“The mind is all that actually counts. It can rule your heart and your body. I believe I can develop two distinct personalities. One, Marian Marsh, the actress. The other my private, off-screen self. Each will have its own sphere of action.” — Marian Marsh
Source: Ben Maddox (1932)
Photographer: Scotty Welbourne (1931)
“They called me a ‘discovery’ [after appearing in Svengali in 1931], when I knew I wasn’t. After all, I had worked in films off and on for two years before that – I was an extra and hoping for the big chance like every other extra since this myth called Hollywood began. They said my Trilby was ‘amazing,’ and I knew all the time that I had done nothing that any other girl, who was young and pretty, and who had the same direction and who was surrounded by the same great cast, could not have done….I suppose I was at ‘the top’ for awhile after that. But it was a position which I gained through influences outside me.” – Marian Marsh
A prop painting created by Warner Bros. for the film Svengali (1931). The painting was later given to Marsh, who kept it until her death in 2006.
The painting is 28 x 36 inches unframed and sold for over $2500 at auction.
“She is the epitome of Du Maurier’s doomed heroine. She was an unusual talent who captured all the imperiled beauty of a classic horror heroine, who seemed to have wandered out of a storybook.” — Gregory William Mank author of Women in Horror Films, 1930s.
Anita Page models a wedding gown in front of Marian Marsh in the 1931 precode film, UNDER 18. The film’s working title at the time this photo was taken was “Poor Little Ritz Girl.”
Purchase your Fine Art America Print, Coffee Mug, T-Shirt, etc. of this image by pressing here!
“After playing several small roles in pictures, I landed a leading part in a play, ‘Young Singers.’ As a result, Warner Bros. signed me on contract and gave me the role of Trilby opposite John Barrymore in ‘Svengali.’ I thought that success had reached out its arms and embraced me. But I was mistaken. I found that I had to go through a few more disappointments.” — Marian Marsh
Source: 1940
Photographer: Otto Dyar (1931)
“It took patience and perserverence to spend month after month of waiting at the telephone for a call to go to work. It took courage to go from this person to that person asking for a job, pleading for a chance to demonstrate what I could do.” — Marian Marsh
Source: 1940
Photographer: Otto Dyer (1932)
“Yes, Hollywood is anybody’s apple, but that apple is perched very high in the air, and to reach it takes courage and years of effort for most people.” — Marian Marsh
Source: 1940
“Films satisfy some urge in me for beauty, romance, drama, and illusion. I believe that is their lure for many of us in this generation.” — Marian Marsh
Source: Edith Dietz (1935)
