arion Shockley (10 Oct 1911 – 14 Dec 1981)

Name: some sources naming Marion Marian...
Birth: some sources 10 Oct 1908 or 10 Oct 1910
Height: 5' 1" (1.55 m)
Husband:  George Zachary (Oct 1939 - ca.1945)
Bud Collyer (1946 ¹)
Children ¹:  Patricia Collyer (Mrs. John Zavitz) ('39-40), Cynthia Ann  Collyer ('40-41) and Michael C. Collyer ('42-43)

Even on radio Marion Shockley (1911-1981) was the first actress to portray Nikki Porter , Ellery's secretary and low-key love interest. In the "Gum-Chewing Millionaire" she's a blonde professional typist who gets asked to work on Ellery's manuscripts. She then applies for the job of personal secretary.

As a graduate of the University of Missouri (majoring in history) and proud possesor of a Kappa Alpha Theta pin, she especially took to theatre and was one of the chief attractions of the International Players at the Vancouver theatre. She appeared with Alice White in  Sweethearts On Parade (1930) for Columbia and also in a number of Vanity two-reelers for Educational which included her screendebut  The Freshman's Goat (1930). She co-starred as Tim McCoy's leading lady in the serial "Heroes of the Flames" and Bob Steele's in "Near the Trail's End" (1931), directed by Wallace Fox. This was the last of eight Westerns Steele did for low-budget company Tiffany and the only feature film to co-star Marion Shockley. She is more known for her work in comedy shorts and radio. Offered an acting job with a stock company, she performed in plays as "Believe me, Mr.Xantippe" (March 1934) and "Three Cornered Moon" (1934) in which she played the role Claudette Colbert played in the movie.

Shockley was  the Wampas baby star in 1932 . The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States , which honored thirteen young women each year who they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. They were selected from 1922 to 1934 and honored at a party called the WAMPAS Frolic . Those selected were given extensive media coverage. The awards were not given in 1931 and 1933 and ended after 1934 due to objections from the movie studio s because of its independence.
She debuted in Broadway in George M. Cohan's "Dear Old Darling" (1936). The story suggested melodrama. Wealthty, retired Calvin Miller had been hounded by a sweet girl (Marion Shockley) in her twenties, whom he met on shipboard and who has sent a photograph inscribed "To my dear old darling, with all the love of my heart and soul." Her mother (Theresa Maxwell Conover) appears soon enough, and the two gals prove to be blackmailers. This presents numerous problems for Miller, not the least that he has been courting the Widow Collins (Ruth Shepley). Matters are put in order only just before eleven o'clock. But the play was no melodrama. Indeed, it was billed as "A Comic Experience" but had to settle for a fortnight's stay. (American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969 Gerald Bordman)

On radio she was already heard on "Abie Irish Rose","The Guiding Light", "Road of Life" and "My True Story" when in 1939, at CBS, producer Zachary was gathering his team for the radio version of "The Adventures of Ellery Queen". In order to attract a more female audience, Dannay, Lee and Zachary added a new character to the stories: Ellery's secretary Nikki Porter.
She and George Zachary, the radioseries' producer, were married in October 1939, and Zachary made sure that Nikki was written out of the scripts during the weeks the newlyweds were off on their honeymoon. She played Nikki both opposite Hugh Marlowe and Carleton Young.
She also had a role in  "Stage Door Canteen" (1943). Her first marriage ended soon after the war and in 1946 she was remarried to Clayton 'Bud' Collyer (June 18. 1908 - September 8. 1969) the radiostar who starred in "Superman".  Together they appeared in "Road of Life" and "The Guiding Light" (longest running soap!) and in the 50s made the transition to TV. Collyer as announcer both appearing on radio and tv. His task reading out advertising lines. After her husband died she took up various humanitarian causes.

1 As to the information available the year of their marriage is confirmed by newspaper
  reports (1946) as is the age of the three children. All of which seem indicate that the
  three children are from Bud's first marriage.