Marilyn Knowlden, a luminous child actress who captivated Depression-era Hollywood audiences alongside legends like Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, passed away on September 15th in Eagle, Idaho, at the remarkable age of 99. Her daughter, Carolyn Goates, confirmed her passing at an assisted-living facility.
Marilyn’s incredible journey into film began at just four years old. A casual screen test during a family vacation to Hollywood unexpectedly launched her career. She became known for portraying verbally precocious or exceptionally well-behaved children, appearing in over 30 films—six of which were nominated for Best Picture Oscars.
Her extensive filmography includes notable roles in “Little Women” (1933), where she starred with Ms. Hepburn; “Imitation of Life” (1934), a groundbreaking drama exploring family and racial themes with Claudette Colbert; and “Les Misérables” (1935), in which she was the young Cosette alongside Fredric March and Charles Laughton. She also graced the screen in the celebrated 1935 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” as the earnest young Agnes, in “Anthony Adverse” (1936), and in the romance “All This, and Heaven Too” (1940) alongside Ms. Davis.
One memorable on-set experience saw her attempting archery as Ms. Hepburn’s character’s daughter in the historical drama “A Woman Rebels” (1936). “Katharine Hepburn would give me a dollar if I could hit the bull’s-eye,” Knowlden recalled in a 2015 interview with Nick Thomas. “I never did get my dollar. But I did get a nice autograph: ‘Dear Marilyn, hoping your archery will improve, affectionately, Katharine Hepburn.’ I still have that cherished keepsake.”
Her offscreen anecdotes are just as delightful. In 1931, she met the Marx Brothers on a neighboring set for “Monkey Business.” Chico Marx famously “sat me down at the piano and taught me to play a few notes,” she recounted to Mr. Thomas. “We even played a duet together.” Years later, on the set of “Les Misérables,” she even taught Charles Laughton, in his role as Inspector Javert, a few wooden shoe dance steps.
While she never reached the stratospheric fame of child superstar Shirley Temple, Marilyn Knowlden’s career intersected with hers. They appeared together in “As the Earth Turns” (1934), where Temple had an uncredited role before her rise to fame, and again in “Just Around the Corner” (1938). By this time, Knowlden witnessed firsthand the intense pressures of Temple’s stardom. “It was a little hard on the rest of us because we wanted to play with her, but she was off in her own little bungalow,” Knowlden shared with Cinephiled, lamenting that Temple “didn’t even get to eat with the other kids.”
Crucially, Marilyn’s parents shielded her from the common pitfalls of child stardom. Her father, acting as her manager, intentionally kept her from signing an exclusive studio contract and never even took her to see her own films, fearing it would inflate her ego. This deliberate choice allowed her a unique path. “I was always a freelance actor, so I had complete freedom to choose my roles,” she explained to Mr. Thomas. “If you were under contract like Judy Garland or Shirley Temple, you went to a studio school and really lost your ordinary life. I went to public school, had a very normal life, and then occasionally would go off and make a film.”
Born Marilyn Knowlden on May 12, 1926, in Oakland, California, she was the only child of lawyer Robert E. Knowlden Jr. and Bertha (McKenzie) Knowlden. Her screen test with Paramount Pictures, arranged spontaneously by her father in 1931 during a family trip to Los Angeles, led to her first speaking role that year in “Women Love Once.” Her father soon moved the family to Los Angeles, establishing himself as a talent agent on the famous Hollywood and Vine corner.
Other notable credits in her career include the musical “Show Boat” (1936), the opulent biopic “Marie Antoinette” (1938), and the classic gangster film “Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938), featuring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.
As with many child actors, her career naturally transitioned as she entered her teenage years. She attended Beverly Hills High School and later studied music at Mills College in Oakland for three years. In 1946, she married Richard Goates, a World War II veteran of Merrill’s Marauders, a unit later immortalized in a 1962 film. After settling in Fallbrook, California, Marilyn dedicated her creative talents to music and local theater, writing plays and composing songs. Her autobiography, “Little Girl in Big Pictures,” was published in 2011.
Marilyn is survived by her daughter Carolyn; two sons, Brian and Kevin; a foster daughter, Liz; three grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. She divorced Mr. Goates in 1978 and her second husband, Eliseo Busnardo, whom she married the same year, passed away in 2010.
Reflecting on her prolific childhood, Ms. Knowlden recalled one rare cinematic letdown: her scenes in “Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise),” a 1931 melodrama where Greta Garbo played her governess, were ultimately cut. Afterward, Ms. Garbo offered her some poignant advice that Marilyn carried throughout her life: “In Hollywood, don’t count on anything!”