Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

See which big screen releases you can watch from the comfort of your couch.

Theatrical Releases Coming to Streaming

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

Marcia Mae Jones was born on August 1, 1924, into an acting family. Her mother, Freda Jones, was an actress, and all three of her siblings -- Margaret Jones, Macon Jones, and Marvin Jones -- were child actors. But Marcia Mae had the most successful career, and she was the only one of her siblings to become a child star.

She made her acting debut when she was just six months old, when director James Cruze saw her in her baby carriage and immediately cast her as the baby in his film Mannequin (1926). Her first major role was in Night Nurse (1931), in which she played one of two siblings targeted for murder for their inheritance by a sinister household retainer. By age 10, she had appeared in several dramatic films. In 1936, she played a terrified victim of school bullying in These Three (1936), a role that brought her much attention. In 1937, she played the crippled Klara in Heidi (1937). The film starred two other child actors, Delmar Watson (as with Marcia Mae, all of Delmar's siblings were actors) and Shirley Temple. Despite Marcia Mae being four years older than Temple, the two girls acted well together and would appear together again, in The Little Princess (1939). Marcia Mae also worked with several other child stars of the 1930s, including Jane Withers, Bonita Granville, Jackie Moran, Sybil Jason, and her favorite, Jackie Cooper.

Marcia Mae's first husband was a merchant marine with whom she had two children. This union ended in divorce. Her film career began to slow down in the early 1950s, after which she largely appeared in television roles. By 1952, she was employed as a switchboard operator in the law firm of Greg Bautzer. Her adult life was marred by the suicide of her second husband, Bill Davenport, and problems with alcohol. She eventually conquered her alcohol dependency and became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

[on her parents] I wasn&#39;t allowed to do what most kids were allowed to
do. My mother pushed me, but my father was kind of in awe of me. He
really didn&#39;t know quite what to do with it all. But my mother was
definitely a motion picture mother. She loved the motion picture.

[on her education] Schooling brought me a lot of confusion when I was
very small because I was still in public school. When I was in school I
wanted to be back acting, and when I was acting I wanted to be back in
public school. Later on we had schooling on the lot. For
<a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0000073/?ref_=nmqu_qu">Shirley Temple</a> it worked great, for <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0936730/?ref_=nmqu_qu">Jane Withers</a> it
worked great, but I was one of those kids who didn&#39;t like school.

[on her family] I don&#39;t know if I could have done as well as my mother
did had the tables been reversed, but she did love me way too much and
it did cause trouble and jealousy with my brothers and sister. I can
understand today how they must have felt. It was always, &quot;Marcia Mae
has to go to work, Marcia Mae&#39;s making the money&quot;.

Quotes

Marcia Mae Jones

Contribute to this page

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed