Marie Wood

born: 19 December 1908 Fort Worth, Texas, United States of America

died: 24 August 2002 [last residence] Hemet, California, United States of America (age 93)

Blonde American actress who worked for Hal Roach, Al Christie, and Universal, among other studios. Her surname was occasionally spelled Woods (plural), but Wood (singular) is the correct spelling. She was later a singer under her second married name of Marie Collier. Her parents were Lula G. (née Truman; 1886-1973) and Lee Caster Wood (1885-1964); she had one sister, Anona Lee (Wood) Cox/Trowbridge/Burpee (1905-1992). On 31 January 1927, 18-year old motion picture actress Marie Belle Wood married 21-year old actor Charles George Boyle (1906-1963); the union evidently didn't last long, as Marie is single and living with her mother in the 1930 Census, working as an "artist" for a motion picture studio. In February 1931, papers reported that Marie and Detroit baseball player Gerald P. Clements had filed a notice of intention to wed, but this union ultimately may not have gone through. In October 1934, Marie married musician-cum-fireman Berwin Frederick Thomson (1905-1970), from whom she was granted a divorce in June 1936. Marie then married Joe/Jodie Frey Collier (1900-1982) on 30 August 1938; she filed for and was granted a divorce from Collier in April 1941. As a singer, she often performed and worked in tandem with singer and voice instructor Prof. Alexander Karkov (1893-1952), whom she married in August 1952. Two months later, they were to open a voice training studio in Reno, Nevada, but that month, Prof. Karkov suddenly passed away. In 1963, Marie B. (Wood) Karkov married William M. Miller (1908-1982, per Ancestry tree); she was Marie B. Miller at the time of her passing in 2002.

Real name: Marie Belle Wood

Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

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1926 The Merry Widower Crowd extra Acknowledgements: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M23C-24W (1910 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH1R-GKV (1920 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8Z6-3VZ (1927 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H94B-YB6Z (1927 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCV3-7BC (1930 Census) https://venturacogensoc.org/dadabik/index.php?tablename=marriages&function=details&where_field=marriages_ID&where_value=21252 (1938 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9CC-D8Y (1940 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6LM-ZLC (1963 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6G7-PX6 (1963 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JG7V-N3T (Social Security Death Index) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K44-C15Y (Social Security Numident File) "Family Trees" (Ancestry.com) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/682823852/ (Hollywood Daily Citizen, 10 Apr 1924) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380619189/ (Los Angeles Times, 23 Jun 1924) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/700259335/ (Venice Evening Vanguard, 14 Aug 1924) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/700259531/ (Venice Evening Vanguard, 21 Aug 1924) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/678098974/ (Los Angeles Record, 12 Dec 1924) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAEVEX19260119-02.1.10 (Los Angeles Evening Express, 19 Jan 1926) https://digitalcollections.oscars.org/digital/collection/p15759coll35/id/5033/rec/12 (The Standard Casting Directory, Mar 1926) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DNLA19260409.1.14 (Illustrated Daily News [Los Angeles, CA], 09 Apr 1926) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19260410.1.5 (Los Angeles Evening Herald, 10 Apr 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/678327643/ (Los Angeles Record, 20 Apr 1926) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DNLA19260421.1.12 (Illustrated Daily News [Los Angeles, CA], 21 Apr 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/678328575/ (Los Angeles Record, 24 Apr 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/683024105/ (Hollywood Daily Citizen, 24 Aug 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380417894/ (Los Angeles Times, 08 Feb 1927) "Kelts' Geographical Directory: Los Angeles, September, 1927, Vol. 1": BARTON -- 5950¾ -- Wood Marie -- HE 9972 (same phone no. given in Standard ads) https://archive.org/details/universalweekly100movi_1/page/33/mode/1up?q=%22marie+wood%22&view=theater (Universal Weekly, 11 Feb 1928) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/608474324/ (Los Angeles Evening Express, 03 Sep 1928) https://archive.org/details/photoplay3839movi/page/n208/mode/1up?q=%22marie+wood%22&view=theater (Photoplay, Aug 1930) https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?date=1931-02-18&keyword=%22marie+wood%22+%22clements%22&sort=paper-date-asc (articles on would-be Clements marriage, 18 Feb 1931) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380458206/ (Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr 1931) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19341019.1.23 (San Bernardino Daily Sun, 19 Oct 1934) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19341027.1.19 (San Bernardino Daily Sun, 27 Oct 1934) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380463248/ (Los Angeles Times, 09 Apr 1936) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380367588/ (Los Angeles Times, 18 Jun 1936) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/624320767/ (Ventura County Star-Free Press, 24 Aug 1938) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/624321968/ (Ventura County Star-Free Press, 02 Sep 1938) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380861138/ (Los Angeles Times, 06 Mar 1941) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380758769/ (Los Angeles Times, 01 Apr 1941) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19510128.1.18 (Press Democrat [Santa Rosa, CA], 28 Jan 1951) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/148382366/ (Reno Evening Gazette, 13 Aug 1952) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/148390591/ (Reno Evening Gazette, 14 Oct 1952) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/148391479/ (Reno Evening Gazette, 18 Oct 1952) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1010448775/ (Nevada State Journal, 19 Oct 1952) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19521020.1.1 (Press Democrat [Santa Rosa, CA], 20 Oct 1952) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19521021.1.10 (Press Democrat [Santa Rosa, CA], 21 Oct 1952) 1926 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Marie actor r842 N Milton 1927 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Marie actor h4614 Oakwood av 1927 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Lula G r4614 Oakwood av 1929 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Marie B actor r5053 Sunset blvd 1929 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Lula G Mrs h5053 Sunset blvd 1930 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Marie actor r238 N Gramercy pl 1930 L.A. City Dir.: Wood Lula G (wid L C) h238 N Gramercy pl Jesse Brisson (bio notes and research; identification in The Merry Widower) This page was last updated on: 09 April 2025