Lee Marvin

Lee Marvin
Marvin in 1971
Born	(1924-02-19)February 19, 1924 New York City, U.S.
Died	August 29, 1987(1987-08-29) (aged 63) Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Education	Manumit School St. Leo College Preparatory School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950-1986
Spouse(s)	Betty Ebeling ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1967)​ Pamela Feeley ​ ​ (m. 1970;  1987)​
Partner	Michelle Triola (1965-1970)
Children	4
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	United States Marine Corps
Rank	Private First Class
Unit	24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division
Battles / wars	World War II -Battle of Saipan
Awards	Purple Heart Medal

Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 - August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his distinctive voice and premature white hair, Marvin initially appeared in supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers, and other hardboiled characters. A prominent television role was that of Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger in the NBC crime series M Squad (1957-1960).

One of Marvin's most notable film projects was Cat Ballou (1965), a comedy Western in which he played dual roles. For portraying both gunfighter Kid Shelleen and criminal Tim Strawn, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, along with a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, an NBR Award, and the Silver Bear for Best Actor.

Early life

Marvin was born in New York City. He was the son of Lamont Waltman Marvin, an advertising executive and the head of the New York and New England Apple Institute. His mother was Courtenay Washington (née Davidge), a fashion writer and beauty consultant.

As with his elder brother, Robert, he was named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who was his first cousin, four times removed. His father was a direct descendant of Matthew Marvin Sr., who emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England, in 1635, and helped found Hartford, Connecticut.

Marvin studied violin when he was young. As a teenager, Marvin "spent weekends and spare time hunting deer, puma, wild turkey, and bobwhite in the wilds of the then-uncharted Everglades".

He attended Manumit School, a Christian socialist boarding school in Pawling, New York, during the late 1930s, and later attended St. Leo College Preparatory School, a Catholic school in St. Leo, Florida, after being expelled from several other schools for bad behavior.

Military service

World War II

Marvin left school at 18 to enlist in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on August 12, 1942. He served with the 4th Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II. While serving as a member of "I" Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, he was wounded in action on June 18, 1944, during the assault on Mount Tapochau in the Battle of Saipan, during which most of his company were casualties. He was hit by machine gun fire, which severed his sciatic nerve, and then was hit again in the foot by a sniper. After over a year of medical treatment in naval hospitals, Marvin was given a medical discharge with the rank of private first class (he had been a corporal years earlier but had been demoted after causing trouble) in 1945 at Philadelphia.

Marvin's military awards include: the Purple Heart Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal, Combat Action Ribbon.

Acting career

Lee Marvin in "The Grave", a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone

After the war, while working as a plumber's assistant at a local community theatre in upstate New York, Marvin was asked to replace an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals. He then began an amateur off-Broadway acting career in New York City and eventually made it to Broadway with a small role in the original production of Billy Budd.

In 1950, Marvin moved to Hollywood. He found work in supporting roles, and from the beginning was cast in various war films. As a decorated combat veteran, Marvin was a natural in war dramas, where he frequently assisted the director and other actors in realistically portraying infantry movement, arranging costumes, and the use of firearms. His debut was in You're in the Navy Now (1951), and in 1952, he appeared in several films, including Don Siegel's Duel at Silver Creek, Hangman's Knot, and the war drama Eight Iron Men. He played Gloria Grahame's vicious boyfriend in Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953). Marvin had a small but memorable role in The Wild One (1953) opposite Marlon Brando (Marvin's gang in the film was called "The Beetles"), followed by Seminole (1953) and Gun Fury (1953). He also had a notable small role as smart-aleck sailor Meatball in The Caine Mutiny. He had a substantially more important part as Hector, the small-town hood in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) with Spencer Tracy. Also in 1955, he played a conflicted, brutal bank-robber in Violent Saturday. A latter-day critic wrote of the character, "Marvin brings a multi-faceted complexity to the role and gives a great example of the early promise that launched his long and successful career."

During the mid-1950s, Marvin gradually began playing more important roles. He starred in Attack, (1956) and had a supporting role in the Western Seven Men from Now (1956). He also starred in The Missouri Traveler (1958), but over 100 episodes as Chicago cop Frank Ballinger in the successful 1957-1960 television series M Squad were needed to actually give him name recognition. One critic described the show as "a hyped-up, violent Dragnet... with a hard-as-nails Marvin" playing a tough police lieutenant. Marvin received the role after guest-starring in a memorable Dragnet episode as a serial killer.

Marvin in Attack

In the 1960s, Marvin was given prominent supporting roles in such films as The Comancheros (1961), John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and Donovan's Reef (1963), all starring John Wayne, with Marvin's roles getting larger with each film. As the vicious Liberty Valance, Marvin played his first title role and held his own with two of the screen's biggest stars (Wayne and James Stewart).

For director Don Siegel, Marvin appeared in The Killers (1964) playing an efficient professional assassin alongside Clu Gulager. The Killers was also the first film in which Marvin received top billing.

Television series guest appearances he has made include The Untouchables in 1962 episode, "Element of Danger", as well as episodes in Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, and a couple of Bob Hope television specials.

Playing alongside Vivien Leigh and Simone Signoret, Marvin won the 1966 National Board of Review Award for male actors for his role in Ship of Fools (1965). Marvin won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actor for his comic role in the offbeat Western Cat Ballou starring Jane Fonda. He also won the 1965 Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival.

Marvin in 1959 from the set of M Squad

Marvin next performed in the hit Western The Professionals (1966), in which he played the leader of a small band of skilled mercenaries (Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode) rescuing a kidnap victim (Claudia Cardinale) shortly after the Mexican Revolution. He followed that film with the hugely successful World War II epic The Dirty Dozen (1967) in which top-billed Marvin again portrayed an intrepid commander of a colorful group (future stars John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Jim Brown, and Donald Sutherland) performing an almost impossible mission. In the wake of these two films and after having received an Oscar, Marvin was a huge star, given enormous control over his next film Point Blank.

In Point Blank, an influential film for director John Boorman, he portrayed a hard-nosed criminal bent on revenge. Marvin, who had selected Boorman himself for the director's slot, had a central role in the film's development, plot line, and staging. In 1968, Marvin also appeared in another Boorman film, the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful World War II character study Hell in the Pacific, also starring famed Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. John Boorman recounted his work with Lee Marvin on these two films and Marvin's influence on his career in the 1998 documentary Lee Marvin: A Personal Portrait by John Boorman. Marvin was originally cast as Pike Bishop (later played by William Holden) in The Wild Bunch (1969), but fell out with director Sam Peckinpah and pulled out to star in the Western musical Paint Your Wagon (1969), in which he was top-billed over a singing Clint Eastwood. Despite his limited singing ability, he had a hit song with "Wand'rin' Star". By this time, he was getting paid a million dollars per film, $200,000 less than top star Paul Newman was making at the time, yet he was ambivalent about the film business, even with its financial rewards:

"You spend the first forty years of your life trying to get in this business, and the next forty years trying to get out. And then when you're making the bread, who needs it?"

Marvin had a much greater variety of roles in the 1970s and 1980s, with fewer 'bad-guy' roles than in earlier years. His 1970s films included Monte Walsh (1970) with Jeanne Moreau, the violent Prime Cut (1972) with Gene Hackman, Pocket Money (1972) with Paul Newman, Emperor of the North Pole (1973) opposite Ernest Borgnine, as Hickey in The Iceman Cometh (1973) with Fredric March and Robert Ryan, The Spikes Gang (1974) with Noah Beery Jr., The Klansman (1974) with Richard Burton, Shout at the Devil (1976) with Roger Moore, The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976) with Oliver Reed, and Avalanche Express (1978) with Robert Shaw. Marvin was offered the role of Quint in Jaws (1975) but declined, stating "What would I tell my fishing friends who'd see me come off a hero against a dummy shark?".

Marvin's last big role was in Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One (1980), a war film based on Fuller's own war experiences. His remaining films were Death Hunt (1981) with Charles Bronson, Gorky Park (1983), Dog Day (1984), and The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985; a sequel with Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel picking up where they had left off despite being 18 years older); his final appearance was in The Delta Force (1986) with Chuck Norris.

Personal life

During the 1970s, Marvin resided off and on in Woodstock, caring for his dying father, and as a keen fisherman, he used to make regular trips to Australia to engage in fishing for marlin at Cairns and great white shark at Port Fairy. In 1975, Marvin and his second wife Pamela moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he lived until his death.

Marvin was a Democrat who opposed the Vietnam War. He publicly endorsed John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.

Marriages and children

A father of four, Marvin was married twice. His first marriage to Betty Ebeling began in February 1951 and ended in divorce on January 5, 1967; during this time, his hobbies included sport fishing off the Baja California coast and duck hunting along the Mexican border near Mexicali. Ebeling and he had a son, Christopher Lamont (1952-2013), and three daughters: Courtenay Lee (b. 1954), Cynthia Louise (b. 1956), and Claudia Leslie (1958-2012).

Marvin was married to Pamela Feeley from October 18, 1970, until his death.

Gravestone, Arlington National Cemetery

Community property case

See also Marvin v. Marvin

In 1971, Marvin was sued by Michelle Triola, his live-in girlfriend from 1965 to 1970, who legally changed her surname to "Marvin". Although the couple never married, she sought financial compensation similar to that available to spouses under California's alimony and community property laws. Triola claimed Marvin made her pregnant three times and paid for two abortions, while one pregnancy ended in miscarriage. She claimed the second abortion left her unable to bear children. The result was the landmark "palimony" case, Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal. 3d 660 (1976).

In 1979, Marvin was ordered to pay $104,000 to Triola for "rehabilitation purposes", but the court denied her community property claim for one-half of the $3.6 million which Marvin had earned during their six years of cohabitation - distinguishing nonmarital relationship contracts from marriage, with community property rights only attaching to the latter by operation of law. Rights equivalent to community property only apply in nonmarital relationship contracts when the parties expressly, whether orally or in writing, contract for such rights to operate between them. In August 1981, the California Court of Appeal found that no such contract existed between them and nullified the award she had received. Michelle Triola died of lung cancer on October 30, 2009.

This case was used as fodder for a mock debate skit on Saturday Night Live called "Point Counterpoint", and on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as a skit with Carson as Adam, and Betty White as Eve.

Death

In December 1986, Marvin was hospitalized for more than two weeks because of a condition related to coccidioidomycosis. He went into respiratory distress and was administered steroids to help his breathing. He had major intestinal ruptures as a result, and underwent a colostomy. Marvin died of a heart attack on August 29, 1987. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1951	You're in the Navy Now	Radio Man	Uncredited, film debut
	Teresa	G.I.	Uncredited
1952	Diplomatic Courier	MP at Trieste	Uncredited
	We're Not Married!	"Pinky"	Uncredited
	The Duel at Silver Creek	Tinhorn Burgess
	Hangman's Knot	Rolph Bainter
	Eight Iron Men	Sgt. Joe Mooney
1953	Down Among the Sheltering Palms	Pvt. Snively	Uncredited
	Seminole	Sgt. Magruder
	The Glory Brigade	Cpl. Bowman
	The Stranger Wore a Gun	Dan Kurth
	The Big Heat	Vince Stone
	Gun Fury	Blinky
	The Wild One	Chino
1954	Gorilla at Large	Shaughnessy, Policeman
	The Caine Mutiny	"Meatball"
	The Raid	Lt. Keating
1955	Bad Day at Black Rock	Hector David
	Violent Saturday	Dill, Bank Robber
	Not as a Stranger	Brundage
	A Life in the Balance	The Killer
	Pete Kelly's Blues	Al Gannaway
	I Died a Thousand Times	Babe Kossuck
	Shack Out on 101	Slob / Mr. Gregory
1956	Seven Men from Now	Bill Masters	Made by Batjac Productions, John Wayne's company.
	Attack	Lt. Col. Clyde Bartlett
	Pillars of the Sky	Sergeant Lloyd Carracart
	The Rack	Capt. John R. Miller
1957	Raintree County	Orville "Flash" Perkins	Nominated - Laurel Award for Best Male Supporting Performance
1958	The Missouri Traveler	Tobias Brown
1960	Wagon Train	Jose Morales	episode: The Jose Morales Story
1961	The Comancheros	Tully Crow	With John Wayne. Nominated - Laurel Award for Best Male Supporting Performance
	Wagon Train	Jud Benedict	episode: The Christopher Hale Story
	The Twilight Zone	Conny Miller	episode: The Grave
1962	The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance	Liberty Valance	With John Wayne & Jimmy Stewart. Bronze Wrangler for Best Theatrical Motion Picture Nominated - Laurel Award for Best Action Performance
1963	Donovan's Reef	Thomas Aloysius "Boats" Gilhooley	With John Wayne.
	Sergeant Ryker	Sgt. Paul Ryker	Kraft Suspense Theatre
	The Twilight Zone	Sam "Steel" Kelly	episode: Steel
	Bonanza	Peter Kane	episode: The Crucible
1964	The Killers	Charlie Strom	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (also for Cat Ballou) Nominated - Laurel Award for Best Action Performance
1965	Cat Ballou	Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn	Academy Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (also for The Killers) Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Laurel Award for Best Male Comedy Performance National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (also for Ship of Fools) Silver Bear for Best Actor Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
	Ship of Fools	Bill Tenny	National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (also for Cat Ballou)
1966	The Professionals	Henry "Rico" Fardan	Laurel Award for Best Action Performance
1967	The Dirty Dozen	Major John Reisman	Laurel Award for Best Action Performance
	Point Blank	Walker
1968	Hell in the Pacific	American Pilot
1969	Paint Your Wagon	Ben Rumson	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1970	Monte Walsh	Monte Walsh	Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Performer Nominated - Laurel Award for Best Action Performance
	The 27th Annual Golden Globes Awards	Himself (Himself - Nominee: Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy / Musical)	TV special Documentary
	Cinema	Himself	episode: Lee Marvin
1972	Pocket Money	Leonard
	Prime Cut	Nick Devlin
1973	Emperor of the North	A No. 1
	The Iceman Cometh	Hickey
	AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Ford	Himself	TV special Documentary
1974	The Spikes Gang	Harry Spikes
	The Klansman	Sheriff Track Bascomb
1976	Shout at the Devil	Col. Flynn O'Flynn
	The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday	Sam Longwood
1979	Avalanche Express	Col. Harry Wargrave
1980	The Big Red One	The Sergeant
1981	Death Hunt	Millen
1983	Gorky Park	Jack Osborne
1984	Dog Day	Jimmy Cobb
1985	The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission	Maj. John Reisman
1986	The Delta Force	Col. Nick Alexander	(final film role)

Television appearances

Marvin's appearances on television included Suspense (1 episode, 1950), Rebound, M Squad, Climax!, Biff Baker, U.S.A., Dragnet, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Ford Show Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, General Electric Theater, The Americans, The Investigators, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Route 66, The Untouchables, Checkmate, The Dick Powell Show, Combat!, The Twilight Zone, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Dr. Kildare, Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Virginian and The Muppet Show.

See also

• The Sons of Lee Marvin, a tongue-in-cheek secret society dedicated to Marvin
• Welcome to Night Vale, which features Lee Marvin as an integral piece of its mythology and supporting cast.

References

Bibliography

• Bean, Kendra. Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-76245-099-2.
• David, Catherine. Simone Signoret. New York: Overlook Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-87951-581-2.
• Epstein, Dwayne. Lee Marvin: Point Blank. Tucson, Arizona: Schaffner Press, Inc., 2013. ISBN 978-1-93618-240-4.
• Marvin, Pamela. Lee: A Romance. London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1997. ISBN 978-0-571-19028-7.
• Walker, Alexander. Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh. New York: Grove Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8021-3259-6.
• Wise, James E. and Anne Collier Rehill. Stars in the Corps: Movie Actors in the United States Marines. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1999. ISBN 978-1-55750-949-9.
• Zec, Donald. Marvin: The Story of Lee Marvin. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980. ISBN 0-312-51780-7.

External links

• Lee Marvin at IMDb
• Lee Marvin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Profile of Marvin in Film Comment
• Lee Marvin at Find a Grave