Marion Bell
| Marion Bell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 16, 1919 St Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 1997 (aged 78) Culver City, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | cancer |
| Years active | 1935–1949 |
| Spouse(s) | Jack Charles Hollimon (1943-?), Alan Jay Lerner (1947-1949), Thomas Charlesworth (1951) |
| Children | Thomas Charlesworth (b. 1951) |
Marion Bell (November 16, 1919–December 14, 1997) was a singer and musical theatre performer best known for her role in the Broadway musical Brigadoon.
Bell was born in St. Louis. Her father was a freight agent on the Wabash Railroad. She had two sisters, Evelyn and Veronica. The family moved to California, and were established there by the time she was 15.
In 1947, she married the librettist Alan Jay Lerner. She was the second of his eight wives, and the only one not to come from a wealthy, socially well-placed family. The marriage lasted two years. Lerner left her six months after Brigadoon closed its first Broadway run. Her third husband was Tom Charlesworth, an actor and singer she met during a production of The Chocolate Soldier. That marriage lasted only three months, but the two had a son.
Bell was known for her "striking" appearance, and was described as "raven" haired, "big-bosomed and sexy," and "handsome to the eye."
Bell began her career on local radio by the age of eight, singing with Ted Straeter's orchestra. A soprano, she studied opera in Rome for a year with Mario Marafioti, but returned to the United States as the Second World War loomed. Back in California, she studied with Nina Koshetz and sang leading roles with the San Francisco Opera Company, including the Shepherd in Wagner’s Tannhäuser and the young girl in Love of Three Kings by Montemezzi. She also sang at the now-defunct St. Louis Opera Company and the Opera Nacional in Mexico City.
Her return to California led to Metro Goldwyn Mayer signing her to a film contract. Accounts of her discovery as a potential film star vary: her obituaries in the New York Times and Variety credited her signing to the director Robert Z. Leonard, who heard her sing at a party. Musical theatre historian Gene Lees noted that a talent scout had noticed her in one of her opera roles.
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