Bebe Daniels

Pretty Bebe Daniels as featured in the 1930 musical DIXIANA. She was born Phyllis Virginia Daniels (Bebe was a childhood nickname) in Dallas, Texas on January 14, 1901. She already had toured as an actor by the age of four in a stage production of "Richard III". She had her first leading role at the age of seven and started her film career shortly after this in movies for Imperial, Pathe and others. At 14 she was already a film veteran, and was enlisted by Hal Roach to star as Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his "Lonesome Luke" shorts. In 1919, she decided to move to greater dramatic roles and accepted a contract offering from Cecil B. DeMille, who gave her roles in "Male and Female" (1919), "Why Change Your Wife?" (1920), and "The Affairs of Anatol" (1921). Bebe made the transition from child star to adult and by 1924 was playing opposite Rudolph Valentino in "Monsieur Beaucaire". Following this, she was cast in a number of light popular films, namely "Miss Bluebeard", "The Manicure Girl", and "Wild Wild Susan" (all 1925). Unlike many actors, the arrival of sound posed no problem for her; she had a beautiful singing voice and became a major musical star, with such hits as "Rio Rita" (1929) and "42nd Street" (1933). In 1930 she married Ben Lyon, with whom she went to England in the mid-'30s, where she became a successful West End stage star. She and her husband also had their own radio show in London, and became the most popular radio team in the country--especially during World War II, when they refused to return to the US and stayed in London, broadcasting even during the worst of the "blitz". They later appeared in several British films together as their radio characters. Her final film was one in that series, "The Lyons Abroad" (1955). Daniels suffered a severe stroke in 1963 and withdrew from public life and then again suffered a second stroke in late 1970. On March 16, 1971, Bebe passed away of a cerebral hemorrhage in London at the age of 70.

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