Marcia Mae Jones

American actress (1924–2007)

Robert Chic

(m. 1943; div. 1951)

Bill Davenport

(m. 1955; div. 1963)

Children2

Marcia Mae Jones (August 1, 1924 – September 2, 2007) was an American film and television actress whose prolific career spanned 57 years.

Early years

Jones was the youngest of four children born to actress Freda Jones. All three of her siblings, Margaret, Macon, and Marvin Jones, were also child actors. Their relationship was strained by their unequal status in the film world. "I constantly heard, 'You've got to be quiet; Marcia Mae has to learn her lines.' It was Marcia Mae this and Marcia Mae that. That's where the jealousy from my siblings came from. They blamed me for it, when it was my mother who was doing it."^[1]

Career

Jones made her film debut at the age of two in the 1926 film Mannequin. She appeared in films such as King of Jazz (1930), Street Scene (1931),^[2] and Night Nurse (1931) before rising to child stardom in the 1930s with roles in The Champ (1931) and, alongside Shirley Temple in Heidi (1937) and The Little Princess (1939).^[3] She also starred in films such as The Garden of Allah (1936), These Three (1936), and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938).

Jones blossomed into a wide-eyed, blonde, wholesome-looking teenager, and worked steadily in motion pictures through her late teens. She appeared in First Love (1939), in support of Deanna Durbin. In 1940, Monogram Pictures signed her to co-star with Jackie Moran in a few rustic romances; when this series lapsed, both Jones and Moran joined Monogram's popular action-comedy series starring Frankie Darro.

As a young adult, she continued to work in motion pictures, notably in Nine Girls (1944) and Arson, Inc. (1948). Like many familiar faces of the 1940s, she appeared on numerous television programs. In 1951 she appeared as comic foil to Buster Keaton in Keaton's filmed TV series. She went on to work in such top-rated shows as The Cisco Kid, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Peyton Place, and General Hospital. Her last major role was in the Barbra Streisand film The Way We Were in 1973.^[4]

Personal life

Jones was married to Robert Chic and had two sons with him. Her second marriage was to television writer Bill Davenport.^[2]

Death

On September 2, 2007, Jones died in Woodland Hills, California, of complications of pneumonia. She was 83.^[5]

Partial filmography

Mannequin (1926) - Joan Herrick as a baby (uncredited)
Smile, Brother, Smile (1927)
The Bishop Murder Case (1929) - Hungry Child in Park (uncredited)
King of Jazz (1930) - Bridesmaid ('My Bridal Veil') (uncredited)
Night Nurse (1931) - Nanny Ritchey (uncredited)
Street Scene (1931) - Mary - Little Girl (uncredited)
The Champ (1931) - Mary Lou Carleton
What Price Hollywood? (1932) - Flower Girl at wedding (uncredited)
Birthday Blues (1932, Short) - Girl with Whistle
Employees' Entrance (1933) - Flower Girl at Wedding (uncredited)
Mush and Milk (1933, Short) - Orphan (as Our Gang)
Doctor Bull (1933) - Ruth - School Girl (uncredited)
Imitation of Life (1934) - Peola's Frontrow Classmate (uncredited)
The County Chairman (1935) - Schoolgirl (uncredited)
A Dog of Flanders (1935) - Little Girl at Party (uncredited)
This Is the Life (1935) - Girl at Picnic (uncredited)
These Three (1936) - Rosalie
Gentle Julia (1936) - Patty Fairchild (uncredited)
The Garden of Allah (1936) - Convent Girl #1 (uncredited)
Two Wise Maids (1937) - Geraldine 'Jerry ' Karns
Mountain Justice (1937) - Bethie Harkins
The Life of Emile Zola (1937) - Helen Richards
Heidi (1937) - Klara Sesemann
Lady Behave! (1937) - Patricia Cormack
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) - Mary Sawyer
Mad About Music (1938) - Olga
Barefoot Boy (1938) - Pige Blaine
The Little Princess (1939) - Lavinia
The Flying Irishman (1939) - Teenager Posing For Photograph (uncredited)
First Love (1939) - Marcia Parker
Meet Dr. Christian (1939) - Marilee
Tomboy (1940) - Pat Kelly
Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) - Jen Pringle
Haunted House (1940) - Mildred 'Millie' Henshaw
The Old Swimmin' Hole (1940) - Betty Elliott
Nice Girl? (1941) - Jane's Friend at Benefit
The Gang's All Here (1941) - Patsy Wallace
Let's Go Collegiate (1941) - Bess Martin
Secrets of a Co-Ed (1942) - Laura Wright
The Youngest Profession (1943) - Vera Bailey
Nobody's Darling (1943) - Lois
Top Man (1943) - Erna Lane
Nine Girls (1944) - Shirley Berke
Lady in the Death House (1944) - Suzy Kirk Logan
Snafu (1945) - Martha
Street Corner (1948) - Lois Marsh
Trouble Preferred (1948) - Virginia Evans
Tucson (1949) - Polly Johnson
Arson, Inc. (1949) - Betty - Fender's Secretary
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950) - Katie O'Grady
Hi-Jacked (1950) - Jean Harper
Chicago Calling (1951) - Peggy
The Star (1952) - Waitress (uncredited)
Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) - Woman #1 (uncredited)
Rogue's Gallery (1968) - Mrs. Hassanover
The Way We Were (1973) - Peggy Vanderbilt
The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974) - Sarah

References

^ Ankerich, Michael G. (February 25, 2011). The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-7864-6383-1.
^ ^a ^b Goldrup, Tom; Goldrup, Jim (2002). Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television. McFarland. pp. 169–177. ISBN 978-0-7864-1254-9. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
^ "Former child star Jones dies, 83". BBC News. September 5, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
^ Vallance, Tom (September 7, 2007). "Marcia Mae Jones: Prolific child actress of the 1930s". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
^ McLellan, Dennis (September 7, 2007). "Marcia Mae Jones, 83; TV, film actress". Los Angeles Times. p. B8. Retrieved November 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.