Ona Munson
| Ona Munson | |
|---|---|
Munson in a 1931 publicity photo for Five Star Final
|
|
| Born |
Owena Wolcott June 16, 1903 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | February 11, 1955 (aged 51) New York City, New York, U.S.a |
| Cause of death | Suicide by barbiturate overdose |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1928–1953 |
| Spouse(s) |
Edward Buzzell (1926–1931) (divorced) Stewart McDonald (1941–1947) Eugene Berman (1950–1955) (her death) |
Ona Munson (born Owena Wolcott; June 16, 1903 – February 11, 1955) was an American actress perhaps best known for her portrayal of madam Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Munson was born Owena Wolcott in Portland, Oregon. She first came to fame on Broadway as the singing and dancing ingenue in the original production of No, No, Nanette. From this, Munson had a very successful stage and radio career in the 1930s in New York. She introduced the song "You're the Cream in My Coffee" in the 1927 Broadway musical Hold Everything.
Her first starring role was in a Warner Brothers talkie called Going Wild (1930). Originally, this film was intended as a musical, but all the numbers were removed prior to release owing to the public's distaste for musicals, which had virtually saturated the cinema in 1929-30. Munson appeared the next year in The Hot Heiress, in which she sings several songs along with her co-star Ben Lyon. She also starred in Broadminded (1931) and Five Star Final (1931). She briefly retired from the screen, only to return in 1938.
When David O. Selznick was casting his production Gone with the Wind, he first announced that Mae West was to play Belle, but both West and Tallulah Bankhead refused the role as too small. Munson herself was the antithesis of the voluptuous Belle: freckled and of slight build.
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