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"It doesn't overly concern me if I don't become a super star. There are more important things for a successful, happy life and career, such as being pleasant, amiable and a decent human being."
-- Marjorie Reynolds
She is prominently featured as a character in two mystery novels by John Dandola: "Dead By All Appearances", which takes place during the initial theatrical release of Holiday Inn (1942) and "Dead in Small Doses" which is set just prior to the release of Dixie (1943).
Marjorie Reynolds
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Marjorie Goodspeed
12 August 1917, Buhl, Idaho
1 February 1997, Manhattan Beach, California
Marjorie Reynolds (August 12, 1917 – February 1, 1997) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 70 films.
Born Marjorie Goodspeed, in Buhl, Idaho, as her parents made the cross-country trip from Maine to settle in California, she was featured as a child actress in silent films such as Scaramouche (1923). Her first speaking role was in Murder in Greenwich Village (1937). She also appeared in bit parts in many A-pictures including Gone with the Wind (1939).
A stand-out role for Reynolds was as the waitress and loyal girlfriend opposite wrongly-accused Richard Cromwell in Universal Pictures's anti-Nazi action drama entitled, Enemy Agent (1940). That same year, in The Fatal Hour, Reynolds appeared for Monogram Pictures as a reporter on the trail of Boris Karloff's detective James Lee Wong, and opposite Grant Withers as a cop . Her later films included Holiday Inn (1942), Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear (1944) and Up in Mabel's Room (1944). Her career progression was hindered by the premature death of her mentor, Mark Sandrich.
Often featured in dramatic roles, in Holiday Inn, she showed her ability to dance, and she performed "White Christmas" as a duet with Bing Crosby, although her singing was dubbed by Martha Mears.
She later appeared in the NBC version of the television series The Life of Riley (1953–1958).
On February 1, 1997, having suffered from congestive heart disease, she collapsed and died in Manhattan Beach, California, while walking her dog. She was 79 years old.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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As a child, appeared in silent films under her real name.
Her early years were comprised of dancing bits in a slew of 30s films for Paramount.
She and actor Philip Ober, who was once married to Vivian Vance of "I Love Lucy" (1951) fame, played Judge and Mrs. Hardy in an updated pilot for a new "Andy Hardy" TV series in 1962, but the pilot didn't sell.
Once toured army bases in 1951 during the Korean War.
Studied dancing at one time with Marge Champion's father, Ernest Belcher.
Daughter, Linda Reynolds, started out as an actress but moved into casting. She cast Marjorie in ...All the Marbles (1981) but her role as the mother of a lady wrestler was deleted before its release.
Appeared in Gone with the Wind (1939) in the barbecue at Twelve Oaks.
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Editor's Note: Thanks Sylvia for the update on Marjorie Reynolds. Much appreciated. Sylvia also sent this link, thought I would pass it on to my visitors: http://juliabuckley.blogspot.com/2012/02/lovely-marjorie-reynolds-returns-in.html
