Dutch postcard by DRC, no. 31. Photo: Columbia / MPEA. Sent by mail in 1948.
Italian postcard. Photo: Columbia CEIAD.
One of the best serials ever made
Marguerite Chapman was born in 1918 in Chatham, New York. She grew up a tomboy nicknamed "Slugger" in Chatham with four brothers. She began her professional life as a typist and telephone operator in White Plains. Friends praised her beauty and insisted, "You oughta be in pictures".
She became a model at the John Powers agency in New York City and appeared on the covers of several magazines. When producer Howard Hughes was in New York planning a new film, she went unannounced to Hughes and asked for a chance to be in his picture. He gave her a screen test, which went well.
Though Hughes never made the film, he showed the screen test to a number of Hollywood studio executives. In late 1939, she signed with 20th Century Fox and moved to Hollywood. Her first film was released in 1940, and she worked for the next two years in small roles. She began a contract with Warner Brothers in 1941, then signed with Columbia from 1942 to 1948.
In 1942, she played the female lead in the Republic Pictures film serial Spy Smasher (William Witney, 1942). Like Captain Marvel, the title character, Spy Smasher, played by Kane Richmond, came from the Whiz Comics published by Fawcett. According to English Wikipedia, the 12-part serial "has been ranked among the best serials ever made." In the following years, she played various leading roles in Westerns and War films, often in the B-movie category.
With America's entry in World War II, she entertained the troops, kissed purchasers of large war bonds and worked at the Hollywood Canteen. Chapman was cast as the leading lady in the War film Destroyer (William A. Seiter, Ray Enright, 1943) with Edward G. Robinson and Glenn Ford. She also co-starred in the famous pro-Soviet War film Counter-Attack (Zoltan Korda, 1945), with Paul Muni. They played two Russians trapped in a collapsed building with seven German soldiers during World War II.
Dutch postcard by HEMO.
West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 602. Photo: Columbia. Marguerite Chapman in Relentless (George Sherman, 1948). The German title was Blut und Gold.
Alita from Mars
After the war, Marguerite Chapman co-starred with Robert Young in the unconventional Western Relentless (George Sherman, 1948), which relocated the plot of Alfred Hitchcock's thriller The 39 Steps (1935) to the Western milieu.
She also appeared with Larry Parks in the Adventure film The Gallant Blade (Henry Levin, 1948), with Randolph Scott in the Western Your Time Has Come (Ray Enright, 1948), and with Audie Murphy in the Western Kansas Raiders (Ray Enright, 1950). One of her best-known roles was as the Martian Alita in the Science Fiction film Flight to Mars (Lesley Selander, 1951) with Cameron Mitchell. The following year, she co-starred in the British film The Last Page (Terence Fisher, 1952), starring George Brent.
From then on, she slipped into supporting roles and appeared primarily in television series. Her second-to-last film was Billy Wilder's comedy The Seven Year Itch (1955) starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. She played Ewell's secretary, Miss Morris. Her final film was Edgar G. Ulmer's The Incredible Invisible Man (1960), starring Douglas Kennedy and James Griffith.
In 1960, she was honoured with a star in the television category on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On television, she worked on thirty-five American series between 1953 and 1977, including Rawhide (one episode, 1959) and Hawaii Five-O (one episode, 1975). Her last screen appearance was in an episode of the TV series Barnaby Jones (1977). By then, she had appeared in a total of 76 productions and also appeared occasionally in small theatres.
Outside of acting, Chapman was a painter whose work was featured at the Beverly Hills Art League Gallery. She was also a Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election. Chapman was reportedly asked to audition for the role of 'Old Rose' Dawson-Calvert in the epic Titanic (James Cameron, 1997), but was prevented by poor health, and the role went to Gloria Stuart. Marguerite Chapman died in 1999 in Burbank, California. She was 81. Her grave is in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. She was married and divorced from attorney G. Bentley Ryan and assistant director Richard Bremerkamp.
Italian postcard by Garami, Milano. Photo: Columbia C.E.I.A.D. Marguerite Chapman in The Walls Came Tumbling Down (Lothar Mendes, 1946). The Italian title was E le mura caddero.
Sources: Wikipedia (German, French and English) and IMDb.
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