William Moulton Marston
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About
American psychologist who, with his wife Elizabeth Holloway, invented an early prototype of the lie detector. He was also known as a self-help author and comic book writer who created the character Wonder Woman.
Before Fame
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University and earned his degree from there in psychology in 1921. While a student at Harvard, he sold his first script, The Thief, to filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché. After teaching at American University in Washington, D.C., and Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, he traveled to Universal Studios in California in 1929, where he spent a year as director of public services and taught at the University of Southern California.
Trivia
His wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and their polygamous life partner Olive Byrne greatly influenced Wonder Woman's creation. He appeared as a salesman in ads for Gillette Razors, using a polygraph motif. Based on his psychological work, he believed that women were more honest than men in certain situations and could work faster and more accurately.
Family Life
He was born in the Cliftondale section of Saugus, Massachusetts. He had two children each with both his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and partner Olive Byrne. Byrne stayed home to take care of all four children. Marjorie Wilkes Huntley was a third woman who occasionally lived with them.
Associated With
It was his wife Elizabeth who came up with the idea of a female superhero. Marston then took the idea to Max Gaines, co-founder with Jack Liebowitz of All-American Publications. Marston then created Wonder Woman under his pseudonym Charles Moulton. In the 2017 biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, he is played by Luke Evans.
