Bebe Daniels
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Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 - March 16, 1971) was a United States actress. She started out in Hollywood in the silent movie era and later starred on radio and television in England.
She was born as Phyllis Daniels in Dallas, Texas. Her father was a theater manager, and her mother a stage actress. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in her childhood.
Career
Daniels first appeared on film at the age of 8. For a time she went by the name Virginia Daniels. She was hired by Hal Roach studio in 1915. Her early roles varied from slapstick comedy to "bathing beauty" appearances. She appeared in a number of comedies opposite Harold Lloyd, with whom she was linked romantically for a time. In the 1920s, she was under contract with Paramount Pictures. Paramont dropped her contract with the advent of talking pictures, but Daniels made a hit in the 1929 talkie Rio Rita, in which she sang as well. Her later notable Hollywood films included 42nd Street.
She retired from Hollywood in 1935.
With her husband, film actor Ben Lyon, she moved to London in 1936. A few years later, Daniels starred in the London production of Panama Hattie in the title role originated by Ethel Merman. The Lyons then did radio shows for the BBC. Most notably, they starred in the series Hi Gang, continuing for decades and enjoying considerable popularity during World War II. The pair starred in the radio sitcom Life With The Lyons (1951 to 1961), which later made the transition to television.
Bebe Daniels died of a stroke in London at the age of 70. Her remains were cremated at London's Golders Green Crematorium and the ashes brought home where she is interred with her husband, Ben Lyon, in the Chapel columbarium at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.