Gene Markey | |
---|---|
Born |
Eugene Willford Markey December 11, 1895 Jackson, Michigan |
Died | May 1, 1980 Miami Beach, Florida |
(aged 84)
Resting place | Lexington Cemetery |
Spouse(s) |
Joan Bennett (m.1932–1937; divorced) Hedy Lamarr (m.1939–1941; divorced) Myrna Loy (m.1946–1950; divorced) Lucille Parker Wright (m.1952–1980; his death) |
Children | Melinda Markey (b. 1934) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | US |
Service/branch |
United States Army United States Navy |
Years of service | 1918, 1920–56 (37 years) |
Rank | Lieutenant (Army)/Rear Admiral (Navy) |
Battles/wars | |
Awards |
Legion of Merit Bronze Star Legion of Honor (France) Star of Solidarity (Italy) Navy Commendation Medal |
Eugene Willford "Gene" Markey (December 11, 1895 – May 1, 1980) was an American author, producer, screenwriter, and highly decorated naval officer.
Markey was born in Michigan in the year 1895. His father, Eugene Lawrence Markey, was a colonel in the United States Army. His uncle, Daniel P. Markey, had been Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1918.
He was a skilled sketch artist, which gained him entry, after World War I, into the Art Institute of Chicago starting in 1919 and finishing in 1920. There, he claimed to have "studied painting and learned nothing". After that, he worked as a journalist in Chicago for several newspapers and magazines, including Photoplay magazine. It was during the 1920s that Gene Markey first became a writer, specializing in novels about the Jazz Age. Among his titles were Anabel; Stepping High; Women, Women, Everywhere; and His Majesty's Pyjamas. His book "Literary Lights" (March 1923, Alfred A. Knopf, New York) was a collection of fifty of America's most important literary authors of the day. He personally sketched each caricature.
He went to Hollywood in 1929 and became a screenwriter for Twentieth Century Fox. His screen credits included King of Burlesque (1936) starring Alice Faye, Girls' Dormitory (1936) featuring Herbert Marshall, and On the Avenue (1937), starring Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, and Alice Faye. He was also the producer of the 1937 Shirley Temple film, Wee Willie Winkie, among others.