Marion Shilling

Creamy-complexioned brunette Marion Shilling was a beauty inclined to be overlooked when recalling those fairly well-known "B" leading ladies of the 1930s. Born in 1910, the Denver-born actress started her career promisingly enough with a featured role in MGM's Wise Girls (1929). From there she moved to lead and second lead status opposite William Powell in Shadow of the Law (1930) and Constance Bennett in The Common Law (1931). Among others, she appeared top billed in what would be considered "women's pictures" such as Forgotten Women (1931) and Shop Angel (1932). Although Marion was a charming addition to any film, her career began to wane within a few years, however, and she soon was relegated to love interest roles in poverty-row pictures. Westerns became her particular genre, with "prairie flower" roles opposite Buck Jones in the serial The Red Rider (1934) and Stone of Silver Creek (1935), Tim McCoy in The Westerner (1934) and Rex Bell in Idaho Kid (1936), among others. She retired from films at age 25 after co-starring with Hoot Gibson and Rex Lease in the oater Cavalcade of the West (1936). The following year she married a real estate mogul, a union that would last over 50 years. Little heard from over the years, Marion received a Golden Boot Award in 2002 from the Motion Picture and Television Fund for her contributions to the western genre. She died at age 93 of natural causes in Torrance, California.