Karen Morley

Karen Morley
Promotional photograph of Morley in 1930s
Born	Mildred Linton (1909-12-12)December 12, 1909 Ottumwa, Iowa, U.S.
Died	March 8, 2003(2003-03-08) (aged 93) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	Hollywood High School
Alma mater	UCLA Pasadena Playhouse
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1929–1975
Known for	Mata Hari Scarface The Phantom of Crestwood Pride and Prejudice
Spouses	Charles Vidor (m. 1932; div. 1943) Lloyd Gough (m. 1943; died 1984)
Children	2

Karen Morley (born Mildred Linton; December 12, 1909 – March 8, 2003)^[1] was an American film actress.

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Life and career

Born Mildred Linton^[2] in Ottumwa, Iowa,^[1] Morley lived there until she was 13 years old. When she moved to Hollywood, she attended Hollywood High School.^[3] She went on to attend the University of California, but she dropped out to join the Los Angeles Civic Repertory Theatre and the Pasadena Playhouse.^[4]

After working at the Pasadena Playhouse,^[3] she came to the attention of the director Clarence Brown, at a time when he had been looking for an actress to stand in for Greta Garbo in screen tests. This led to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and roles in films such as Mata Hari (1931), Scarface (1932), The Phantom of Crestwood (1932), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), Arsene Lupin (1933), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), and Dinner at Eight (1933).

In 1934, Morley left MGM. Her first film after leaving the studio was Our Daily Bread (1934), directed by King Vidor. She continued to work as a freelance performer and appeared in Michael Curtiz's Black Fury, and The Littlest Rebel with Shirley Temple. Without the support of a studio, her roles became less frequent; however, she did play Mr. Collins' wife Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice (1940), which was produced by MGM. The film was critically well-received, but it did not advance her career; as a result, Morley turned her attention to stage plays.

In the early 1940s, she appeared in several plays on Broadway, including the role of Gerda in the original production of The Walrus and The Carpenter.

Her career came to an end in 1947 (November 1952) when she testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to answer questions about her alleged American Communist Party membership. She maintained her political activism for the rest of her life. In 1954, she ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of New York on the American Labor Party ticket.^[1]

After being blacklisted in Hollywood by the studio bosses, she never rebuilt her film acting career.

In the early 1970s, Karen Morley briefly resumed her acting career with guest roles in television series such as Kojak, Kung Fu, and Police Woman.

In 1993, she appeared in The Great Depression, a documentary TV series produced by Henry Hampton's Blackside Productions in association with BBC2 and WGBH. In the series, she talked about how helpless she felt as a privileged Hollywood actress in the face of all the poverty and suffering that surrounded her. She also spoke of her experience making Our Daily Bread and working for King Vidor, whom she described as a conservative who thought that people should willingly help each other without government interference.

In December 1999, at the age of 90, she appeared in Vanity Fair in an article about blacklist survivors, and she was honored at the San Francisco Film Festival.^[5]

Personal life

In November 1932, Morley married director Charles Vidor in Santa Ana, California.^[6] They were divorced on March 2, 1943.^[7] Vidor and Morley had a son, Michael Charles Vidor.^[7]

Death

Morley lived in Santa Monica, California during her later years. She died of pneumonia at the age of 93 in Woodland Hills, California.^[5]

Partial filmography

Thru Different Eyes (1929) as bit part (uncredited)
Inspiration (1931) as Liane Latour
Daybreak (1931) as Emily Kessner
Never the Twain Shall Meet (1931) as Maisie
Politics (1931) as Myrtle Burns
High Stakes (1931) as Anne Cornwall
The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) as Alice
The Cuban Love Song (1931) as Crystal
Mata Hari (1931) as Carlotta
Arsene Lupin (1932) as Sonia
Are You Listening? (1932) as Alice Grimes
Scarface (1932) as Poppy
The Man About Town (1932) as Helena
The Washington Masquerade (1932) as Consuela Fairbanks
Downstairs (1932) as Karl's New Employer (uncredited)
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932) as Jenny Wren
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) as Sheila Barton
Flesh (1932) as Laura Nash
Gabriel Over the White House (1933) as Pendola Molloy
Dinner at Eight (1933) as Mrs. Lucy Talbot
The Crime Doctor (1934) as Andra
Our Daily Bread (1934) as Mary Sims
Straight Is the Way (1934) as Bertha
Wednesday's Child (1934) as Kathryn Phillips
Black Fury (1935) as Anna Novak
$10 Raise (1935) as Emily Converse
The Healer (1935) as Evelyn Allen
Thunder in the Night (1935) as Madalaine
The Littlest Rebel (1935) as Mrs. Cary
Devil's Squadron (1936) as Martha Dawson
Beloved Enemy (1936) as Cathleen O'Brien
Outcast (1937) as Margaret Stevens
The Girl from Scotland Yard (1937) as Linda Beech
The Last Train from Madrid (1937) as Baroness Helene Rafitte
On Such a Night (1937) as Gail Stanley
Kentucky (1938) as Mrs. Goodwin - 1861
Pride and Prejudice (1940) as Mrs. Collins
Jealousy (1945) as Dr. Monica Anderson
The Unknown (1946) as Rachel Martin Arnold
The Thirteenth Hour (1947) as Eileen Blair
Framed (1947) as Beth
Samson and Delilah (1949) (uncredited)
M (1951) as Mrs. Coster
Born to the Saddle (1953) as Kate Daggett

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Lentz, Harris M. III (2004). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 280. ISBN 978-0-7864-5208-8. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
^ "Karen Morley Secretly Married". The New York Times. December 8, 1932. p. 24. ProQuest 99822719. Retrieved February 16, 2021 – via ProQuest.
^ ^a ^b Scheuer, Philip K. (December 11, 1932). "Karen Morley's Honesty Makes Her 'Black Sheep'". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. p. 48. Retrieved July 25, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Who's Who in Pictures". The New York Times. May 29, 1932. p. X 4. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Bergan, Ronald (April 21, 2003). "Obituary: Karen Morley". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
^ "Karen Morley Secretly Married". The New York Times. Associated Press. December 8, 1932. p. 24. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Karen Morley Divorces Vidor". The New York Times. United Press. March 3, 1943. p. 20. Retrieved September 27, 2021.