* Marie chose the stage name of "Marie McDonald" because that was her mother's maiden name. Her mother had once been a showgirl with the Ziegfeld Follies.
* Sometimes she embellished the facts of her life in interviews. Marie once told a reporter she had been born in Vienna.
* Marie loved animals! She had many pets including Duke (a boxer), Muffin (a cairn terrier), Puggins (a cocker spaniel), Cappy (a toy belgian shepard), and a cat named Metro.
* She earned $54,000 in 1946. Marie was very frugal and she rarely bought expensive things.
* In 1942 Marie joined the Hollywood Victory Caravan. She toured the country selling war bonds with Joan Blondell, Cary Grant, and
Bing Crosby.
* Marie was very superstitious and she believed 13 was her lucky number. There were 13 letters in the name Marie McDonald.
* At the height of her popularity Marie received 100,000 fans letters a year.
* In 1954 Marie's leg was badly burned when someone threw a lit cigarette at her during a party.
* Marie collected military insignia from soldiers she met during World War 2.
Getting a gift from a soldier
* She replaced Mamie Van Doren in the 1963 movie Promises! Promises!. Marie did not get along with her costar Jayne Mansfield.
* In 1938 Marie won the national jitterbug contest at Madison Square Garden.
* Two weeks before Marie married Harry Karl her wedding trousseau was destroyed in a fire.
* Marie never dieted and she loved to cook. Her specialty was lemon meringue pie
* Some of the beauty titles Marie held were Miss Yonkers, Miss Loew's Paradise, Queen Of Coney Island, and Miss New York.
* She modeled for illustrator Alex Raymond. Marie was the inspiration for the character of Princess Aura in the Flash Gordon comic strip.
* Marie changed her hair color to red for the movie It's A Pleasure. The film's star Sonja Henie refused to work with another
blonde actress.
* During the 1930's Marie's father, Everett Frye, worked as a warden at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
* Marie was very smart and she liked to read. She often read five books a week.
Backstage after a performance of Born Yesterday
* She auditioned for the role of Billie Dawn in the film Born Yesterday but Judy Holliday got the part. In 1950 Marie appeared in a Los Angeles stage production of Born Yesterday.
* Marie's hobbies included painting, riding horses, and playing golf.
* She was a talented seamstress who made most of her own clothes. Marie preferred to wear white, black, and red.
* Marie was cast in the lead role in the 1941 movie Melody Lane but the director fired her because she was too inexperienced. She was replaced by Anne Gwynne.
* Her best friend was her assistant Jerry Mason. Marie was also close friends with Audrey Totter, Gloria DeHaven, Keenan Wynn, and
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
* Marie wore her own jewelry in the 1958 film The Geisha Boy.
* She was raised a Catholic. Marie insisted that her children be raised Catholic even though their father, Harry Karl, was Jewish.
* After Marie's death her three children were raised by Harry Karl and his new wife Debbie Reynolds. He did not want to take the children but Debbie insisted.
* Marie kept a scrapbook filled with photos and newspaper clippings about herself.
* Between 1957 and 1959 Marie appeared in four episodes of The Steve Allen Show. She also guest starred on The Red Skelton Show, Make Room For Daddy, and The Name's The Same.
