Harry Watson Martin | |
|---|---|
 Martin and Louella Parsons | |
| Born | January 16, 1890 Redfield, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Died | June 24, 1951 (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Urologist |
| Spouses | |
Harry Watson Martin (January 16, 1890 – June 24, 1951) was a urologist and third husband of Louella Parsons.
Harry Martin was the son of Watson Jesse Martin, a dentist, and Annie Amelia Moriarty. He was the younger of two brothers. His paternal grandfather, David D. Martin, was also a physician.[1][2] Harry Martin graduated from John Marshall High School, Chicago and received his M.D. from the University of Illinois, Chicago on June 4, 1912.[3] He served in the Army Medical Corps during World War I.[4]
Martin moved to Los Angeles in 1919. He was a urologist[5] who specialized in the treatment of venereal disease. He became medical director of Twentieth Century Fox studios in 1937. He performed abortions and dispensed stimulant drugs to the actors, as needed, to keep them alert while films were being shot.[6]
On November 1, 1924, Martin married actress Sylvia Breamer at Glenwood Inn in Riverside, California. She divorced him in 1926, complaining that he failed to return home for meals and treated her with complete indifference, while Martin accused her of cruelty.[7]
He married gossip columnist Louella Parsons in 1930; the couple remained together until he died.
Martin died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital of a tropical ailment contracted while he served in the South Pacific with the Army Medical Corps during the Second World War. He had been a hospital patient for several weeks, and had been in a coma for a few days. The cause of the persistent fever from which he died was never diagnosed, although he visited Johns Hopkins Hospital, many other leading clinics, and consulted specialists. With him at his death were his wife and step-daughter, Harriet Parsons, a motion-picture producer.[8]