Marguerite Churchill

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Marguerite Churchill (December 25, 1910 – January 9, 2000) was an American movie actress with a film career spanning from 1929 to 1952.

She was 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 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.

Career

She played leading lady to John Wayne in 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 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); and with Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead (1936).

Family

Churchill appeared in more than 25 films and was married to her one-time costar George O'Brien from July 15, 1933 until their divorce in 1948. They had three children, one of whom was novelist Darcy O'Brien, whom she outlived by two years. Her daughter Orin O'Brien has played double bass for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra since 1966. A third child, Brian, died in infancy in 1934.

After her divorce from O'Brien, she appeared in one movie and a few television plays. In 1954, she announced her engagement to Peter Ganine, a sculptor. It is unclear whether they ever married. {citation Hedda Hopper, Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1954 p.A1:"Marguerite Churchill. to Be Wed" Former Film Star Marguerite Churchill will marry Peter Ganine at the Russian Orthodox Church here}

Later years

In 1960, she moved to Rome, Italy and in 1970 to Lisbon, Portugal. She came back to the United States in the 1990s to live near her son, Darcy, whom she outlived by two years.

Death

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