Marilyn Knowlden, a captivating child actress from the Depression era who graced the silver screen alongside Hollywood giants such as Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, passed away on September 15th in Eagle, Idaho, at the remarkable age of 99.
Her daughter, Carolyn Goates, confirmed that she died peacefully at an assisted-living facility.
Knowlden’s remarkable film journey began at just four years old, sparked by a spontaneous screen test during a family visit to Hollywood. She soon became known for her roles as intelligent and well-behaved children, appearing in over 30 films that spanned both dramatic and whimsical genres. Six of these productions even earned nominations for the coveted best-picture Oscar.
Among her notable credits were the 1933 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women,’ co-starring Katharine Hepburn; ‘Imitation of Life’ (1934), a groundbreaking drama exploring themes of family and race with Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers; and ‘Les Misérables’ (1935), where she portrayed the young Cosette alongside Fredric March and Charles Laughton. She also appeared as the earnest young Agnes in the 1935 cinematic version of Charles Dickens’s ‘David Copperfield’ (with Madge Evans playing the adult role), ‘Anthony Adverse’ (1936) with Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland, and the 1940 romance ‘All This, and Heaven Too,’ starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer.
Marilyn Knowlden as Agnes in the 1935 screen version of ‘David Copperfield.’ She often played supporting roles as verbally advanced or well-behaved children.
While filming the 1936 historical drama ‘A Woman Rebels,’ where she played Katharine Hepburn’s character’s daughter, Knowlden fondly recalled her attempts to master the bow and arrow for a scene. She told interviewer Nick Thomas in 2015, “Ms. Hepburn offered me a dollar if I could hit the bull’s-eye. I never managed to get my dollar, but I did receive a lovely autograph: ‘Dear Marilyn, hoping your archery will improve, affectionately, Katharine Hepburn.’ I still treasure it.”
Beyond the cameras, she had memorable encounters, including meeting the Marx Brothers in 1931 while they were filming ‘Monkey Business.’ Chico Marx, she recounted to Thomas, ‘sat me down at the piano and taught me a few notes. We even played a duet together.’
Four years later, on the set of ‘Les Misérables,’ she even taught Charles Laughton, who played Inspector Javert, some dance steps. “He was wearing his hip-length boots, and I was wearing wooden shoes, and I taught him a little wooden shoe dance,” she shared.
Though she never reached the superstar status of Shirley Temple, the dominant child actress of that era, their paths intersected professionally. This included the 1934 drama ‘As the Earth Turns,’ a story about an immigrant farm family in Maine, where Temple made an uncredited appearance just before her rise to fame as a cheerful song-and-dance sensation.
Knowlden later worked with Temple again in ‘Just Around the Corner’ (1938), and by then, with Temple’s stardom firmly established, Knowlden witnessed firsthand the intense pressures that came with being a major child star.
“It was a bit tough on the rest of us because we wanted to play with her, but she was always kept separate in her own private bungalow,” Knowlden revealed to the film site Cinephiled. “She didn’t even get to eat with the other kids.”
In stark contrast, Knowlden’s parents deliberately kept her grounded, never even taking her to see her own films, fearing it might inflate her ego. Her father, who also managed her career, ensured she was never tied down by an exclusive studio contract.
Knowlden in a scene from the 1936 film musical ‘Show Boat’ with Irene Dunne and Allan Jones.
This approach meant, “I was always a freelance actor, so I had complete freedom to choose my roles,” she explained to Thomas. “If you were under contract like Judy Garland or Shirley Temple, you attended a studio school and truly lost your ordinary life. I went to public school, had a very normal life, and then occasionally would go off and make a film.”
Marilyn Knowlden was born on May 12, 1926, in Oakland, California, the only child of lawyer Robert E. Knowlden Jr. and Bertha (McKenzie) Knowlden.
In 1931, during a business trip to Los Angeles, her father impulsively contacted Paramount Pictures about a screen test for Marilyn. She secured one the very next day and soon landed a small speaking role as the daughter of Paul Lukas and Eleanor Boardman in ‘Women Love Once,’ released later that year. She went on to make at least four more films for various studios in 1931 alone, sometimes without credit.
Her father subsequently relocated the family to Los Angeles and established himself as a talent agent, setting up his office on the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine.
Other notable films in Knowlden’s career included the musical adaptation of ‘Show Boat’ (1936), featuring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, and Paul Robeson; the grand biopic ‘Marie Antoinette’ (1938) with Norma Shearer; and the gritty gangster film ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ (1938), starring James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, and Humphrey Bogart.
Knowlden alongside Katharine Hepburn in ‘A Woman Rebels’ (1936). She humorously recounted how Hepburn offered her a dollar to master archery on set, but she never collected the prize. Instead, she received a cherished autograph: ‘Dear Marilyn, hoping your archery will improve, affectionately, Katharine Hepburn.’
Like many child performers, her career gradually faded as she entered her teenage years. She graduated from Beverly Hills High School before dedicating three years to music studies at Mills College in Oakland. In 1946, she left college to marry Richard Goates, a World War II veteran who served with Merrill’s Marauders, a jungle-warfare combat unit that later became the subject of a 1962 film.
After settling in Fallbrook, California, Knowlden channelled her creative spirit into music and theater, writing plays and composing songs for local productions. Her autobiography, ‘Little Girl in Big Pictures,’ was published in 2011.
Marilyn Knowlden’s compelling memoir was released in 2016.
She is survived by her daughter Carolyn, two sons, Brian and Kevin, a foster daughter, Liz, three grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. Her marriage to Mr. Goates ended in divorce in 1978. She later married Eliseo Busnardo in 1978, who passed away in 2010.
Knowlden did recall one minor career disappointment: her scenes in ‘Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise),’ a 1931 melodrama where Greta Garbo played her governess, were cut from the final film.
Following this, she shared that Garbo offered her some sage advice that she held onto throughout her life: ‘In Hollywood, don’t count on anything!’