As a fan of Marion Davies, I’ve grown to resent finding references to her being William Randolph Hearst’s girlfriend every time I read about her in magazines, newspapers, or online articles. I get the same resentment when I read an article about Norma Shearer and find references to her being Irving Thalberg’s wife. Marion was a delightful, live actress with the rare combination of talent, beauty, and sex appeal.

Marion came to promise in Broadway productions, making her way up to becoming one of Florenz Ziegfeld’s follies. After starting her film career in 1917, she became one of the most popular stars in motion pictures in the early 1920s, with what seemed to be a very promising career as the Queen of the Movies. As her films increased in quality, her popularity dipped off and never quite fully recovered.

Today, we, through Turner Classic Movies, can watch these movies from the perspective of, “why in the hell was no one going to see these films? They’re wonderful!” But, unfortunately, that was not the mindset of moviegoers in the 1930s.

In every film I’ve seen her in, Marion’s charm shines through every performance and always remains true. She has a more genuine care-free attitude than Joan Crawford, some of that breezy Jean Harlow outlook, a sense of humor that rivals that of Lucille Ball, but with a hint of slight sadness in her eyes like Norma Shearer.

She has enjoyed a terrific come-back within the past two decades. And, as more and more viewers tune into Turner Classic Movies, it is unlikely that Marion Davies will be going anywhere anytime soon.