- Born
- In 1931, a one-day effort by Marilyn Knowlden's attorney father led to an interview, a next-day screen test and a large part for four-year-old Marilyn in one of the early "talkies", Women Love Once (1931). A ten-year movie career followed, where she played the daughter of such stars as Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Allan Jones and Norma Shearer.
She appeared in some of the screen's great classics, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), David Copperfield (1935) and Les Misérables (1935), in which she played the child Cosette. She appeared in six films nominated by the Academy for Best Production of the Year and performed with such distinguished actors as Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis.
College, marriage and four children followed. A composer and playwright as well as an actress, she wrote the music and lyrics for ten produced musicals, including three for which she also wrote the scripts. The latter included her musical, "I'm Gonna Get You in the Movies!" for which she drew heavily on her own early experience.
After a 50-year hiatus, Marilyn returned to acting in 1994. She appeared in over 20 plays and musicals in San Diego County, including the role of Aunt Abby in "Arsenic and Old Lace," the leads in "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "Quilters," and Prof. Higgins' mother in "My Fair Lady." In 2011 Bear Manor published Marilyn Knowlden's autobiography "Little Girl in Big Pictures."- IMDb Mini Biography By: self
- Marilyn Knowlden was decided on by director Norman McLeod for the role of Alice in Paramount's 1933 production of "Alice in Wonderland", but it was discovered that she was not tall enough. The sets had been built for a girl of 60 inches high, but Marilyn was only 52 inches.
- Marilyn's stand-in on films in the late 1930s was Gloria Thatcher. As of 2010 she and Gloria were still in touch with each other and would get together when they could.
- Movies in which Marilyn Knowlden was considered for roles, but eventually did not appear include "Heroes for Sale" (Warner Bros., 1933, "Best of Enemies", Fox, 1933, "Alice in Wonderland", Paramount, 1933 and "The Great Ziegfeld", MGM, 1936).
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