Ben Lyon was a charismatic and appealing film personality of the 1930s, with a boyish charm that captivated audiences in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Despite never achieving top-tier stardom, he enjoyed enduring success and recognition in both his film and stage careers.
Born Benjamin Lyon Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia, to a family of German Jewish immigrants, Ben was the youngest of four children. His father, Benjamin Bethel "Ben" Lyon, was a pianist-turned-businessman, and his mother, Alvine Valentine (Wiseberg) Lyon, was a homemaker. Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Ben developed a passion for performing at a young age, participating in amateur productions as a teenager before making his mark on Broadway opposite stars such as Jeanne Eagels.
Hollywood took notice of the charming young actor, and soon he was starring in films opposite some of the most iconic leading ladies of the silent era. He appeared alongside Pola Negri in Lily of the Dust (1924),Gloria Swanson in Wages of Virtue (1924),Barbara La Marr in The White Moth (1924),Mary Astor in The Pace That Thrills (1925),and Claudette Colbert in For the Love of Mike (1927).
Ben's transition to talkies was seamless, and he quickly established himself as a dashing leading man. He was particularly notable for his role as the hero in Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930),in which he actually piloted his own plane and filmed some of the aerial scenes himself. That same year, he married Paramount Pictures film star Bebe Daniels, with whom he had appeared in Alias French Gertie (1930).
As both their film careers began to decline, the talented couple decided to work together on a husband-and-wife music hall and vaudeville act. They took their show to England, where they became a hit at the London Palladium. During World War II, Ben served in the U.S. Army Air Force, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel in charge of Special Services for the U.S. Air Corps in England. He and Bebe also entertained the troops with their popular BBC broadcast "Hi, Gang!" and continued to perform on stage throughout the war.
After the war, the couple returned to Hollywood, where Ben took an executive position with Fox. However, they soon returned to England and headlined another popular radio show, "Life with the Lyons," which spawned two family-styled films featuring their children, Barbara Lyon and Richard Lyon. Bebe suffered multiple strokes in the early 1960s and retired from the limelight, passing away in 1971. Ben remarried to former actress Marian Nixon and settled in the United States, where he died in 1979 of a heart attack while on vacation.
