred Morris, Gertrude Norman|Writer|
|_The Gilded Cage_|Alice Brady, Montagu Love, Alec B. Francis|Scenarist/writer|||
|rowspan=3|1917|_A Little Princess_|Katherine Griffith, Mary Pickford, Norman Kerry, ZaSu Pitts, Theodore Roberts|Writer|
|_Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm_|Mary Pickford,	Eugene O'Brien|Writer|||
|_The Poor Little Rich Girl_|Mary Pickford,	Madlaine Traverse, Charles Wellesley, Gladys Fairbanks|Writer|||
|rowspan="5"|1918|_Stella Maris_|Mary Pickford|Photoplay|
|_How Could You, Jean?_|Mary Pickford|Scenario|||
|_M'Liss_|Mary Pickford|Writer|||
|_Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley_|Mary Pickford, William Scott, Kate Price|Writer|||
|_The Temple of Dusk_|Sessue Hayakawa, Jane Novak, Louis Willoughby, Mary Jane Irving|Writer|||
|rowspan=2|1919|_The Cinema Murder_|Marion Davies, Eulalie Jensen, Anders Randolf, Reginald Barlow|Scenario|
|_Anne of Green Gables_|Mary Miles Minter|Writer|||
|rowspan=4|1920|_Pollyanna_|Mary Pickford|Adaptation|
|_The Flapper_|Olive Thomas, Warren Cook|Screenplay, story|||
|_Humoresque_|Gaston Glass, Vera Gordon, Alma Rubens|Scenario|||
|_The Restless Sex_|Marion Davies, Ralph Kellard|Writer|||
|rowspan="2"|1921|_The Love Light_|Mary Pickford, Evelyn Dumo|Director, story (uncredited)|
|_Just Around the Corner_|Margaret Seddon, Lewis Sargent, Sigrid Holmquist|Director, scenario|||
|rowspan="2"|1922|_The Primitive Lover_|Constance Talmadge, Harrison Ford|Scenario|
|_The Toll of the Sea_|Anna May Wong, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley|Scenario (uncredited), story|||
|rowspan="2"|1923|_The Famous Mrs. Fair_|Myrtle Stedman, Huntley Gordon|Adaptation, screenplay|
|_The Song of Love_|Norma Talmadge, Joseph Schildkraut, Arthur Edmund Carewe|Director, screenplay|||
|rowspan=3|1924|_Secrets_|Norma Talmadge|Adaptation|
|_Cytherea_|Alma Rubens, Constance Bennett, Norman Kerry, Lewis Stone, Irene Rich|Adaptation|||
|_The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln_|George A. Billing, Ruth Clifford, George K. Arthur, Louise Fazenda|Story, screenplay|||
|rowspan=4|1925|_Stella Dallas_|Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Lois Moran|Adaptation|
|_A Thief in Paradise_|Doris Kenyon, Ronald Colman, Aileen Pringle|Adaptation|||
|_Thank You_|Alec B. Francis, Jacqueline Logan|Writer|||
|_Lightnin_'|Jay Hunt, Wallace MacDonald|Writer|||
|rowspan=3|1926|_The Scarlet Letter_|Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson|Adaptation, scenario, titles|
|_The Winning of Barbara Worth_|Ronald Colman,	Vilma Bánky|Adaptation|||
|_Son of the Sheik_|Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Bánky, Montagu Love,	Karl Dane, George Fawcett|Adaptation|||
|rowspan=3|1927|_The Red Mill_|Marion Davies|Adaptation, screenplay|
|_Love_|John Gilbert, Greta Garbo|Continuity|||
|_Madame Pompadour_|Dorothy Gish|Writer|||
|rowspan=3|1928|_The Wind_|Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming|Scenario|
|_The Awakening_|Vilma Bánky, Walter Byron|Story|||
|_Bringing Up Father_|J. Farrell MacDonald, Polly Moran, Marie Dressler|Writer|||
|1929|_Their Own Desire_|Norma Shearer,	Belle Bennett, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Helene Millard|Screenplay||
|rowspan=5|1930|_Min and Bill_|Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery|Dialogue, scenario|
|_The Big House_|Robert Montgomery, Wallace Beery, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone|Dialogue, story Won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)|||
|_Good News_|Mary Lawlor, Stanley Smith|Scenario|||
|_The Rogue Song_|Lawrence Tibbett, Catherine Dale Owen|Writer|||
|_Anna Christie_|Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler|Writer|||
|rowspan="2"|1931|_The Secret Six_|Wallace Beery,	Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Ralph Bellamy, Marjorie Rambeau|Dialogue, screenplay|
|_The Champ_|Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates|Story Won the Academy Award for Best Story|||
|rowspan=2|1932|_Blondie of the Follies_|Marion Davies,	Robert Montgomery, Billie Dove|Screenplay, story|
|_Emma_|Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy|Story|||
|rowspan=5|1933|_Peg o' My Heart_|Marion Davies,	Onslow Stevens,	J. Farrell MacDonald|Adaptation|
|_Dinner at Eight_|Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke|Screenplay|||
|_The Prizefighter and the Lady_|Myrna Loy, Max Baer, Walter Huston, Primo Carnera, Jack Dempsey|Story Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story|||
|_Going Hollywood_|Marion Davies,	Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay, Stuart Erwin|Story (uncredited)|||
|_Secrets_|Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard|Writer|||
|rowspan=3|1936|_Camille_|Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore|Screenplay|
|_Riffraff_|Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy|Screenplay, story|||
|_Poor Little Rich Girl_|Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen, Claude Gillingwater|Writer|||
|rowspan=2|1937|_Knight Without Armour_|Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat|Adaptation|
|_Love from a Stranger_|Ann Harding, Basil Rathbone|Adaptation|||
|1940|_Green Hell_|Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	Vincent Price, Joan Bennett, Alan Hale Sr., George Sanders, John Howard|Original story, screenplay||

## Published works

- _Minnie Flynn_. NY: Boni and Liveright, 1925; free via google books and Hathi Trust
    - :wikisource:Minnie Flynn
- _The Secret Six_. NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1931 (novelization of her own screenplay of _The Secret Six_)
- _Valley People_. NY: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1935
    - "The book’s portrayal of the community as isolated inbreds bent on self-destruction and domination understandably ruffled many feathers"
- _How to Write and Sell Film Stories_. NY: Covici-Friede, 1937
- _Molly, Bless Her_. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1937
- _Westward The Dream_. Garden City NY: Doubleday and Company, 1948
- _The Passions of Linda Lane_. NY: Diversey Publications, 1949 [paperback; revised edition of _Minnie Flynn_]
- _The Powder Keg_. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1953
- _Off With Their Heads!: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood_ (via Internet Archive )  NY: The Macmillan Company, 1972 memoir

## Other websites

- Oral history interview with Frances Marion, 1958 Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University Libraries
- Frances Marion at National Women's History Museum
- Frances Marion at britannica.com
- Frances Marion at encyclopedia.com
- Frances Marion at the Women Film Pioneers Project
- Frances Marion: Hollywood's Favourite Storyteller @ _Falkirk Leisure and Culture_ via YouTube
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-life-of-frances-marion-a-trailblazer-for-women-in-hollywood
- https://msinthebiz.com/2016/08/04/dame-in-the-game-frances-marion/
- https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/10119-the-great-screenwriters-part-27-frances-marion/
- https://lithub.com/how-frances-marion-and-mary-pickford-conquered-hollywood/
- _Frances Marion_ article in Photoplay 1917

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Frances Marion
- **image**: Frances-Marion.jpg
- **caption**: Marion directing _The Love Light_, which she also wrote, 1920
- **birth name**: Marion Benson Owens
- **birth place**: San Francisco, California, U.S.
- **death place**: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- **years active**: 1912–1972