Harry Watson Martin (January 16, 1890 – June 24, 1951) was a

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...

and third husband of

Louella Parsons Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and s ...

Early years and education

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. Harry Martin graduated from John Marshall High School, Chicago and received his M.D. from the

University of Illinois, Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois sy ...

on June 4, 1912. He served in the Army Medical Corps during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Hollywood Physician

Martin moved to Los Angeles in 1919. He was a

who specialized in the treatment of

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...

. He became medical director of

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

studios in 1937. He performed abortions and dispensed stimulant drugs to the actors, as needed, to keep them alert while films were being shot.

Personal life

On November 1, 1924, Martin married actress Sylvia Breamer at Glenwood Inn in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

. 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. He married gossip columnist

in 1930; the couple remained together until he died.

Death

Martin died at

Cedars of Lebanon Hospital Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over ...

of a tropical ailment contracted while he served in the South Pacific with the Army Medical Corps during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. 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 The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 m ...

, many other leading clinics, and consulted specialists. With him at his death were his wife and step-daughter,

Harriet Parsons Harriet Oettinger Parsons (1906 – 1983) was an American film producer, actress, director, and magazine writer; one of the few female producers in the United States at the time. Her mother was famed gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Biography ...

, a motion-picture producer.Dr. Martin is dead. Fox Film official. ''New York Times''. June 25, 1951

Selected publications

* Robert V. Day, M.D.; Harry W. Martin, M.D. Diverticula of the Urinary Bladder. Feature Observations. ''JAMA''. 1925;84(4):268–272 * Harry W. Martin. Injuries of the Posterior Urethra. ''Cal West Med''. Jan 1936; 44(1): 16–20. * Harry W. Martin, M.D.; Rachel E. Arbuthnot, M.D. Spinal Anesthesia. A Review Of More Than Six Thousand Cases In The Los Angeles General Hospital, With Especial Consideration Of Genito-Urinary Operations. ''JAMA''. 1926;87(21):1723–1725. * Harry W. Martin. Ruptured Bladder—A Method of Diagnosis. ''Cal West Med''. Apr 1932; 36(4): 230–232. * Robert V. Day, M.D.; Harry W. Martin, M.D. Vesical Diverticulum. A Feature Study. ''JAMA''. 1939;112(6):509–513. * Robert V. Day and Harry W. Martin. Injuries to The Urinary Organs in Relation to Industrial Accidents. ''Cal West Med''. Jul 1925; 23(7): 849–853. * Harry W. Martin. Cysto-Urethroscopic Resection of the Prostate. ''Cal West Med''. Feb 1932; 36(2): 76–79. * Day, R. V., Martin, H. W., Kutzmann, A. A., & Kessler, E. E. (1938). Sex hormone therapy for prostatism. ''The American Journal of Surgery'', 39(1), 100–103. * Martin, Harry W. "The Treatment Of Bladder Neck Contracture Or Median Bar." ''The Journal of Urology'' (1930): 313.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Harry Watson 1890 births 1951 deaths People from Redfield, South Dakota University of Illinois Chicago alumni United States Army Medical Corps officers American urologists