Ona Munson

Career overview

Ona Munson was an American actress born on June 16, 1903, in Portland, Oregon. She initially gained fame on Broadway as a singing and dancing ingenue in the original production of No, No, Nanette. During the 1920s, she continued her stage work, introducing the song You're the Cream in My Coffee in the 1927 Broadway musical Hold Everything. Following her success on stage, Munson established a career in New York radio and theater throughout the 1930s. Her first starring film role occurred in the 1930 Warner Brothers production Going Wild. Although the film was originally intended to be a musical, the musical numbers were removed before its release due to a public decline in interest for the genre.

Munson resumed her film career in the late 1930s. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of the character Belle Watling in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, produced by David O. Selznick. Throughout her professional life, she accumulated 22 known acting credits. Munson died on February 11, 1955, at the age of 51. Reports indicate that she had been suffering from poor health in her final years and died by suicide via an overdose of sleeping pills.