20th Cent. Bebe Daniels

Phyllis Virginia Daniels was born on 14 January 1901, in Dallas, Texas, USA. She was the daughter of Phyllis Griffin Daniels (1874 - 20 February 1959) and Melville Daniel MacMeal (1864-1930). Called Bebe, she was introduced to acting by her actress mother and theater manager father when the family moved to Hollywood, California. In 1905, Daniels had her debut in The Squaw Man. She then went on tour with her parents. According to a Photoplay Journal interview in 1914, she said; "When I was eight my parents decided there was a good future in picture work, so for several years I played child parts in Vitagraph, Ince and Pathé. The work was fascinating to me and much easier than the stage." In 1910, Daniels appeared in The Courtship of Miles Standish, Justinian and Theodora, as Dorothy Gale in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, directed by Otis Turner and The Common Enemy. In 1911, in A Counterfeit Santa Claus. In 1913, The Savage. In 1914, Anne of the Golden Heart. In 1915, Bughouse Bellhops, Giving Them Fits, Tinkering with Trouble, A Foozle at the Tee Party, Ragtime Snap Shots, Peculiar Patients' Pranks, Ruses, Rhymes and Roughnecks, Lonesome Luke Social Gangster and Great While It Lasted. In 1916, Lonesome Luke Leans to the Literary, Luke Lugs Luggage, Lonesome Luke Lolls in Luxury, Luke the Candy Cut-Up, Luke Foils the Villain, Luke and the Rural Roughnecks, Luke Pipes the Pippins, The Flirt, Lonesome Luke Circus King, Them Was the Happy Days!, Luke and the Bomb Throwers, Luke's Late Lunchers, Luke Laughs Last, Luke's Fatal Flivver, Luke's Society Mixup, Luke's Washful Waiting, Luke Rides Roughshod, Luke Crystal Gazer, Luke's Lost Lamb, Luke Does the Midway, Luke Joins the Navy, Luke and the Mermaids, Luke's Speedy Club Life, Luke and the Bang-Tails, Luke the Chauffeur, Luke's Preparedness Preparations, Luke the Gladiator, Luke: Patient Provider, Luke's Newsie Knockout, Luke's Movie Muddle, Luke Rank Impersonator, Luke's Fireworks Fizzle, Luke Locates the Loot and Luke's Shattered Sleep. In 1917, Lonesome Luke's Lovely Rifle Moll, Luke's Lost Liberty, Luke's Busy Day, Luke's Trolley Troubles, Lonesome Luke Lawyer, Luke Wins Ye Ladye Faire, Lonesome Luke's Lively Life, Lonesome Luke on Tin Can Alley, Lonesome Luke's Honeymoon, Lonesome Luke Plumber, Stop! Luke! Listen!, Lonesome Luke Messenger, Lonesome Luke Mechanic, Lonesome Luke's Wild Women, Over the Fence, Lonesome Luke Loses Patients, Pinched, By the Sad Sea Waves, Birds of a Feather, Bliss The Girl, From Laramie to London, Rainbow Island, Love, Laughs and Lather, The Flirt, Clubs Are Trump, All Aboard The Girl, We Never Sleep, Move On, Bashful, The Big Idea and Step Lively. In 1918, The Tip, The Lamb, Hello Teacher, Hit Him Again, Beat It, A Gasoline Wedding, Look Pleasant Please, Here Come the Girls, Let's Go, On the Jump, Follow the Crowd, Pipe the Whiskers, It's a Wild Life, Hey There!, Kicked Out, The Non-Stop Kid Miss Wiggle, Two-Gun Gussie The Girl, Fireman Save My Child, The City Slicker, Sic 'Em Towser, Somewhere in Turkey A Girl in Danger, Are Crooks Dishonest? Miss Goulash, An Ozark Romance, Kicking the Germ Out of Germany, That's Him, Bride and Gloom Bride, Two Scrambled, Bees in His Bonnet, Swing Your Partners, Why Pick on Me?, Nothing But Trouble, Back to the Woods, Hear 'Em Rave, Take a Chance and She Loves Me Not. In 1919, Wanted - $5,000, Love's Young Scream, Miss Goulash in Going! Going! Gone!, Switchboard Operator in Ask Father, On the Fire, I'm on My Way, Look Out Below, The Dutiful Dub, Next Aisle Over, A Sammy in Siberia, Just Dropped In, Young Mr. Jazz, Crack Your Heels, Leading Lady in Ring Up the Curtain, Si Senor, Before Breakfast, The Marathon, Pistols for Breakfast, Swat the Crook, Off the Trolley, Spring Fever, Billy Blazes Esq. Nell, Just Neighbors The Bride, At the Old Stage Door, Never Touched Me, A Jazzed Honeymoon, Count Your Change, Chop Suey & Co, Heap Big Chief, Don't Shove Bebe, Be My Wife, The Rajah, He Leads Others Follow, Soft Money, Count the Votes, Pay Your Dues, His Only Father, Bumping Into Broadway, The King's Favourite opposite Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan in Male and Female, Captain Kidd's Kids and Everywoman. In 1920, she starred as Junice Budd in The Dancin' Fool, Sally Clark in Why Change Your Wife?, Nurse Duran in Sick Abed, Rowena Patricia Jones in You Never Can Tell, Marjory Seaton in The Fourteenth Man, Mary Barber in Oh, Lady, Lady and Nance in She Couldn't Help It. In 1921, in Ducks and Drakes Teddy Simpson, Two Weeks with Pay Pansy O'Donnell, The March Hare Lisbeth Ann Palmer, One Wild Week Pauline Hathaway, The Affairs of Anatol and The Speed Girl Betty Lee. In 1922, as Nancy in Nancy from Nowhere, Inez Hastings in A Game Chicken, Val Hannon in North of the Rio Grande, Theodora Gloucester in Nice People, Lorraine Temple in Pink Gods and Bonita della Guerda in Singed Wings. In 1923, as Corinne d'Alys in The World's Applause, Susan Branch in The Glimpses of the Moon, Ronnie Rand in The Exciters and Diane in His Children's Children. In 1924, she starred as Alita Allen in Daring Youth, Mescal in The Heritage of the Desert, Consuelo Garcia in Argentine Love, Breta Banning in Unguarded Women, Princess Henriette opposite Rudolph Valentino in Monsieur Beaucaire, Sinners in Heaven Barbara Stockley, Hello, Frisco and Dangerous Money Adele Clark. In 1925, Daniels appeared as Susan Van Dusen in Wild, Wild Susan, Jenny in The Splendid Crime, Colette Girard in Miss Bluebeard, Peggy Laurence in The Crowded Hour, Maria Maretti in The Manicure Girl and Diana in Lovers in Quarantine. In 1926, she was Emily Bennett in The Palm Beach Girl, Julie McFadden in Stranded in Paris, Polly Brewster in Miss Brewster's Millions, Zabette de Chavalons in Volcano and Patricia Mansfield in The Campus Flirt. In 1927, she starred as Alice Smith in Swim Girl Swim, Zaida in She's a Sheik, Ginette in A Kiss in a Taxi and Francesca Hernandez in Señorita Señorita. In 1928, she was Kathleen O'Hara in The Fifty-Fifty Girl, Dorothy Winston in What a Night!, Barbara Manning in Feel My Pulse, Pat Clancy in Hot News and Peggy Lane in Take Me Home. In 1929, in her first talkie film as Rita Ferguson opposite John Boles in Rio Rita. Bebe Daniels married the actor Ben Lyon (6 February 1901 - 22 March 1979) in 1930. In 1930, she starred as Marion Dorsey in Lawful Larceny, Vivien Benton in Reaching for the Moon, Dixiana Caldwell in Dixiana, Peggy in Love Comes Along and Gertie Jones in Alias French Gertie. Bebe and Ben had a daughter, Barbara Bebe Lyon (9 September 1931 - 10 July 1995) born 9 September 1931, in Hollywood, California. They also had a son, Richard Lyon. In 1931, Daniels appeared as Miss Doree Macy in My Past, Ruth Wonderly in The Maltese Falcon and Laura in Honor of the Family. In 1933, she starred in Silver Dollar, Cocktail Hour, A Southern Maid and 42nd Street. In 1934, Counsellor-At-Law and Registered Nurse. In 1935, The Song You Gave Me. In 1935, she retired from Hollywood and moved to London. In 1937, Bebe appeared in Music is Magic. In 1938, she starred opposite Ben Lyon in Treachery on the High Seas. In 1941, in The Return of Carol Deane. Also in 1941, the family appeared in a TV show, called Hi Gang! Her husband, Ben joined the Royal Air Force during World War II. After the war, Bebe Daniels was awarded the Medal of Freedom for war service, by Harry S. Truman. In 1945, she returned to Hollywood. In 1948, she went back to London. In November 1950, the family show was transformed into a radio program on the BBC, Life With The Lyons. Her daughter, Barbara had her own TV series in 1956, Dream Time With Barbara. Barbara married Russell Turner in 1956. They were divorced. Her mother, Phyllis died on 20 February 1959. In 1961, the family appeared in The Lyons in Paris. Barbara married her second husband, Colin Burkitt in 1968. The couple had a son, but later divorced. Bebe Daniels died of cerebral hemorrhage, on 16 March 1971, in London, England. She was cremated in London, before her ashes was interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in Hollywood. Ben Lyon married his second wife, the actress Marian Nixon (20 October 1904 - 13 February 1983) in 1974. Ben Lyon died on 22 March 1979, on a cruise ship, near Honolulu, in Hawaii. He was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.