Marion Fairbanks

Marion and her twin sister Madeline Fairbanks were born on November 15, 1900 in New York City. Their mother, 'Jennie (known professionally as Jane) Fairbanks' was also an actress and their father was the son of a Civil War veteran. The twins began their career on the stage in such productions as "Alias Jimmy Valentine", "Mother", "Salomy Jane", "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" and coutless others before they entered films with Biograph circa 1910. They joined the Thanhouser Film Corporation in 1912 where they were known as "The Thanhouser Twins", and remained there until 1916. Their time was divided between stage and screen and in 1917 they began a run of several years with the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1923, Madeline decided to pursue dramatic roles, while Marion continued in musical revues, touring in the title role with the "Little Nellie Kelly" company in 1924. By this time however, the girls were anxious to reunite and they were rejoined on the stage in George White's "Scandals". In 1927 Marion married former Yale football star 'McCormick Steele', but within a few years the marriage had turned sour, and was a favorite topic for the gossip columns. They divorced and she married Ray Smith. This union also ended in divorce, and she married for a third and final time, to William Delph. She succeeded 'Eleanor King' as the leading lady in "Whistling in the Dark" at the Waldorf Theatre in New York City in 1932. But by the mid-thirties she was slowing down considerably in her acting career, turning instead to the beauty industry, opening a beauty parlor and directing a branch of a cosmetics company. In her later years she suffered from many problems, including addiction to alcohol. Marion Fairbanks died on September 20, 1973 at the age of 72. Having no children, her sister Madeline was her only survivor.