March 24, 2014
Back in her heyday, this comedic actress was A-list and then suddenly quit at the top of her game, mainly because her married lover (one of the richest men in America the time) and financial backer butted too many heads with Hollywood's movie moguls. The following incident happened when the star was at the height of her popularity. One day, her lover decided that their living situation should be taken one step further. He and his mistress went to Tijuana to get a divorce from his long suffering wife and get hitched right there on the spot. The actress didn't know it at the time but she was also pregnant with his child. The wife didn't take the news of their divorce so well, she became a virtual recluse. Amazingly, this never leaked to the press for obvious reasons.
Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst; child: Patricia Lake
Back in her heyday, this comedic actress was A-list and then suddenly quit at the top of her game, mainly because her married lover (one of the richest men in America the time) and financial backer butted too many heads with Hollywood's movie moguls. The following incident happened when the star was at the height of her popularity. One day, her lover decided that their living situation should be taken one step further. He and his mistress went to Tijuana to get a divorce from his long suffering wife and get hitched right there on the spot. The actress didn't know it at the time but she was also pregnant with his child. The wife didn't take the news of their divorce so well, she became a virtual recluse. Amazingly, this never leaked to the press for obvious reasons.
Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst; child: Patricia Lake
How do you divorce someone without their knowing?
ReplyDeleteBut they were never divorced...
ReplyDeleteThis sounds just like what just happened to me...except for the whole marriage, divorce, mistress, kid and Tijuana thing. That part didn't didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteUhhh...um...
DeleteWhat ! If that's true what about all the property
ReplyDeleteSince he controlled most of the press back then it was pretty easy not to leak it and Parsons., Hopper and Walter Winchell were probably too scared to do it if they knew.
ReplyDeleteAnd what never leaked to the press?
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, a Hearst divorce not to mention immediate re-marriage to the mistress would have been serious scandal.
ReplyDeleteHowever, given the Hearst empire, the chance of any of it leaking to the press or the continued career of any reporter stupid enough to try and print the story were pretty much guaranteed.
If the divorce/marriage actually happened, there had to have been some serious legal finagling to make it go away - because this is honestly the first mention of Hearst actually marrying Davies that I've ever heard of.
Og murdochs.
DeleteI see, the supposed marriage to Marion wasn't leaked.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia lists Marion as his mistress.
Marion Davies is one of the most underrated actresses and comediennes of her day. If you ever get to see "Show People" or "The Patsy" they're hilarious. The picture of her painted by Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane" really did her a serious injustice.
ReplyDeleteGoing to Mexico and "divorcing" your wife probably isn't legal, especially if you don't let the wife know. To the best of my knowledge Hearst and his wife remained legally married until his death.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Lake
ReplyDeletePatricia Van Cleeve Lake (between 1920 and 1923[1] – October 3, 1993), known as Patricia Lake, was an American socialite, actress, and radio comedienne. She was long suspected of being the illegitimate daughter of actress Marion Davies and publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, which she herself admitted shortly before she died.[2]
Wells said that its not Davies in CK. he said she was a great actress until Hearst ruined her career.
ReplyDeleteWRH was a horrible hypocrite. Here he was with his mistress and yet unmarried lovers were not allowed to share a bed at his estate. Alcohol was also verboten IIRC but they still sneaked it in and had parties.
ReplyDeleteAlso Millicent wasn't much of a recluse according to his Wiki page. She built quite a nice life for herself.
Hearst did irrevocable damage to Davies' career, in the cause of making her a star. She was a gifted comedic performer, but he thought comedy undignified and insisted she be given dramatic roles. Roles that exposed her limitations as an actress.
ReplyDeletePatricia Lake was very pretty despite looking so much like Hearst. She and her husband were both drunks who ran through all of their money.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Marion had any legal claim to Hearst. His family shut her out of the funeral.
I agree with paint chip - marion was shut of the funeral by Hearst's family so can't have had any legal say over him. There's a great chapter in David Niven's book Bring on the Empty Horses about Marion and Hearst, fascinating and super funny read about old Hollywood. Highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Wellywood!
ReplyDeleteThis is actually old news, and I believe Lake is buried with Marion Davies.
ReplyDeleteMexican divorces were considered valid in some states and not in others. Valentino, Jason Robards and many others found that their quickie divorces were null and void.
ReplyDeleteThe law changed in 1971. One of the parties must be a Mexican Citizen and that is a very time consuming and expensive process.
Amazingly...but for obvious reasons
ReplyDelete