Marion Aye

About Marion Aye

Marion Aye was born Maryon Eloise Aye on April 5, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a lawyer who moved the family to California. She was discovered by Fatty Arbuckle and started her career at Balboa Studios. When she was fifteen Marion lied about her age to elope with cameraman Sherman Plaskett. Sadly he passed away just a year later. After moving to New York City she worked at Bothwell Browne's Revue and became a Mack Sennett bathing beauty. Marion appeared in more than a dozen films including The Hick, Montana Bill, and The Weak-End Party with Stan Laurel. She also starred in a series of Cactus Westerns with Bob Reeves. In 1921 she made headlines when she became the first star to sign a contract with a morality clause in it. The following year was chosen to be one of the first Wampas baby stars along with Colleen Moore and Lois Wilson.

Her second marriage, to press agent Harry Wilson, ended in 1924. That same year Marion appeared in a successful stage production of White Collars. She seemed destined for stardom but her career never took off. Her last movie role was in the 1930 drama Up The River. Marion continued to work on the stage and the radio. Unfortunately she suffered from depression and in 1935 she attempted suicide.

She married actor Robert Forester in 1936, the couple, who never had children, moved in with her parents. Maryon was inconsolable when her mother Eloise died in 1951. Although she had numerous health problems she dreamed of acting again. She auditioned for a television role and was devastated when she didn't get it. On July 10, 1951 she and Ross went house hunting with their dog. That evening they checked into a Culver City motel. Then she swallowed a handful of bi-chloride of mercury tablets. Before passing out she said "I dropped one of the tablets on the floor and I am afraid the dog will get it." Maryon spent eleven days unconscious in the hospital before dying on July 21, 1951. Tragically she had committed suicide at the age of forty-eight. Ross said that she had a "chronic illness" and that he never took her threats of suicide seriously. Her father, James Aye, told police that he believed she was suffering from uremic poisoning. She was buried next to her mother at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California.

Spouses

Ross Forrester(September 22, 1936 - July 21, 1951) (her death)
Harry Wilson(January 23, 1920 - August 1924) (divorced)
Sherman William Plaskett(March 11, 1918 - October 5, 1918) (his death)