Fortunio Bonanova and Mona Maris were originally cast as Emporer Louis Napoleon and Empress Eugenie in "The Song of Bernadette," but the scenes were discarded, and were refilmed with Jerome Cowan and Patricia Morison.
Maris was replaced in the cast of hard-luck "Viva Villa" primarily because of co-star Wallae Beery's dissatisfaction with her.
Although she was born 'Maria,' her family nicknamed her Mona, Spanish for "graceful" or "pretty," and she chose the last name of Maris because it reminded her of the sea.
1909 Nobel Prize winner Gugliemo Marconi.the famous Italian radio engineer and radio pioneer, was a friend of her family.