She was also beset with personal problems, including the death of her mother in 1926 and the breakdown of her marriage to actor Kenneth Harlan in 1927, which fueled her depression.

She began to abuse alcohol and binge eat, resulting in a weight gain that made it difficult for her to secure acting jobs.

Prevost was born in Sarnia, Ontario, to Hughina Marion (née Bickford) and Arthur "Teddy" Dunn.

Marie's stepfather, who worked as a miner and surveyor, frequently moved the family around the country following up on various get-rich-quick schemes.

After living in Ogden, Utah; Reno, Nevada; and Fresno, California, the family finally settled in Los Angeles.

While running an office errand at the Keystone Studios, Prevost was asked to appear in a bit part for the film His Father's Footsteps.

"[4] As her career was beginning to rise, Prevost married socialite Henry Charles "Sonny" Gerke in June 1918.

[5] Initially cast in minor comedic roles as the sexy, innocent young girl, she worked in numerous films for Sennett's studio.

She scored another success in the 1920 romantic film Love, Honor, and Behave, opposite George O'Hara, another newcomer and Sennett protégé.

By 1921, Prevost wanted to move to another studio, later stating that she left Keystone because Sennett was only interested in making money and was unconcerned with creativity.

Jack Warner also had signed Harlan to a contract and cast the couple in the lead roles in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned.

Director Ernst Lubitsch chose her for a major role opposite Adolphe Menjou in 1924's The Marriage Circle.

Of her performance as the beautiful seductress, Lubitsch said that she was one of the few actresses in Hollywood who knew how to underplay comedy to achieve the maximum effect.

[10] Shortly after she was dismissed by Warner Bros., Prevost's mother Hughina died in an automobile accident in Lordsburg, New Mexico, on February 5, 1926.

Hughina had been traveling to Palm Beach, Florida, with actress Vera Steadman and Hollywood studio owner Al Christie when their vehicle overturned.

[10] Devastated by the loss of her only remaining parent, Prevost began drinking heavily and developed an addiction to alcohol.

Prevost tried to get past her personal torment by burying herself in her work, starring in numerous roles as the temptingly beautiful seductress who in the end was always the honorable heroine.

In 1929, Cecil B. DeMille offered her a co-starring role in his final silent film The Godless Girl, starring Lina Basquette.

In her 1990 autobiography, Basquette recalled that Prevost was not outwardly bitter about losing her leading lady status, stating "Aw, hell, that's the way it is."

In 1931, she played Academy Award winner Helen Hayes' loyal friend in The Sin of Madelon Claudet.

The downward spiral became aggravated when her weight problems forced her into repeated crash dieting to keep whatever bit part a movie studio offered.

News of the marriage was revealed shortly after Jack L. Warner devised a publicity stunt in which he claimed that Prevost and her The Beautiful and Damned co-star Kenneth Harlan would marry on the film's set in real life.

[17] Prevost died on January 21, 1937, at the age of 40, evidently from the combination of acute alcoholism and malnutrition stemming from anorexia nervosa.