First discovered by Laura MacGillivray, the wife of Actors Equity president Frank Gillmore, Owen appeared on Broadway in the 1920s through early 1930s in productions including The Mountain Man, The Whole Town's Talking, Trelawny of the Wells, The Love City and The Play's the Thing. In 1925, Owen was acclaimed as one of the ten most beautiful women in the world.[2][3]
Owen married Milton F. Davis Jr., son of Brigadier General Milton F. Davis, in 1934. The marriage ended in divorce in March 1937.[1] On June 5, 1937, Owen married advertising executive Homer P. Metzger in New York City.[4] The couple had one son, Robert Owen Metzger, born in October 1939.[1][5]
Owen's likeness was drawn in caricature by Alex Gard for Sardi's, the New York City theater district restaurant. The picture is now part of the collection at the New York Public Library.[6]
Death
On September 3, 1965, Owen suffered a stroke at her New York City home. She was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital where she slipped into a coma. She died there on September 7 at the age of 65.[1]
Bradley, Edwin M. The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co, 1996.
Lennig, Arthur. The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
"Catherine D. Owen Plans her Bridal", The New York Times, December 12, 1934
"To Sue Milton Davis, Jr. Catherine Dale Owen in Nevada for Divorce Action Soon", The New York Times, February 11, 1937
Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Golden Girls of MGM: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, and Others. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003.
Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Leading Men of MGM. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2005.
