John Marston (1890-1962) was a veteran stage and screen actor in New York and Hollywood. He was elected into The Lambs in 1922 as a Professional Member and was a member for 40 years. Marston died in The Lambs clubhouse on West Forty-fourth Street.
He was born John William Maurston in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 21, 1890, son of Fred Maurston and Lena Kellerman.
He was a native of Missouri, where he was a choir boy. He studied for the ministry. Marston’s musical talents led him to the Vaudeville stage where he became a performer and later a song and dance man before reaching stardom. He worked extensively in Chicago and San Francisco before embarking on a Vaudeville career acting, singing, and dancing.
By 1913 Marston was a traveling actor, appearing in far-flung locales such as Rochester, New York. During World War I, he was touring the U.S. in Vaudeville with his act “Storm & Maurston” in a comedy of domestic life, “His Alibi” with Joan Storm, who wrote plays and acted in them.
Among his first roles on a New York stage was “Thumbs Down” (1922) at the old 49th Street Theatre. He played opposite Katharine Cornell in “The Age of Innocence” (1928) which had 207 performances at the Empire Theatre. He was in a dozen Broadway plays.
Among Marston’s more than 50 film credits in the 1930s-1950s included “The Cabin in the Cotton” (1932) with Bette Davis, the villain in “Son of Kong” (1933) the sequel to “King Kong,” “History Is Made at Night” (1937) with Charles Boyer and Jean Arthur, “Union Pacific” (1939), and “Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938) with Lambs James Cagney and Pat O’Brien.
During World War II, Marston worked for the USO as an overseas coordinator.
It’s believed he married his Vaudeville co-star, Joan Storm aka Joan Dezendorf. They divorced in 1916. In 1927 he married Dorothy Frances Howe in Cleveland. They had one daughter, Judith. They lived in Flushing, Queens, where there was an active film community in the 1920s-1930s. In the 1940s they lived in Beverly Hills, California, and then separated by 1950.
John Marston died September 4, 1962, in the Lambs clubhouse residence rooms where he resided. He was 72 years old.