A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... ONA MUNSON (June 16, 1903 – February 11, 1955)
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Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT?"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. (and feel free to share them with your friends!) Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships". (I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???). Well, folks, make way for a lady! A lovely lady who, sadly did NOT end up very happily, but who was much loved. Ona Munson (June 16, 1903 – February 11, 1955).
Munson was born Owena Wolcott in Portland, Oregon. Blessed with a distinctive voice and clear American diction, she was among the better vocal actresses of the late 1920s, and she won plaudits in vaudeville. Trained as a dancer in Portland, Oregon, she first appeared on Broadway in GEORGE WHITE’S SCANDALS in 1919 when she was only 16 years of age. She co-starred with Eddie Buzzell in NO OTHER GIRL and married him during the run. She first came to fame on Broadway as the singing and dancing ingenue in the original production of NO, NO, NANETTE (1925) which made her a star, a status that was solidified by 1926's TWINKLE, TWINKLE and comedies such as MANHATTAN MARY (1927). From this, Munson had a very successful stage and radio career 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 musical but all the numbers were removed prior to release due to the public's distaste for musicals which had virtually saturated the cinema in 1929-1930. Munson appeared the next year in a musical comedy called HOT HEIRESS (1931) in which she sings several songs along with her co-star Ben Lyon. She also starred in BROADMINDED (1931) and FIVE STAR FINAL (1932). One of the smartest women in Hollywood in the 1930s, she chafed at roles that had her mooning at cowboys from ranch windows or playing blonde secretaries. She briefly retired from the screen, only to return in 1938.
When David O. Selznick was casting his production GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), he first announced that Mae West was to play Belle, but this was a publicity stunt. Tallulah Bankhead refused the role as too small. Munson herself was the antithesis of the voluptuous Belle: freckled and of slight build. Although her performance is one of the most memorable and beloved in the film, Munson’s career was stalemated by the acclaim she received from GONE WITH THE WIND; for the remainder of her career, she was typecast in similar roles. Two years later, she played a huge role as another madam, albeit a Chinese one, in Josef von Sternberg’s film noir THE SHANGHAI GESTURE. Her performance is so convincing that most people did not even recognize her as the same actress. Her last film was THE RED HOUSE released in 1947. She went on to perform on radio sporadically including co-starring (as Lorelei Kilbourne) with Edward G. Robinson on BIG TOWN.
Although she was married three times (to actor and director Edward Buzzell in 1926, to Federal Loan Administrator Stewart McDonald in 1941, and surrealist painter and set designer Eugene Berman in 1949) and had an affair with Ernst Lubitsch from 1932 to ’35, all of these have been termed "lavender" marriages.—i.e., a cover for stars concerned with keeping their homosexuality out of the public eye. They were intended to conceal her bisexuality and her affairs with women, including filmmaker Dorothy Arzner, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and playwright Mercedes de Acosta. Munson has been listed as a member of a group called the "sewing circle", a clique of lesbians organized by actress Alla Nazimova.
In 1955, plagued by ill health, she committed suicide at the age of 51 with an overdose of barbiturates in her apartment in New York. A note found next to her deathbed read, "This is the only way I know to be free again...Please don't follow me."
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ona Munson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6211 Hollywood Boulevard.
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