By Lookout Staff

January 4, 2011 -- She was a silent film actress and the mistress of one of the most powerful men in America, and the love nest they shared was once called "the biggest house on the beach – the beach between San Diego and Vancouver."

On Sunday, what is left of the beach house will be the site of a celebration of the birthday in 1897 of Marion Davies, actress, philanthropist, famed party hostess and mistress of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

Marion Davies. Photo courtesy of the Beach House

In honor of her birthday, Santa Monica Conservancy docents will turn back the clock at Davies’s 1928 Julia Morgan-designed Guest House at 415 PCH to toast the woman celebrated as the “bubbles in a glass of champagne.”

"Dressed in 1930s attire, docents will highlight many aspects of Davies’s life and personality that have escaped public notice, such as her business abilities, wide-ranging generosity, and her decades-long devotion as companion to Hearst," Conservancy officials said.

After making her first film backed by Hearst in 1918, Davies stared in a score of silent films that revealed a comedienne of uncommon wit and beauty before transitioning smoothly to talking films in the 30s.

During her heyday, Davies and Hearst hosted lavish parties at their beach estate, which featured a mansion of more than 100 rooms and an ornate marble swimming pool.

When Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures folded, Davies retired from the film business and moved to San Simeon, where she devoted herself to being Hearst's "companion."

Davies lived with Hearst, whose wife refused to give him a divorce, for decades. He died in 1952 and Davies entered an unhappy marriage eleven months later. She died of cancer in 1961 after a decade of charity work.

At Sunday's event, guests -- who are encouraged to come in their favorite Gold Coast era attire or dress as if attending one of Davies’s famed costume parties -- are invited to the refurbished guest house between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., with a special tribute at 1:30 p.m.

Space is limited, and a reservation for this free event can be made at happybirthdaymarion.eventbrite.com.

Parking is available for $3 per hour or $7 per day. A photo booth equipped with amusing costume elements will be available for guests’ enjoyment.

The Annenberg Community Beach House is wheelchair accessible and ADA compliant. For disability related accommodations, please call Guest Services at 310-458-4904.