Marguerite Churchill

Marguerite Churchill

1910-12-26 – 2000-01-09 (age 89) Kansas City, Missouri, USA
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Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marguerite Churchill (December 26, 1910 – January 9, 2000) was an American film actress appearing in more than 25 films with a career spanning from 1929 to 1952. She is best known today as John Wayne's first leading lady, in The Big Trail (1930).

She was the daughter of a producer who owned a chain of theaters, but he died when she was ten years old. She was educated in New York City at the Professional Children's School and the Theatre Guild Dramatic School. She appeared on stage and was applauded on Broadway as a leading lady when just sixteen years old. An official of the Fox Company saw her acting and gave her a contract which shortly afterwards led her to debut on screen in The Diplomats.

Churchill played leading lady to John Wayne in Howard Hawk's The Big Trail (1930), an early widescreen epic and Wayne's first leading role. She appeared with Wayne the following year in Girls Demand Excitement (1931), with Spencer Tracy and George Raft in Quick Millions (1931), with Will Rogers in Ambassador Bill (1931), with Warner Oland in Charlie Chan Carries On (1931), with George O'Brien in Riders of the Purple Sage (1931), with Charles Farrell in Girl Without a Room (1933), with Ralph Bellamy in The Final Hour (1936), with Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead (1936), and with Edward Van Sloan in Dracula's Daughter (1936).

She died on January 9, 2000, aged 89, from natural causes in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She was survived by her daughter, Orin.

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Known For

The Big Trail
The Big Trail

1930

as Ruth Cameron

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

1936

as Nancy

Dracula's Daughter
Dracula's Daughter

1936

as Janet

Bunco Squad
Bunco Squad

1950

as Barbara Madison

Charlie Chan Carries On
Charlie Chan Carries On

1931

as Pamela Potter

Alibi for Murder
Alibi for Murder

1936

as Lois Allen

The Only Girl in the Orchestra
The Only Girl in the Orchestra

2023

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

They Had to See Paris
They Had to See Paris

1929

as Opal Peters

Born Reckless
Born Reckless

1930

as Rosa Beretti

The Valiant
The Valiant

1929

as Mary Douglas

Forgotten Commandments
Forgotten Commandments

1932

as Marya Ossipoff

Legion of Terror
Legion of Terror

1936

as Nancy Foster

Girl Without a Room
Girl Without a Room

1933

as Kay Loring

Man Hunt
Man Hunt

1936

as Jane Carpenter

Riders of the Purple Sage
Riders of the Purple Sage

1931

as Jane Withersteen

Quick Millions
Quick Millions

1931

as Dorothy Stone

Murder by an Aristocrat
Murder by an Aristocrat

1936

as Sally Keating

Girls Demand Excitement
Ambassador Bill
Ambassador Bill

1931

as Queen Vanya

Seven Faces
Seven Faces

1929

as Hélène Berthelot