Bebe Daniels


Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer.
She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such as Rio Rita, and later gained fame on radio and television in Britain. Over the course of her 50-year career, Daniels appeared in 230 films.

Early life and career

Daniels was born Phyllis Virginia Daniels in Dallas, Texas in 1901. Her father was a travelling theater manager, Scottish-born Melville Daniel MacNeal, who changed his name to Danny Daniels after a disagreement with his father over his ambition to change from the medical profession to show business. Her mother was Phyllis de Forest Griffin, born in Colombia of an American father and a Colombian mother, a stage actress who was in Danny's travelling stock company when their child was born. When she was ten weeks old, her father proudly carried her on stage when there was no part in the play for a baby.
The family moved to Los Angeles in her childhood, and she began her acting career at the age of 4 in the first version of Edwin Milton Royle's 1905 play The Squaw Man. The same year, she went on tour in a stage production of Shakespeare's Richard III. The following year, she participated in productions by Oliver Morosco and David Belasco.
By the age of 7, Daniels had her first starring role in film as the young heroine in A Common Enemy. At the age of 9, she starred as Dorothy Gale in the 1910 short film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At the age of 14, she was hired by comedy producer Hal Roach at $5 per day to star with Roach's star comedian Harold Lloyd in a series of one-reel comedies, starting with the 1915 film Giving Them Fits. Lloyd and Daniels eventually developed a romantic relationship that was well publicized; they were known in Hollywood as "The Boy" and "The Girl".
In 1919, she declined to renew her contract with Hal Roach because she wanted to be a dramatic actress. She accepted an offer from producer-director Cecil B. DeMille, who gave her secondary roles in Male and Female, Why Change Your Wife?, and The Affairs of Anatol.

Hollywood career

In the 1920s, Daniels was under contract with Paramount Pictures. She made the transition from child star to adult in Hollywood in 1922, and by 1924, she was acting with Rudolph Valentino in Monsieur Beaucaire. Following this movie, she was cast in a number of light popular films, namely Miss Bluebeard, The Manicure Girl, and Wild Wild Susan. Paramount dropped her contract with the advent of sound movies. Daniels was hired by the new studio Radio Pictures to star in its first feature, the Technicolor musical Rio Rita, co-starring the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. Rio Rita turned out not to be RKO's inaugural film due to production delays, but it was still one of the more successful films of that year. Bebe Daniels became established as a musical star, and RCA Victor hired her to record several records for its catalog.
Radio Pictures starred her in a number of musicals, including Dixiana and Love Comes Along. Toward the end of 1930, Daniels appeared in the musical comedy Reaching for the Moon, released through United Artists. However, by this time, musicals had gone out of fashion, and most of the musical numbers from the film had to be removed before it could be released. Daniels had become associated with musicals, and Radio Pictures did not renew her contract. Warner Bros. realized she was a box-office draw, and she was offered a contract. During her years at Warner Bros., she starred in My Past, Honor of the Family, and the 1931 pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon. In 1932, she appeared in Silver Dollar and the successful Busby Berkeley choreographed musical comedy 42nd Street in which she sang. The same year, she played in Counsellor at Law. Her last film for Warner Bros. was Registered Nurse.

Stalking incidents

In 1934, Daniels and husband Ben Lyon, whom she had married in June 1930, garnered press attention while having to testify against Albert F. Holland, a 36-year-old World War I veteran with a history of stalking Daniels. Holland had been under the delusion that he had attended school with Daniels and that they had married in Mexico in 1925. In 1931, he broke into Daniels' hotel room in San Francisco, confronting and terrifying her, and he had to be removed by security. He was arrested and committed to the Arizona State Asylum. Holland escaped from the institution in 1932, and he began sending more than 150 threatening letters to Daniels. Arrested again, he was placed in a psychiatric institution.
Following his release, another confrontation took place, and Holland was again arrested. A lengthy trial in Los Angeles took place, with Holland conducting most of his own defense, including a lengthy cross-examination of Daniels' husband Ben Lyon. The actress Doris Kenyon, a friend of Daniels and Lyon, testified for the prosecution. Ultimately, the jury found Holland to be mentally unfit, and he was committed to a psychiatric facility for an indefinite period. Daniels and Lyon then moved to London.

Career in London and later

Daniels retired from Hollywood in 1935 with her husband, film actor Ben Lyon, and their two children, and moved to London. In February 1939, Daniels and Lyon co-starred in a series of commercial radio shows, the Rinso Radio Revue, recorded in London for Radio Luxembourg. They and Bebe's mother Phyllis all returned to the U.S. on 14 June 1939, leaving their children in Los Angeles in the care of Phyllis, and returned to London seven weeks later. After the start of World War II, they worked for the BBC, starring in the comedy radio series Hi Gang!. Born from an idea by Ben, and with most of the dialogue by Bebe, it enjoyed considerable popularity. A few years later, Daniels starred in the London production of Panama Hattie in the title role. The couple remained in England through the days of The Blitz.
Following the war, Daniels was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Harry S Truman for war service. In 1945, she returned to Hollywood for a short time to work as a film producer for Hal Roach and Eagle-Lion Films. She returned to the UK in 1948 and lived there for the remainder of her life. Daniels, her husband, her son Richard and her daughter Barbara all starred in the radio sitcom Life with the Lyons, which later made the transition to television.

Personal life

Daniels married actor Ben Lyon in June 1930. They had two children: daughter Barbara in 1931 and a son Richard, whom they adopted from a London orphanage. In an issue of the contemporary magazine Radio Pictorial, she explained how she saw Richard peering through the railings and instantly thought "A brother for Barbara".
Daniels suffered a severe stroke in 1963 and withdrew from public life. She suffered a second stroke in late 1970. On March 16, 1971, Daniels died of a cerebral hemorrhage in London at the age of 70. Daniels' death came only nine days after her former co-star Harold Lloyd died. Her remains were cremated at London's Golders Green Crematorium and the ashes returned to the United States; she was interred at the Chapel Columbarium at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Upon his death in 1979, Ben Lyon's remains were interred next to Daniels'.

Selected filmography

Release dateTitleRoleNotes
March 24, 1910The Wonderful Wizard of OzDorothy GaleRole disputed as credits are lost
December 29, 1910Justinian and Theodora
December 21, 1911A Counterfeit Santa Claus
January 21, 1913The SavageBit part
January 22, 1914Anne of the Golden HeartLucy BlakeLost film
November 1, 1915Giving Them FitsCo-Worker
November 8, 1915Bughouse BellhopsLost film
December 15, 1915Ruses, Rhymes and RoughnecksLost film
January 5, 1916Lonesome Luke Leans to the LiteraryLost film
January 31, 1916Luke, the Candy Cut-Up
March 15, 1916Luke Pipes the PippinsLost film
June 5, 1916Luke Laughs LastLost film
December 3, 1916Luke's Movie Muddle
January 7, 1917Luke's Lost LibertyLost film
January 21, 1917Luke's Busy DayLost film
February 4, 1917Luke's Trolley TroublesLost film
March 18, 1917Lonesome Luke's Lively Life
May 20, 1917Lonesome Luke's HoneymoonLost film
August 5, 1917Lonesome Luke, MessengerThe Girl
September 30, 1917By the Sad Sea Waves
October 14, 1917BlissThe Girl
October 28, 1917Rainbow Island
November 11, 1917The Flirt
November 25, 1917All AboardThe Girl
April 28, 1918Hey There!The Leading Lady
May 12, 1918The Non-Stop KidMiss Wiggle
May 19, 1918Two-Gun GussieThe Girl
July 7, 1918An Ozark RomanceMountain Girl
December 15, 1918Take a ChanceThe Hired Girl
January 26, 1919Going! Going! Gone!Miss Goulash
February 9, 1919Ask FatherSwitchboard operator
March 30, 1919Next Aisle OverMiss Paprika
April 6, 1919A Sammy in SiberiaOlga
May 4, 1919Young Mr. JazzThe Girl
August 31, 1919Don't ShoveBebe
November 2, 1919Bumping into BroadwayThe Girl
September 24, 1924Hello, 'FriscoHerself

YearTitleRoleNotes
1919Male and FemaleThe King's Favourite
1919EverywomanViceLost film
1920Why Change Your Wife?Sally Clark
1920The Dancin' FoolJunie Budd
1920Sick AbedNurse Durant
1920You Never Can TellRowena Patricia Jones
1920The Fourteenth ManMarjory SeatonLost film
1920Oh, Lady, LadyMary BarberLost film
1920She Couldn't Help ItYoung NanceLost film
1921Ducks and DrakesTeddy Simpson
1921Two Weeks with PayPansy O'Donnell/Marie La TourLost film
1921The March HareLisbeth Ann PalmerLost film
1921One Wild WeekPauline HathawayLost film
1921The Affairs of AnatolSatan Synne
1921The Speed GirlBetty LeeLost film
1922Nancy from NowhereNancyLost film
1922A Game ChickenInez HastingsLost film
1922North of the Rio GrandeVal HannonLost film
1922Nice PeopleTheodora GloucesterLost film
1922Pink GodsLorraine TempleLost film
1922Singed WingsBonita della GuerdaLost film
1923The World's ApplauseCorinne d'AlysLost film
1923The Glimpses of the MoonSusan BranchLost film
1923The ExcitersRonnie RandLost film
1923HollywoodHerself Lost film
1923His Children's ChildrenDianeLost film
1924The Heritage of the DesertMescal
1924Daring YouthAlita AllenLost film
1924Unguarded WomenBreta BanningLost film
1924Monsieur BeaucairePrincess Henriette
1924Sinners in HeavenBarbara StockleyLost film
1924Dangerous MoneyAdele ClarkLost film
1924Argentine LoveConsuelo GarciaLost film
1925Miss BluebeardColette Girard
1925The Crowded HourPeggy LaurenceLost film
1925The Manicure GirlMaria MarettiLost film
1925Wild, Wild SusanSusan Van DusenLost film
1925Lovers in QuarantineDiana
1926The Splendid CrimeJennyLost film
1926Miss Brewster's MillionsPolly BrewsterLost film
1926The Palm Beach GirlEmily BennettLost film
1926Volcano!Zabette de Chavalons
1926The Campus FlirtPatricia MansfieldLost film
1926Stranded in ParisJulie McFaddenLost film
1927A Kiss in a TaxiGinetteLost film
1927SeñoritaSeñorita Francesca Hernandez
1927Swim Girl, SwimAlice SmithLost film
1927She's a SheikZaida
1928Feel My PulseBarbara Manning
1928The Fifty-Fifty GirlKathleen O'HaraLost film
1928Hot NewsPat ClancyLost film
1928Take Me HomePeggy LaneLost film
1928What a Night!Dorothy WinstonLost film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1929Rio RitaRita FergusonIncomplete film, the version available is an edited 1932 re-release
1930Love Comes AlongPeggyIncomplete film
1930Alias French GertieGertie Jones/aka Marie
1930DixianaDixiana Caldwell
1930Lawful LarcenyMarion Dorsey
1930Reaching for the MoonVivien Benton
1931My PastMiss Doree Macy
1931The Maltese FalconRuth Wonderly
1931Honor of the FamilyLauraLost film
1932Silver DollarLily Owens Martin
193342nd StreetDorothy Brock
1933Cocktail HourCynthia Warren
1933Counsellor at LawRegina "Rexy" Gordon
1933The Song You Gave MeMitzi Hansen
1933A Southern MaidJuanita/Dolores
1934Registered NurseSylvia 'Ben' Benton
1935Music Is MagicDiane De Valle
1936Treachery on the High SeasMay HardyAlternative title: Not Wanted on Voyage
1938The Return of Carol DeaneCarol Deane
1941Hi Gang!The Liberty Girl
1947The Fabulous Joe-Producer
1954Life with the LyonsBebe LyonAlternative title: Family Affair
1955The Lyons in ParisBebeAlternative titles: Mr. and Mrs. in Paree
The Lyons Abroad
1955–1960Life with the LyonsBebe LyonUnknown episodes
producer, writer