Marion Martin

Dazzling Marion Martin in a 1940 glamour portrait sitting. Dubbed "The World's Most Beautiful Showgirl" on Broadway and "Hollywood's blonde menace" on film, the brassy singer-actress was born Marion Suplee on June 7, 1909 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With her knockout looks, a career in entertainment seemed logical. Marion made her Broadway debut in 1927 with a part in the play "Lombardi, Ltd.”, worked for Florenz Ziegfeld in 1931 and made her film debut in “She's My Lillie, I'm Her Willie” (1934). Several of her early roles were in musicals and she achieved some success as a singer. By the end of the decade she had played leading female roles in several "B" pictures, playing one of her most notable roles in “Sinner In Paradise” (1938). Despite her success she was often cast in minor roles in more widely seen films such as “His Girl Friday” (1940) and in “Boom Town” (1940) in which she played a dance hall singer who is briefly romanced by Clark Gable. She played secondary roles in three Lupe Vélez "Mexican Spitfire" films in the early 1940s, and was a comic foil for the Marx Brothers in “The Big Store” (1941), where the back of her skirt is cut away by Harpo. She also appeared in “The Big Street” (1942) with Lucille Ball, in the western “The Woman of the Town” and in “The Great Mike” (both 1944). By the late 1940s, her roles were often minor. Marion ended her career with the unbilled part of "La Belle La Tour" in the comedy western “Oklahoma Annie” (1952). She found great stability in her marriage to a Singer sewing machine repairman (Jimmy Krzykowski), and donated much of her time to charitable causes and committed to hospital volunteer work. The beautiful blonde passed away at age 77 of cardiac arrest on August 13, 1985, in Santa Monica, California. She was survived by her husband and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Los Angeles.

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