Age, Biography and Wiki

Mary Brian (Louise Byrdie Dantzler) was born on 17 February, 1906 in Corsicana, Texas, U.S., is an American actress. Discover Mary Brian's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 96 years old?

Popular As Louise Byrdie Dantzler
Occupation Actress
Age 96 years old
Zodiac Sign Aquarius
Born 17 February 1906
Birthday 17 February
Birthplace Corsicana, Texas, U.S.
Date of death 30 December, 2002
Died Place Del Mar, California, U.S.
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 17 February. She is a member of famous Actress with the age 96 years old group.

Mary Brian Height, Weight & Measurements

At 96 years old, Mary Brian height is 5′ 2″ .

Physical Status
Height 5′ 2″
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Mary Brian's Husband?

Her husband is Jon Whitcomb (m. 1941-1941) George Tomasini (m. 1947-1964)

Family
Parents Not Available
Husband Jon Whitcomb (m. 1941-1941) George Tomasini (m. 1947-1964)
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Mary Brian Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Mary Brian worth at the age of 96 years old? Mary Brian’s income source is mostly from being a successful Actress. She is from United States. We have estimated Mary Brian's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income Actress

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Timeline

1906

Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002) was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films.

Brian was born in Corsicana, Texas, the daughter of Taurrence J. Dantzler and Louise B. Her brother was Taurrence J. Dantzler, Jr.

Her father died when she was one month old and the family later moved to Dallas, Texas.

1920

In the early 1920s, they moved to Long Beach, California.

She had intended becoming an illustrator but that was laid aside when at age 16 she was discovered in a local bathing beauty contest.

One of the judges was actress Esther Ralston (who was to play her mother in the upcoming Peter Pan and who became a lifelong friend).

She didn't win the $25 prize in the contest, but Ralston said "you've got to give the little girl something".

So, her prize was to be interviewed by director Herbert Brenon for a role in Peter Pan.

Brenon was recovering from eye surgery, and she spoke with him in a dimly lit room.

"He asked me a few questions, Is that your hair? Out of the blue, he said I would like to make a test. Even to this day, I will never know why I was that lucky. They had made tests of every ingénue in the business for Wendy. He had decided he would go with an unknown. It would seem more like a fairy tale. It wouldn't seem right if the roles were to be taken by someone they (the audience) knew or was divorced. I got the part. They put me under contract."

The studio renamed her Mary Brian.

1924

After her showing in the beauty contest, she was given an audition by Paramount Pictures and cast by director Herbert Brenon as Wendy Darling in his silent movie version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1924).

There, she starred with Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston, and the three of them stayed close for the rest of their lives.

Ralston described both Bronson and Brian as 'very charming people'.

The movie studio, who created her stage name for the movie and said she was age 16 instead of 18 because the latter sounded too old for the role, then signed her to a long-term contract.

1925

Brian played Fancy Vanhern, daughter of Percy Marmont, in Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), which had newcomer Louise Brooks in an uncredited role as a moll.

Brian was dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures."

1926

On loan-out to MGM, she played a college belle, Mary Abbott, opposite William Haines and Jack Pickford in Brown of Harvard (1926).

She was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926, along with Mary Astor, Dolores Costello, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray.

During her years at Paramount, Brian appeared in more than 40 movies as the lead, the ingenue or co-star.

She worked with Brenon again in 1926 when she played Isabel in P.C. Wren's Beau Geste starring Ronald Colman.

The same year, she made Behind the Front and Harold Teen.

1928

In 1928, she played ingenue Alice Deane in Forgotten Faces opposite Clive Brook, her sacrificing father, with Olga Baclanova as her vixen mother and William Powell as Froggy.

Forgotten Faces is preserved in the Library of Congress.

Her first sound film was Varsity (1928), which was filmed with part-sound and talking sequences, opposite Buddy Rogers.

1929

After successfully making the transition to sound, she co-starred with Gary Cooper, Walter Huston and Richard Arlen in The Virginian (1929), her first all-sound movie.

In it, she played a spirited frontier heroine, schoolmarm Molly Stark Wood, who was the love interest of the Virginian (Cooper).

1930

Brian co-starred in several hits during the 1930s, including her role as Gwen Cavendish in George Cukor’s comedy The Royal Family of Broadway (1930) with Ina Claire and Fredric March, as herself in Paramount's all-star revue Paramount on Parade (1930), as Peggy Grant in Lewis Milestone’s comedy The Front Page (1931) with Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien.

Her final film of the 1930s was Affairs of Cappy Ricks, but she auditioned unsuccessfully for the part that went to Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born.

1932

After her contract with Paramount ended in 1932, Brian decided to freelance, which was unusual in a period when multi-year contracts with one studio were common.

The same year, she appeared on the vaudeville stage at New York City's Palace Theatre.

Also in the same year, she starred in Manhattan Tower.

1933

Other movie roles include Murial Ross, aka Murial Rossi, in Shadows of Sing Sing (1933), in which she received top billing; Gloria Van Dayham in College Rhythm (1934); Yvette Lamartine in Charlie Chan in Paris (1935); Hope Wolfinger, W.C. Fields’s daughter, in Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935); Sally Barnaby in Spendthrift (1936); and Doris in Navy Blues (1937), in which she received top billing.

1936

In 1936, she went to England and made three movies, including The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, in which she starred opposite Cary Grant, with whom she became engaged at one stage.

1941

When World War II occurred in 1941, Brian began traveling to entertain the troops, spending most of the war years traveling the world with the U.S.O., and entertaining servicemen from the South Pacific to Europe, including Italy and North Africa.

1944

Flying to England on a troop shoot, Brian was caught in the Battle of the Bulge and spent the Christmas of 1944 with the soldiers fighting that battle.

She appeared in only a handful of films thereafter.

1947

Her last performance in movies was in Dragnet (1947).

1996

Commenting on those events, she said in 1996,

"I was with Charlie Ruggles in Okinawa. And I was on the island of Tinian when they dropped the atomic bomb. Colonel Paul Tibbets, who was the pilot and the officer in charge [of dropping the bomb] took Charlie and me on the plane the next day, and nobody had been allowed in that encampment. So I was on the Enola Gay."