Marilyn Harris (actress)

Marilyn Harris (1924 – 1999) was an American child actress in several Hollywood productions of the 1930s. She was always best remembered for her role as 'Little Maria' in the classic horror film Frankenstein (1931). In arguably the film's most memorable scene, she meets the fugitive monster (played by Boris Karloff) beside a riverbank and charms the monster with her innocence, humanity and friendship, something which he had not experienced with previously hostile, mistrusting adults. A children's game is however tragically misinterpreted by the monster, and he ends up throwing Little Maria into the river, unintentionally drowning her and turning the surrounding village's population into a lynch mob, baying for revenge after the child's body is found. The shot of Maria being thrown into the water was cut from original prints and only restored in the 1980s.

Harris later played teenage roles in a handful of films in the 1940s before leaving the profession; she died from cancer and heart failure.

Bibliography

• Parla, Paul; Charles P. Mitchell (2000). "Marilyn Harris: Flower Girl from Frankenstein". Screen Sirens Scream! Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s. Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland. pp. 115–122. ISBN 0-7864-0701-8. 

External links

Biography portal

• Marilyn Harris at the Internet Movie Database
• Marilyn Harris at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Harris
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1924
Place of birth
Date of death	1999
Place of death