Marion Davies was the stage name of Marion Cecilia Douras, born in Brooklyn, New York on January 3, 1897. She was the youngest of five children born to Bernard and Rose Douras.
Watching her sister achieve success in show business turned Marion’s inclinations toward a career in drama early in her life. After leaving school she became a model for the famous painters of the day. She assumed the stage name of Marion Davies and quickly established herself as a talented actress.
By the time she first met William Randolph Hearst, she had already made a name for herself acting on Broadway. Her first encounter with Hearst came while acting in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Her brother-in-law George Lederer directed her first film, Runaway Romany, supposedly written and scripted by Davies herself. In 1918, shortly after meeting Hearst for the first time, she starred in Cecilia of the Pink Roses, a film backed by Hearst. From this point on, as a gifted comedienne, she was the most advertised actress in the world. She also produced movies herself.
Take a look back at the actress, whose talent was forever overshadowed by her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and her association with the character Susan Alexander Kane in Orson Welles’ film Citizen Kane (1941), in the 1920s through 18 stunning vintage black-and-white portraits:
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