MANK FILM INCLUDES W.R. HEARST's MISTRESS MARION DAVIES

NETFLIX : MANK FILM OFFICIAL SITE 

The Old Hollywood actor Marion Davies, the long time Mistress of William Randolph Hearst, our Mistress of the Month in July 2013 here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot, is portrayed by actor Amanda Seyfried, in MANK.  Mank is the nickname for a screenwriter named Herman J. Mankiewicz, talented and alcoholic, who was the screenwriter for Orson Well's film Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane was supposed to be a bit of a parody of the lifestyle that Marion and W.R. had at their California "ranch," where they often entertained Hollywood friends. Originally planned as La Cuesta Encantada (Enchanted Hill) it was referred to as San Simeon,  Today it's a tourist spot called "Hearst Castle" and is about half way up the coast of California.

HEARST CASTLE ORG - Informative Site! I'm so glad that Marion's role in Hearst's life is included in the list of bio's at this site. 

EXCERPT: By the end of her career she had starred in a total of 46 films, including 16 talkies.  In the early twenties, she and Hearst moved their company, Cosmopolitan Productions, to California and joined forces with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.  All of her major films were produced by Cosmopolitan Productions and filmed at Paramount, MGM, and Warner Brothers studios.

Shortly after meeting Heart she became his constant companion and confidante. She was Hollywood's foremost hostess, throwing lavish parties at both Hearst Castle and at a extraordinary mansion on the beach in Santa Monica.  Dignitaries, Hollywood stars and famous athletes eagerly accepted invitations to her parties.  She followed the recommendations of Hearst's financial advisors, avoided debt, and invested wisely in real estate.

During the late thirties, hard times hit Hearst Corporation, and Marion gave Hearst a check for one million dollars to save the company from collapse. According to those who knew her, this selfless act was just one example of Marion's character.

***

But what of the Davies character in Mank, a film that recieved 10 Oscar nominations, and Amanda Seyfried's portrayal of Marion? Seyfried was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

This NPR article praises the actress: NPR ORG : AMANSA SEYFRIED SHINES AS MARION DAVIES in MANK  This article is about how the actress was turned into a Marion, wardrobe, hair, the works, for the film and is worth the read - or you can listen to the audio instead.

EXCEPT: (Amanda speaking)

"Marion was a really talented actor, she had incredible range, she was really funny, and she was able to lighten any scene that she was in,: says Seyfriend,"She was very unfiltered like I am, and she was very allergic to being dishonest, which I am absolutely, You know, the Brooklynese was kind of, just, at the end of the day, when she took her shoes off and she grabbed her bottle of gin.  She was exactly who seh was and you know, she hd no shame from where she came from."

If interested in Marion, please use the search feature embedded in this blog, or go into the archives to read the whole month!

Missy

MARION "ROSEBUD" DAVIES : MISTRESS OF NEWSPAPER MAN AND HEARST CASTLE BUILDER WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

MARION DAVIES is one of the most known mistresses in the world.

That's because when his wife would not go through a divorce, William Randolph Hearst chose to live with her anyway and she him, in California.

According to her memoir, written in 1961, ten years after he died, and which was not published until 1975, more than ten years after she died in 1963, W.R. wanted to get a divorce but couldn't convince his wife to allow it.  So they gave up trying but he did not see or speak to his wife, though they had grown sons, for 25 years.

Marion and W.R. met when she was about 14 years old, maybe 16; she is known to have lied about her age as an adult taking about 7 years off the January 3rd 1897 date when she was born Marion Cecilia Douras, claiming to be born in 1905.  At the time they met she was on stage at the Ziegfield Follies in New York City where so many of the dancers had "Back Stage Johnnys, " Patrons," "Mentors," and became mistresses.  She and her sisters all had entertainment ambitions and the family together changed their surname to Davies.

The family was respectable and so was the early courtship of Marion and W.R.  He gave expensive presents to impress her. He came around the house, was friendly with her parents, who liked him, and Marion and W.R. were fast friends for some time before becoming more involved.

At the time they met W. R., as she called him, was a fifty eight year old mega-successful newspaper man who began building his personal fortune during the Spanish Civil War.  If there is any criticism of Marion's acting or movie success, it is that some say if it were not for Hearst's promotions and involvements in her career, she would not have made it so far. When Marion "retired" into mistresshood sometime before World War II, she was a movie star, a major star of the 1920's and 1930's, who had made 45 films in those early days of Silent Pictures and then Talkies. 

Their relationship is called "a 32 year affair." 

His pet name for her was "Rosebud."

He built her a "beach house" in Santa Monica that was a manor house.  Together they held lively parties at San Simeon, known today as Hearst Castle, because of all the parts of castles he bought in Europe and installed inside, but which he called "The Ranch."  (San Simeon is a major tourist attraction on the Central Coast of California today.) They flew Hollywood stars and supporting casts up the California Coast from Hollywood to be part of the weekend parties.  Charlie Chaplin was one of many regular visitors. Marion had a bubbly personality and kept things lively for their guests.

They sailed with their guests off the coast too.  There was one big scandal when a film producer was accidentally shot and killed on the boat, but generally their relationship was not considered scandalous. 

They lived across the country from W.R.'s wife, they traveled with an entourage to Europe every year for many years, and were accepted as a couple by many of the most elite. 

Marion was ambitious, though she hardly sounds it when you read her story as she wrote it.

She also used the money she earned to invest in real estate and is said to have turned her personal fortune into 20 million dollars.  She became a charitable giver and amassed a precious jewelry collection that was sold in 1963 after her death for about half a million dollars. (The beach house was sold at great loss.)

While Marion was not a secret mistress, there is a story that came out years later,  that she had a secret child. 

The rumor was leaked after the the death of  Marion's "niece" Patricia Van Cleve Lake, who was married to Arthur Lake, an actor, successfully, for her entire adult life.  The rumor was that Patricia was actually Marion's child with Hearst.  Patricia was raised by Marion sister and they spent many a summer and much of their European travel with Marion and W.R.  According to Patricia Lake herself, who made recordings on her death bed, at her wedding to Arthur at San Simeon, Hearst called her into his office and said "I'm your father." 

In her memoir Marion denied ever having had any children.

Missy