Ona Munson

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Ona Munson (born Owena Elizabeth Wolcott; June 16, 1903 – February 11, 1955)<ref name="hollywood"/> was an American film and stage actress. She starred in nine Broadway productions and 20 feature films in her career, which spanned over 30 years.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Munson began her stage career in New York theater in 1919, debuting on Broadway in George White's Scandals. She starred in another four Broadway plays and musicals before the end of the 1920s. In 1930, she moved to Los Angeles to embark on a career in film, but after appearing as leads in several films, such as Going Wild (1930) and The Hot Heiress (1931), she returned to Broadway, starring in several productions, including Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts (1935).

Munson resumed her film career in the late 1930s, and was cast as madam Belle Watling in David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind (1939), a role which became her most famous. She starred in numerous films for Warner Bros. in the 1940s, but was often typecast based on her performance in Gone with the Wind, for instance in von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture (1941).

Munson married painter Eugene Berman in 1950, her second husband after a five-year marriage to director Edward Buzzell. She also had several documented affairs with women, including Alla Nazimova and playwright Mercedes de Acosta. Some commentators have considered her marriages as "lavender marriages", concealing Munson's homosexuality. By the mid-1950s, Munson was suffering from health complications following an unspecified surgical procedure, and frequently was using barbiturates. In February 1955, Berman found Munson dead in their Manhattan apartment, having committed suicide via a barbiturate overdose.

Life and career

1903–1918: Early life

Munson was born Owena Elizabeth Wolcott on June 16, 1903Template:Efn in Portland, Oregon,<ref name="stephens">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the last of four children born to Owen Wolcott and Sally Wolcott (née Gore).Template:Sfn All three of her elder siblings had died in infancy, leaving Munson the first surviving and only child.Template:Sfn Munson was of French-Canadian heritage; her paternal grandmother immigrated from Quebec in 1865.Template:Sfn

Munson was raised in Portland, where she attended the Catlin Gabel School (then known as Miss Catlin's School), and developed an affinity for English literature.Template:Sfn Her parents divorced in the 1920s, and her father later remarried.Template:Sfn

1919–1929: Broadway career

She first appeared on Broadway in a minor role in George White's Scandals,<ref name=pb/> followed by a supporting part in Twinkle, Twinkle (both staged in 1919).<ref name=pb/> In 1926, Munson took over the title role of the singing and dancing ingenue Nanette in the original production of No, No, Nanette.<ref name="hollywood">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On July 16, 1926, she married her first husband, fellow stage actor Edward Buzzell.Template:Sfn The following year, she portrayed the title character in Manhattan Mary, followed by the female lead in 1928's original production of Hold Everything!, a musical in which she introduced the song "You're the Cream in My Coffee".<ref name=pb/>

1930–1940: Move to Hollywood

Munson in Going Wild (1930)

Munson moved to Los Angeles in 1930, and appeared in the Warner Bros. movie Going Wild. Originally, this film was intended as a musical, but all the numbers were removed before release owing to the public's distaste for musicals, which virtually saturated the cinema in 1929–30. The following year, she divorced Buzzell.Template:Sfn After the divorce, Munson had a brief affair with filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch before his marriage to Vivian Gaye.Template:Sfn

Munson appeared the next year in The Hot Heiress, in which she sings several songs along with her co-star Ben Lyon. She also starred in Broadminded (1931) and Five Star Final (1931). After completing these films, Munson returned to New York and resumed her theater career, starring in Broadway productions of Hold Your Horses (1933), followed by Petticoat Fever and Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts (both staged in 1935), in the latter of which she portrayed Regina Engstrand.<ref name=pb/> During rehearsals for Ghosts, Munson had a short-lived romantic affair with actress Alla Nazimova, which ended before the play's premiere.Template:Sfn Co-star Harry Ellerbe stated that the couple had "parted amicably."Template:Sfn

Gone With the Wind

Munson as Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind (1939)

Munson returned to Los Angeles in 1938 to appear a minor part in His Exciting Night, followed by an uncredited role in Dramatic School.<ref name=afi/> When David O. Selznick began casting his production Gone with the Wind, he first announced that Mae West was to play Belle, but both West and Tallulah Bankhead refused the role as too small.<ref>Jewell, Richard B. (2012). "7". RKO Radio Pictures: A Titan Is Born (1 ed.). London: University of California Press. p. 153. Template:ISBN.</ref> Munson was the antithesis of the voluptuous Belle: freckled and of slight build—but Selznick cast her in the role.Template:Sfn

Munson had no apprehensions in accepting the role, as she said was the case of many an actress confronted with an objectionable character. Upon learning she had the role, "I was delighted. So many wanted it, I had no idea the directors would give it to me."<ref name=scan>Scan of newspaper article "Belle Watling Difficult to Portray, Dec. 14, 1939</ref><ref name=Constitution> Template:Cite news</ref>

From The Atlanta Constitution,
Dec. 14, 1939, about playing Belle<ref name=scan/>

"The most difficult part of [the] role is acting between the lines. 'Belle' had so many things to say that could not be said, it was necessary to enact them. That took patience and hard work. I hope I have been able to do what they would not let me say."<ref name=scan/><ref name=Constitution/>

Munson’s career was stalemated by the acclaim of Gone with the Wind; for the remainder of her career, she was typecast in similar roles. In 1940, Munson had an affair with playwright Mercedes de Acosta while working for Republic Pictures in Los Angeles.Template:Sfn Their affair was intense, with Munson once writing to Acosta in a letter: "I long to hold you in my arms and pour my love into you."Template:Sfn

1941–1955: Later years

Munson with Edward G. Robinson performing on Big Town, 1941

She subsequently appeared as Chinese casino owner of dubious repute, Mother Gin Sling, in Josef von Sternberg's film The Shanghai Gesture (1941), in which she was "unrecognizable",Template:Sfn presumably due to the ‘yellowface’ make-up created for her character and others for the film. During production, it was publicized that Munson had planned to marry Federal Housing agent Stewart McDonald.Template:Sfn Though the couple ultimately did not marry, they remained romantically involved through 1942.Template:Sfn Her last film was The Red House, released in 1947.

Munson's work on radio included co-starring (as Lorelei) with Edward G. Robinson on Big Town.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Munson married painter Eugene Berman on January 20, 1950 in Beverly Hills.Template:Sfn

Death

Plagued by ill health stemming from an unnamed surgical procedure,Template:Sfn Munson committed suicide at the age of 51 with an overdose of barbiturates in her apartment in The Belnord on Manhattan's Upper West Side.Template:Sfn Her body was discovered by her husband Berman on the afternoon of February 11, 1955.Template:Sfn A note found next to her bed read: "This is the only way I know to be free again... Please don't follow me."Template:Sfn An autopsy determined that Munson had ingested the barbiturates between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. on February 11.Template:Sfn

She was interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.Template:Sfn Munson posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on the north side of the 6200 block of Hollywood Boulevard.<ref name="hollywood"/>

Posthumous speculations

Historians Billy Harbin and Kim Marra have termed Munson's marriages as "lavender marriages" intended to conceal her bisexuality and affairs with women.Template:Sfn<ref name=fc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Munson has been listed as a member of a group termed the "sewing circle", a clique of lesbians organized by actress Alla Nazimova, who was one of Munson's lovers.Template:Sfn

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
1928	The Head of the Family		Uncredited	Template:Sfn
1930	Going Wild	Ruth Howard		<ref name=afi>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1931	The Hot Heiress	Juliette		<ref name=afi/>
1931	Broadminded	Constance Palmer		<ref name=afi/>
1931	Five Star Final	Kitty Carmody		<ref name=afi/>
1938	His Exciting Night	Anne Baker		<ref name=afi/>
1938	Dramatic School	Student	Uncredited	<ref name=afi/>
1939	Scandal Sheet	Kitty Mulhane		<ref name=afi/>
1939	Legion of Lost Flyers	Martha Wilson		<ref name=afi/>
1939	Gone with the Wind	Belle Watling		Template:Sfn
1939	The Big Guy	Mary Whitlock		<ref name=afi/>
1940	Wagons Westward	Julie O'Conover		<ref name=afi/>
1941	Lady from Louisiana	Julie Mirbeau		Template:Sfn
1941	Wild Geese Calling	Clarabella		<ref name=afi/>
1941	The Shanghai Gesture	'Mother' Gin Sling		Template:Sfn
1942	Drums of the Congo	Dr. Ann Montgomery		<ref name=afi/>
1943	Idaho	Belle Bonner		<ref name=afi/>
1945	The Cheaters	Florie Watson		<ref name=afi/>
1945	Dakota	Jersey Thomas		<ref name=afi/>
1947	The Red House	Mrs. Storm		<ref name=afi/>

Stage credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
1919	George White's Scandals	Another Soubrette	Liberty Theatre	<ref name=pb>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1919	Twinkle, Twinkle	Alice James	Liberty Theatre	<ref name=pb/>
1926	No, No, Nanette	Nanette (replacement)	Globe Theatre	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1927	Manhattan Mary	Mary Brennan	Apollo Theatre	<ref name=pb/>
1928	Hold Everything!	Sue Burke	Broadhurst Theatre	<ref name=pb/>
1933	Hold Your Horses	Marjory Ellis	Winter Garden Theatre	<ref name=pb/>
1935	Petticoat Fever	Clara Wilson	Ritz Theatre	<ref name=pb/>
1935	Ghosts	Regina Engstrand	Empire Theatre	<ref name=pb/>
1952	First Lady	Sophy Prescott	City Center Theatre	<ref name=pb/>

Sources

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External links

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• Photos of Ona Munson from Shanghai Gesture, 1941 Template:Webarchive by Ned Scott
• Ona Munson papers, 1906–1949, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Template:Find a Grave