Margot Grahame
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Margot Grahame (born Margaret Clark on 20 February 1911, Canterbury, England) was an English actress most noted for starring in The Informer, The Crimson Pirate and Night Waitress. She started acting in 1930 and made her last screen appearance in 1958.
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[edit] Comparison To Harlow
Reared and stage-trained in South Africa, this statuesque blonde was at one time Britain's answer to Jean Harlow. She was dubbed the 'Aluminium Blonde'. The only real similarities between Grahame and Harlow were that they were both blonde and a bit busty. Otherwise, Harlow exuded more glamor with genuine sex appeal. Grahame was less a glamorous personality and more of a talented actress.
An anecdote which has been falsely attributed to Margot Asquith -- who never met Jean Harlow -- is apparently a genuine incident which happened to Margot Grahame, during her time in Hollywood. When Harlow and Grahame met for the first time, the barely literate Jean Harlow addressed the other actress as "Mar-got", pronouncing the final consonant. Grahame corrected her with a subtle snub: "The 'T' is silent, as in 'Harlow'."
[edit] Movie Actress
Grahame was the highest-paid actress in England during the 1930s, before going to America, where she performed in a number of films of the 30's, 40's and 50's. Hollywood producers' interest was peaked that she had appeared in forty-two major roles in English films in only three years. Grahame was signed to a long-term contract by RKO
She is perhaps best remembered as the prostitute girlfriend of Gypo Nolan in John Ford's The Informer (1935). She followed this performance with a role as leading lady Milady de Winter in The Three Musketeers (1935). To prepare to play this character Grahame secluded herself in her Malibu home. She attempted to lose some excess pounds and also to acquire a tan for the first time on her very white skin[citation needed].
She performed with Bebe Daniels in The Fabulous Joe (1947). As the character Emily Terkle, Grahame was appearing in her first motion picture since The Buccaneer (1938). The latter dealt with U.S. history, particularly the lives of Jean La Fitte and Andrew Jackson. Starring opposite Frederic March, Grahame faced the challenge of playing the love interest rather than a siren. After World War II she dyed her hair and became a redhead. She appeared in The Romantic Age in 1949.
Her last films were made in the 1950s. The titles are I'll Get You For This (1950), The Crimson Pirate (1952), The Beggar's Opera (1953), Orders Are Orders (1954), and Saint Joan (1957). She appeared in The Sweater (1958). This was an episode The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1958).
[edit] Personal life
Grahame moved into a new home high in the Hollywood Hills after her separation from English actor, Francis Lister, in 1935. She married Canadian millionaire, Allen McMartin, in 1938. They divorced in 1946.
She enjoyed swimming and hiking into the hills above Malibu for picnic lunches. Grahame preferred Lucky Strike cigarettes. She enjoyed a light smoke and a cigarette which was considerate of her throat. She advertised for the American Tobacco Company brand in 1937.
Grahame believed in changing makeup to suit the season and the clothes she wore. Her creamy white and rose complexion called for a lighter night cream (pharmaceutical) in the early spring (season). Regardless of the season she used a powder base on her skin.
[edit] Death
After the death of her third husband in the 1970s she became a recluse and developed a drink problem.
Margot Grahame died in London in 1982 of chronic bronchitis.
[edit] References
- Albuquerque Journal, Margot Grahame Dislikes Depot Change; Cecil B. Demille Talks About Buccaneer, January 24, 1938, Page 8.
- Charleston Gazette, Bebe Daniels Set To Produce Movie, July 16, 1946, Page 11.
- Connellsville Daily Courier, Margot Grahame Agrees That Luckies Are Gentlest On The Throat, March 9, 1937, Page 3.
- Dunkirk Evening Observer, Spring Styles Call For Much Warmer Hues-Margot Grahame, March 11, 1937, Page 11.
- Lowell Sun, In England They Call Margot Grahame Second Jean Harlow, May 28, 1935, Page 54.
- Lowell Sun, Sign of Separation, November 2, 1935, Page 45.
