Lynn Merrick Real name: Marilyn Merrick Llewelling or Mary Lewelling 1921 - 2007 | (Courtesy of Jack Tillmany) |
(From Old Corral collection) Above - Lynn Merrick in a crop from a lobby card from the Don Barry DEAD MAN'S GULCH (Republic, 1943). (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above - pressbook ad for TWO GUN SHERIFF (Republic, 1941) which was released in April, 1941 and was the first of sixteen oaters that Merrick did with Don Barry. (From Old Corral collection) Above are Lynn Merrick and Don Barry in a lobby card from DAYS OF OLD CHEYENNE (Republic, 1943). |
Her mother Alverda had several siblings, including two sisters that became movie actresses. Grace McClure, stage name of "Linda March", did a few films including child roles in some silents. She died in a 1933 automobile accident in California. Oldest sister Ruth became "Adrienne Ames", and appeared in about thirty movies in the 1930s. Ames was married and divorced from actor Bruce Cabot, and after her film career ended, she settled in New York City as a radio commentator.
According to Jack Mathis' book, Republic Confidential, Volume 2, The Players (Jack Mathis Advertising, 1992), Merrick's term player contract(s) at Republic Pictures ran for two years, from March 31, 1941 through March 30, 1943.
... she appears in THROWING A PARTY, a July 1941 Warner Bros. 2-reeler, part of their Blue Ribbon Comedies series. I suspect this had actually been filmed the year before when she was working at Warners in TIL WE MEET AGAIN and FLIGHT ANGELS (both 1940), since it boasts an all Warner Bros. cast. Her last Hollywood film, Columbia's I LOVE TROUBLE, was completed in the summer of 1947, but not released until 1948. Her final film appearance in ESCAPE FROM TERROR (1954) is a real curiosity. Jackie Coogan produced and starred in it; it was filmed in Denmark, apparently while Lynn was in Europe; Gabriel Dell also found his way into it. It got sparse bookings, and the only review I found said it was not good at all.
After Hollywood, she worked in the New York fashion industry and served as an executive director for the Barbizon School of Modeling from 1967 to 1974.
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(From Old Corral collection) In the above lobby card from THE SOMBRERO KID (Republic, 1942), John James has his arms around Lynn Merrick and on the right are Don Barry and Bob McKenzie, the father of western movie heroine Fay McKenzie. (From Old Corral collection) Don Barry's western series for Republic Pictures consisted of 29 films released during 1940 - 1944, and pretty Lynn Merrick did heroine duty in sixteen. Above is a photo of a lobby card from FUGITIVE FROM SONORA (Republic, 1943) showing Lynn with hero Don Barry who has his sixgun on baddie Ethan Laidlaw. FUGITIVE FROM SONORA was released in July, 1943 but filming occurred in March, 1943. It was the finale of Lynn's sixteen B westerns with Barry ... and was her last film under her 1941 - 1943 Republic contract(s). |
Family trees on ancestry.com as well as various records have Lynn's parents as Alverda Jane McClure (1905 - 1949?) and Truman E. Llewelling / Lewelling (1903 - 1987).
But the trail is confusing due to last name variations which I've color coded as follows: Llewelling Lewelling Llewellyn / Lewellyn |
Lynn Merrick's grandparents, mother, aunts, uncles.
1910 census has Lynn's mother Alverda McClure living in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. Family members are 39 year old Sam H. Mc Clure (born Texas; occupation "Stationary Engineer"), his 33 year old wife Flora P. (born Kentucky), 6 year old daughter Ruth (born Texas), 5 year old daughter Alverda (born Texas), 3 year old son Sam Hugh (born Texas), and 2 year old son Joe (born Texas): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M23C-T22
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Two of Lynn's aunts (her mother Alverda's
sisters) became Hollywood actresses. Alverda's sister Gladys used a screen name of "Linda March", and she passed away in a 1933 automobile accident:
Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for Gladys MacClure [sic]: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531522/ Alverda's sister Ruth is the more famous. She became actress "Adrienne Ames", was married and divorced from actor Bruce Cabot, and wound up as a radio commentator in New York City:
Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for Adrienne Ames: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0024669/ |
More on Lynn Merrick and her mother and father.
and there's two birth certificates on Lynn and confusion with the spelling of surname Llewelling / Lewelling
Ancestry.com had the birth certificate for Lynn. She was born Mary Lewelling on November 19, 1921 at St. Joseph's Inf., Fort Worth, Texas to 19 year old T. E. Lewelling (occupation "Laborer") and 16 year old Alberta [sic] McClure (occupation "Housewife").
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Newspaper death notices and Find A Grave on Lynn Merrick.
The Los Angeles Times death notice for Lynn Merrick / Marilyn Merrick Llewelling: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-02-me-merrick2-story.html
Find A Grave website notes that Merrick was cremated and ashes scattered at sea: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18679379/lynn-merrick |
Newspaper clippings on Lynn's marriages and divorces.
December, 1945 - Lynn Merrick (Marilyn Llewellyn) marries actor Conrad Nagel in New Jersey: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79358011/actress-lynn-merrick-and-actor-conrad/
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Links
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Lynn Merrick: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0581218/ The Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen website includes timelines and more details on Lynn Merrick's film and personal life: http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/428/Lynn+Merrick/index.html YouTube has a few Lynn Merrick films: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22lynn+merrick%22 |