Marilyn Harris Trailers
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Marilyn Harris (July 17, 1924 – December 1, 1999) was an American child actress who appeared in several Hollywood productions in the 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her role as "Little Maria" in the 1931 horror film Frankenstein. Harris was born in San Fernando, California and placed in a Los Angeles orphanage shortly after her birth. She was adopted by an area couple when she was a month old. Shortly after her adoption, she appeared in a Rin Tin Tin film. In her later years, Harris revealed that her adoptive mother forced her to pursue a screen career because of her own failed attempts to become an actress. Harris also claimed that her mother was physically and emotionally abusive.
In 1931, Harris won the role of "Little Maria" in the horror film Frankenstein. In arguably the film's most memorable scene, Maria meets the fugitive monster (played by Boris Karloff) beside a lakeside and charms the monster with her innocence, humanity and friendship, something which he had not experienced with previously hostile, mistrusting adults. A children's game is however tragically misinterpreted by the monster, and he ends up throwing Little Maria into the lake, unintentionally drowning her and turning the surrounding village's population into a lynch mob, baying for revenge after the child's body is found. The shot of Maria being thrown into the water was cut from original prints and only restored in the 1980s.
After appearing in Frankenstein, Harris continued her career in small roles in films. She left acting at the age of 19 shortly after marrying Wally Watkins, a bouncer she met while working as a cashier at the Hollywood Palladium. The couple had a son the following year. After Harris' husband died in 1981, she remarried. Harris' second husband, Carl, died in 1988. In 1983, 52 years after the film, Harris resumed a friendship with Frankenstein actress Mae Clarke who resided at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital. Clarke had put out a televised effort to locate Marilyn Harris during an interview with LA movie host Tom Hatton.
Most Popular Marilyn Harris Trailers
Total trailers found: 12
21 November 1931
Obsessed scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein attempts to create life by assembling a creature from deceased body parts.
20 April 1935
After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Henry Frankenstein falls under control of his former mentor, Dr.
01 November 1930
Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to get the affection of the beautiful pioneer Ruth Cameron and plans his revenge on the harsh scoundrels who murdered a friend of his in the past.
29 November 1931
In their farm house in a New York village, Ma Shelby prepares breakfast for her four children, Isaac, Tommy, Johnny and Susan, and then awakens them.
09 November 1932
Salomy Jane, a California mountain girl, is sought after by a number of men in the nearby small town of Redwood City.
15 October 1932
The victim of a political assassination is resurrected by a scientific experiment. However, the effects only last for six hours, and he must find his killer in that time.
17 May 1936
Sheltered beauty Magnolia Hawkes takes over as the leading lady on a Mississippi riverboat show when mixed-race Julie and her white husband are forced out of town by a prejudiced sheriff.
04 August 1933
Tugboat, the Narcissus, is owned and captained by Annie Brennan, and among her crew are her alcoholic but good-natured husband, Terry, and her conscientious son, Alec.
01 June 1937
At the end of the Great War, German soldiers return home to find the social fabric and civil order disintegrating as communist gangs roam the streets, and food and jobs become scarce.
03 January 1932
A wealthy bachelor hires a pretty young nanny to look after his adopted daughter. Sparks quickly fly between the two, much to the dismay of the man's calculating, money-hungry fiancée.
07 December 1934
A woman and her children escape severe poverty and abuse. She successfully betters her family's condition while living with the secret that she killed her abusive husband in order to protect her children from him.
11 July 1930
A housewife divorces her self-centered husband. Years later, she attends a party where her ex is pursuing another woman.
