Bebe Daniels

Vocation

Notable

Family

American actress, awarded the highest U.S. civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom for her patriotic work during WW II. Raised by a touring theatrical company family, she was appearing regularly in plays by the time she was four. By nine she made her film debut and then played numerous other shorts while attending an L.A. convent. At age 14 she began her adult roles and from 1914-1918 she was featured in over 200 short films. In 1919, Daniels signed a long-term contract with Paramount and starred in several DeMille films. With the advent of the talkies, she was dropped by Paramount and signed with RKO where she proved that she could not only talk, but sing, in the 1929 production of "Rio Rita." In the mid-‘30s, her Hollywood career was declining and in 1936, she and her husband, Ben Lyon, accepted an engagement at the London Palladium. They remained in London through WW II, performing in music halls, on stage, a long-running radio show on BBC and entertaining U.S. troops. In 1946, they returned to Hollywood where Lyon took an executive position with Fox. By 1949, they went back to England where the couple headlined a popular ‘50s family radio show, "Life with the Lyons," which also subsequently led to a couple of movies of the same name." Daniels married Ben Lyon in 1930 and co-starred with him in several films. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage 3/16/1971 in London, England. Link to Wikipedia biography