Screenwriter and starlet movie#

Because I stuttered, no school wanted me. In discussing her childhood, she wrote, “When I got a bit older, my mother decided that I was kind of a problem.

In fact, Welles wrote the foreword to Davies’ memoir and vehemently stated that the fictional character of Susan Alexander Kane bore no resemblance to the talented Marion Davies.ĭavies was very candid about her stuttering in her memoir The Times We Had: My Life with William Randolph Hearst. The public association with the character of Susan Foster Kane led to a revisionist belief that Davies was a “talentless opportunist.'įeeling responsible for the unfair treatment of Davies, Orson Welles’ made many public attempts to correct the recklessly widespread misconceptions that his famous movie, Citizen Kane, was created about the actress. Subsequently, myths and urban legends developed that Davies was not a great actress in the first place and that her films were undistinguished and unpopular. Biographers and critics alike cited that Davie’s reputation was destroyed by Citizen Kane as film audiences believed Susan Alexander Kane to be based on the real life of Marion Davies. Hearst took over management of Davies’ career and successfully promoted her to the extent that she was the #1 female box office star in Hollywood, largely due to her starring roles in the blockbuster films When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York.Īs is well known, the character of Susan Alexander Kane in Citizen Kane (the wife of Charles Foster Kane) was dangerously associated with Davies, much to the detriment of her career. While performing for the Follies at the age of 19, she met publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst (age 53) and became his mistress and steadfast companion until his death in 1951. As a starlet of the silent screen, Davies' story is inspiring in that she was able to make the transition to talking pictures despite her stuttering.īorn in 1897, Davies was performing as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies by her late teens. Amanda Seyfried played Marion Davies, the long-time actress who was the companion of publishing titan William Randolph Hearst, on whom the character of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane was based. Mank told the story of legendary Hollywood screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, who is most famous for having written the screenplay for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, for which Welles also received a writing credit.

Screenwriter and starlet movie#

When the 93rd Academy Awards ceremonies took place on April 25, 2021, all eyes were on the movie Mank, which garnered an amazing ten Oscar nominations. Nonetheless, she was a popular movie star in the 1920s and was particularly admired for her comedic talents on stage and screen. Marion Davies was an American actor who was more renowned for her 34-year relationship with publishing giant William Randolph Hearst than for her noteworthy performance career.