Karen Morley, who starred in such 1930s films as “Scarface” opposite Paul Muni, with Greta Garbo in “Mata Hari” and with Jean Harlow in “Dinner at Eight” before being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, has died. She was 93. Morley died March 8 of pneumonia at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills. She appeared in about four dozen films, from her first credited role in the 1931 “Inspiration” to her last significant film, the 1951 remake of Fritz Lang’s harrowing 1931 study of a child murderer, “M.” Morley’s favorite remained director Howard Hawks’ “Scarface,” in which she played the stunningly sensual moll Poppy to Muni’s gangster Scarface. The film, shot in 1931 and released in 1932 after extra scrutiny by censors, was considered the most powerful of the 1930s gangster films.
Morley ran for lieutenant governor of New York on the American Labor Party ticket in 1954. The actress had a few guest roles on television series of the 1970s, including “Kojak,” and was much sought after in recent years for documentaries about stars with whom she worked, including Garbo and John Barrymore. She is survived by three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
—She was a terrific actess, I’ve seen a lot of her work. She never made any silents, but was one of the few survivors of the early talkie era . . .
Took me a second to figure out who she was in “Dinner at Eight”. The only choices really were either Harlow’s maid or Billie Burke’s daughter. That’s the only film of hers I’ve seen (and love it to bits.)
Ugh, I won’t start ranting about being blacklisted. How horrid.
Is the Scarface with Al Pacino a remake of the Scarface starring Karen Morely? From the description, it sounds good. The Al Pacino version is unspeakably brutal; maybe a '30s version would be more watchable!
In Dinner at Eight, she played Lucy Talbot, the long-suffering wife of the doctor having an affair with Jean Harlow.
There is no comparison between the 1932 and 1983 Scarfaces! The early one was a brilliant, dark, literate and very racy film (pre-Code). You must see it!
Hijack: I just watched a bio on Harlow and they mentioned that her earlier pre-code films were quite racy. After Hayes got his way, were those films (and others) re-edited?
(I’ve just started to get into classic movies in the last couple years thanks to TCM, so I’m still learning!)
The so-called “Hays” Code was actually slammed into action by demented Catholic priest Joseph Breen in 1934. Jean’s films (and other naughty pre-Code films) were just pulled out of circulation till TV came along years later. And then, yes, they were chopped to bits. It was years till some of the “uncut” versions started turning up.
The NY Times still has not run an obit on her! They got the Last Little Foy and the Laugh-Track Guy, but not Karen Morley. I sent them an e-mail sking if they were planning to cover her, as she was a rather important actress.
. . . Umm, yes, I do have the Times obit section’s e-mail address . . .
I like to watch silent pre-code films, but until I started to do so I was unaware of how “racy” they could be, and how mature some of the themes were.
Try watching “Broken Blossoms” with Lillian Gish, by DW Griffith, and you’ll see what I mean. It’s a film about child abuse and the havoc it wreaks on society as a whole.
And the silent “Ben-Hur” had topless girls throwing flower blossoms and a totally naked slave chained(face in) to the wall of the naval galley that Judah rowed in.
If you see “Way of the Cross” DeMilles first big talkie, there’s a very sensual scene in which a bad girl dances around the good Christian girl, miming the act of lovemaking and running her hands up and down the girls body. And all the good people died, and none of the bad ones got any comeuppance.
To get back to Ms Morley, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any of her films, but maybe I should start trying a few out. the OP intrigued me.
Baker, try to find Downstairs, The Masque of Fu Manchu and Scarface (all 1932). Karen Morley didn’t have major roles in all of them, but they’re probably her best pre-Code films. And Dinner at Eight, of course!
I’m glad they finally gave her an obit—but what a bizarre photo they used, didn’t look at all like her. I’ve promised Anita Page a good Times obit with a nice photo when she dies: “And if I don’t get it, I’m coming back to haunt you,” she says.