Marilyn Knowlden, a prominent child actress of the 1930s and 1940s who appeared in six Academy Award Best Picture nominees, died Monday, September 15, 2025, at age 99. Knowlden passed away from natural causes at an assisted living facility in Eagle, Idaho, according to her son Kevin Goates.
During her Hollywood career spanning 1931 to 1944, Knowlden appeared in more than three dozen films. She collaborated with some of cinema’s most celebrated actresses, including Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne and Norma Shearer, who portrayed her onscreen mothers in “Imitation of Life” (1934), “A Woman Rebels” (1936), “Show Boat” (1936) and “Marie Antoinette” (1938), respectively.
Knowlden told author Nick Thomas in 2016 that “a special relationship can develop with the actress who plays a child’s mother, even if that bond is temporary.” Her notable performances included a turn as a younger version of Ann Sheridan’s character in Michael Curtiz’s “Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938), starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.
The six Best Picture nominees in which she appeared were “Little Women” (1933), “Imitation of Life” (1934), “Les Misérables” (1935), “David Copperfield” (1935), “Anthony Adverse” (1936) and “All This, and Heaven Too” (1940). In George Cukor’s “David Copperfield,” she portrayed Lewis Stone’s piano-playing daughter alongside Freddie Bartholomew. None of these films won the top Oscar.
Born May 12, 1926, in Oakland, California, Knowlden was an only child whose career began during a family business trip to Hollywood in 1931. Her father, San Francisco attorney Robert Knowlden Jr., brought his wife Bertha and daughter along when he had business in the entertainment capital.
Knowlden recalled that her father decided to contact studios after her acting teacher in Oakland suggested she should be in movies. He reached Paramount head of casting Fred Datig, who arranged an interview that day. Although Datig initially thought Knowlden was too young for the role of Paul Lukas’ and Eleanor Boardman’s daughter in “Women Love Once” (1931), she demonstrated her ability to handle extensive dialogue and was hired the next day.
Hours after learning she got the job, Knowlden was involved in a car crash in front of the Vitaphone Studios lot in Los Feliz. Actress Dolores Costello, wife of John Barrymore, assisted Knowlden at the scene. While Knowlden was only bruised, her mother suffered three broken ribs and a broken collarbone.
“Women Love Once” proved to be the first of six films she completed in 1931, followed by “The Cisco Kid,” “Husband’s Holiday,” “Susan Lenox” with Clark Gable and Greta Garbo, “Wicked” and “Once a Lady.”
Knowlden worked as a freelancer throughout her career, never signing a studio contract. She explained to Danny Miller in a 2018 interview that her father controlled her career and preferred she remain independent. She indicated that contracted child actors had to attend studio schools, which would have eliminated her normal life.
Her collaboration with Hepburn began in 1933 with “Morning Glory” and Cukor’s “Little Women.” In “A Woman Rebels,” she used a bow and arrow in scenes with Hepburn. The actress promised Knowlden a dollar if she could hit a bull’s-eye and later signed an autograph expressing hope that her archery would improve. Knowlden told Miller she cherished the autograph, particularly after learning how rarely Hepburn gave autographs.
She shared roles with Rochelle Hudson in John M. Stahl’s “Imitation of Life” and Richard Boleslawski’s “Les Misérables” (1935). Knowlden indicated that she rarely had to audition, usually going only to interviews where she was already being seriously considered for parts.
Her filmography included two movies with Shirley Temple: “As the Earth Turns” (1934) and “Just Around the Corner” (1938). Other credits included “The World Changes” (1933), “Rainbow on the River” (1936), “The Way of All Flesh” (1940) and “Broadway Rhythm” (1944), her final feature film. She was considered for the role of Carreen, Scarlett O’Hara’s youngest sister, in “Gone With the Wind” (1939) but lost the part to Ann Rutherford.
After her acting career, Knowlden graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1943 and received a scholarship to Mills College in Oakland. In 1946, she married serviceman Richard Goates and accompanied him to China and Japan, where she worked for the Armed Forces Radio Service. She wrote music, lyrics and scripts for several musicals before returning to acting through San Diego County stage productions including “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “Sorry, Wrong Number” and “My Fair Lady.”
Knowlden published her autobiography, “Little Girl in Big Pictures,” in 2011. She is survived by her daughter Carolyn, sons Kevin and Brian, three grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. A private funeral will be held September 27 in Idaho.
