Marilyn Knowlden

Born: 1926-05-12 in Oakland, California, USA

Died: 2025-09-15

Known For: Acting

Biography

In 1931, a one-day effort by Marilyn Knowlden's attorney father led to an interview, a next-day screen test and a large part for four-year-old Marilyn in one of the early "talkies", Women Love Once (1931). A ten-year movie career followed, where she played the daughter of such stars as Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Allan Jones and Norma Shearer. She appeared in some of the screen's great classics, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), David Copperfield (1935) and Les Misérables (1935), in which she played the child Cosette. She appeared in six films nominated by the Academy for Best Production of the Year and performed with such distinguished actors as Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis. College, marriage and four children followed. A composer and playwright as well as an actress, she wrote the music and lyrics for ten produced musicals, including three for which she also wrote the scripts. The latter included her musical, "I'm Gonna Get You in the Movies!" for which she drew heavily on her own early experience. After a 50-year hiatus, Marilyn returned to acting in 1994. She appeared in over 20 plays and musicals in San Diego County, including the role of Aunt Abby in "Arsenic and Old Lace," the leads in "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "Quilters," and Prof. Higgins' mother in "My Fair Lady." In 2011 Bear Manor published Marilyn Knowlden's autobiography "Little Girl in Big Pictures". Knowlden died on September 15, 2025 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Eagle, Idaho.

Filmography

1944

Broadway Rhythm as Co-ed in Drugstore (uncredited)

1940

All This, and Heaven Too as Marianna Van Horn (uncredited)
The Way of All Flesh as Julie Kriza

1939

Hidden Power as Imogene

1938

Barefoot Boy as Julia Blaine
Marie Antoinette as Princesse Therese
Angels with Dirty Faces as Laury - as a Child
Just Around the Corner as Gwendolyn (uncredited)
An Evening with Edgar Guest as Ann

1937

Slave Ship as Girl

1936

Show Boat as Kim as a Child
Anthony Adverse as Florence Udney
A Woman Rebels as Flora at Age 9 (uncredited)
Rainbow on the River as Lucille Layton
Easy to Take as Gwen Ferry

1935

Les Misérables as Little Cosette (as Marilynne Knowlden)
Condemned to Live as Maria
David Copperfield as Agnes Wickfield as a Girl

1934

Imitation of Life as Jessie Pullman, Age 8 (uncredited)
As the Earth Turns as Esther

1933

Little Women as Meg’s Charge (uncredited)
The World Changes as Young Selma (uncredited)

1932

The Conquerors as Frances Standish, as a child
Call Her Savage as Ruth as a Girl (Uncredited)

1931

The Cisco Kid as Annie Benton
Husband's Holiday as Anne Boyd