19th and 20th century actors and actresses
List activity
720 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
158 people
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
James Albert Varney, Jr. was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to Nancy Louise (Howard) and James Albert Varney, Sr. He became interested in theater as a teenager, winning state titles in drama competitions while a student at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky. At age 15 he played Ebeneezer Scrooge in a local children's theater production of "A Christmas Carol", and by 17 was performing professionally in nightclubs and coffee houses. He chose Nashville rather than New York or Los Angeles as a place to pursue his acting career and, with advertising executive John R. Cherry III, turned "Ernest P. Worrell" into a cash cow, making commercials for clients ranging from soft drinks to food stores and, eventually, Disney. Even though Ernest's catchphrase "KnowhutImean?" became a national craze almost immediately, Jim worked in TV and film for more than a decade before his famous alter-ego hit the big screen in Ernest Goes to Camp (1987).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Enduring, strong-featured, and genial star of US cinema, Burt Reynolds started off in T.V. westerns in the 1960s and then carved his name into 1970s/1980s popular culture, as a sex symbol (posing nearly naked for "Cosmopolitan" magazine), and on-screen as both a rugged action figure and then as a wisecracking, Southern type of "good ol' boy."
Burton Leon Reynolds was born in Lansing, Michigan. He was the son of Harriette Fernette "Fern" (Miller) and Burton Milo Reynolds, who was in the army. After World War II, his family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida, where his father was chief of police, and where Burt excelled as an athlete and played with Florida State University. He became an All Star Southern Conference halfback (and was earmarked by the Baltimore Colts) before a knee injury and a car accident ended his football career. Midway through college he dropped out and headed to New York with aspirations of becoming an actor. There he worked in restaurants and clubs while pulling the odd TV spot or theatre role.
He was spotted in a New York City production of "Mister Roberts," signed to a TV contract, and eventually had recurring roles in such shows as Gunsmoke (1955), Riverboat (1959) and his own series, Hawk (1966).
Reynolds continued to appear in undemanding western roles, often playing a character of half Native American descent, in films such as Navajo Joe (1966), 100 Rifles (1969) and Sam Whiskey (1969). However, it was his tough-guy performance as macho Lewis Medlock in the John Boorman backwoods nightmare Deliverance (1972) that really stamped him as a bona-fide star. Reynolds' popularity continued to soar with his appearance as a no-nonsense private investigator in Shamus (1973) and in the Woody Allen comedy Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972). Building further on his image as a Southern boy who outsmarts the local lawmen, Reynolds packed fans into theaters to see him in White Lightning (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975) and Gator (1976).
At this time, ex-stuntman and longtime Reynolds buddy Hal Needham came to him with a "road film" script. It turned out to be the incredibly popular Smokey and the Bandit (1977) with Sally Field and Jerry Reed, which took in over $100 million at the box office. That film's success was followed by Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). Reynolds also appeared alongside Kris Kristofferson in the hit football film Semi-Tough (1977), with friend Dom DeLuise in the black comedy The End (1978) (which Reynolds directed), in the stunt-laden buddy film Hooper (1978) and then in the self-indulgent, star-packed road race flick The Cannonball Run (1981).
The early 1980s started off well with a strong performance in the violent police film Sharky's Machine (1981), which he also directed, and he starred with Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and with fellow macho superstar Clint Eastwood in the coolly received City Heat (1984). However, other projects such as Stroker Ace (1983), Stick (1985) and Paternity (1981) failed to catch fire with fans and Reynolds quickly found himself falling out of popularity with movie audiences. In the late 1980s he appeared in only a handful of films, mostly below average, before television came to the rescue and he shone again in two very popular TV shows, B.L. Stryker (1989) and Evening Shade (1990), for which he won an Emmy. In 1988, Burt and his then-wife, actress Loni Anderson, had a son, Quinton A. Reynolds (aka Quinton Anderson Reynolds), whom they adopted.
He was back on screen, but still the roles weren't grabbing the public's attention, until his terrific performance as a drunken politician in the otherwise woeful Striptease (1996) and then another tremendous showing as a charming, porn director in Boogie Nights (1997), which scored him a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Like the phoenix from the ashes, Reynolds resurrected his popularity and, in the process, gathered a new generation of young fans, many of whom had been unfamiliar with his 1970s film roles. He then put in entertaining work in Pups (1999), Mystery, Alaska (1999), Driven (2001) and Time of the Wolf (2002). Definitely one of Hollywood's most resilient stars, Reynolds continually surprised all with his ability to weather both personal and career hurdles and his almost 60 years in front of the cameras were testament to his staying ability, his acting talent and his appeal to film audiences.
Burt Reynolds died of cardiac arrest on September 6, 2018, in Jupiter, Florida, U.S. He was eighty two.- Actor
- Production Manager
- Stunts
Discovered by a casting magazine "Dramalogue" for the role of mindless killer Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982), Richard Brooker also gained the supporting role of the warrior Oghris in "Deathstalker" (1983). It was the only acting experience of Brooker, who later started creating completely a different professional career.
Born in 1954, Richard Brooker was originally from the UK, where he was a son of C.S.M.I. (Canadian forces school of Military Intelligence) of the British Cavalry. He was also an avid polo player and sailor. He has performed as a trapeze artist and stage manager in a circus throughout the world and trained and performed with horses. Later he trained horses again for stunts and stunt coordination and worked in all areas of television and film production.
At the end of 1980s, Brooker quit his acting career and became a technical and production manager, and also an independent producer, mainly for Polo Championships, Horse shows, Fox Sports and many others. In the period 1999-2002, he was executive in Charge Of Production for six daily shows, produced in Digital Television for AENTV (Alternative Entertainment Network) based in Los Angeles, California. He also directed 42 episodes of 1993 TV Series "Bill Nye the Science Guy".
Richard Brooker died from an apparent sudden heart attack in Los Angeles on April 8, 2013 at age 58.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Betsy Palmer was probably best known for playing Jason Voorhees' mother in the horror film Friday the 13th (1980), but her career as an actress began many years before.
Palmer was born Patricia Betsy Hrunek in East Chicago, Indiana, to Marie (née Love), who launched the Chicago Business College, and Rudolph Vincent Hrunek, a Czech-born industrial chemist. Palmer played a young female officer opposite Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts (1955), and appeared in another war film the same year, The Long Gray Line (1955). Throughout the late 1950s, Palmer was recognized as a news reporter on Today (1952) on NBC, then became largely involved in television. She remained in made-for-TV films and notable guest appearances, before playing the murderous avenging mother, Mrs. Voorhees, in the horror film Friday the 13th (1980). She also continued working in television, and appearing in low-budget films like The Fear: Resurrection (1999). Palmer spent her later years between her home in New York City and Sedona, Arizona.
Betsy Palmer died of natural causes on a Friday, May 29, 2015, at a hospice care center in Danbury, Connecticut.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and go to work in a department store. The store used her as a model in its newspaper ads. She had no film aspirations until she appeared in short advertising film at that same department store while she was still a teenager. Erik A. Petschler, a comedy director, saw the film and gave her a small part in his Luffar-Petter (1922). Encouraged by her own performance, she applied for and won a scholarship to a Swedish drama school. While there she appeared in at least one film, En lyckoriddare (1921). Both were small parts, but it was a start. Finally famed Swedish director Mauritz Stiller pulled her from the drama school for the lead role in The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924). At 18 Greta was on a roll.
Following The Joyless Street (1925) both Greta and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM, and her first film for the studio was the American-made Torrent (1926), a silent film in which she didn't have to speak a word of English. After a few more films, including The Temptress (1926), Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928), Greta starred in Anna Christie (1930) (her first "talkie"), which not only gave her a powerful screen presence but also garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress (she didn't win). Later that year she filmed Romance (1930), which was somewhat of a letdown, but she bounced back in 1931, landing another lead role in Mata Hari (1931), which turned out to be a major hit.
Greta continued to give intense performances in whatever was handed her. The next year she was cast in what turned out to be yet another hit, Grand Hotel (1932). However, it was in MGM's Anna Karenina (1935) that she gave what some consider the performance of her life. She was absolutely breathtaking in the role as a woman torn between two lovers and her son. Shortly afterwards, she starred in the historical drama Queen Christina (1933) playing the title character to great acclaim. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the romantic drama Camille (1936), again playing the title character. Her career suffered a setback the following year in Conquest (1937), which was a box office disaster. She later made a comeback when she starred in Ninotchka (1939), which showcased her comedic side. It wasn't until two years later she made what was to be her last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), another comedy. But the film drew controversy and was condemned by the Catholic Church and other groups and was a box office failure, which left Garbo shaken.
After World War II Greta, by her own admission, felt that the world had changed perhaps forever and she retired, never again to face the camera. She would work for the rest of her life to perpetuate the Garbo mystique. Her films, she felt, had their proper place in history and would gain in value. She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with some of the world's best-known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and others. She spent time gardening and raising flowers and vegetables. In 1954 Greta was given a special Oscar for past unforgettable performances. She even penned her biography in 1990.
On April 15, 1990, Greta died of natural causes in New York and with her went the "Garbo Mystique". She was 84.2130 points- Dale Fuller was born on 17 June 1885 in Santa Ana, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Twentieth Century (1934) and The Sacred Flame (1929). She died on 14 October 1948 in Pomona, California, USA.1320 points
- Actress
- Soundtrack
A prominent German film actress born on 30 September 1887 at Madiven, Java, the daughter of a forest ranger in the service of the Dutch authorities. Sent at the age of ten to Baden-Baden to study, she later entered the cinema thanks to her marriage in 1917 to the actor Fritz Dagover who was 25 years her senior. They divorced in 1919 but not before he had introduced her to director Robert Wiene and other notables of German cinema. She made her screen debut in Fritz Lang's Harakiri (1919). Immediately after she appeared in Wiene's classic expressionist film, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (aka The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)). Apart from three trips -- one to Sweden in 1927, another to France in 1928-9 and one to Hollywood in 1931 -- most of Lil Dagover's career and fate was linked to that of the German cinema, where her role was usually that of the frail, menaced heroine. She continued to star in a great number of films during the Nazi era. Among her best performances were her roles in Congress Dances (1931), in Gerhard Lamprecht's The Higher Command (1935) and in Veit Harlan's The Kreutzer Sonata (1937). She also acted in the Deutsches Theatre Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, at forces shows and at war theaters. At one time, she was reported to have been a close friend of Adolf Hitler. In 1944, she received the War Merits Cross. Dagover continued her career in post-war Germany, playing many supporting parts until the late 1970s.1241 points- Kathryn McGuire was born on 6 December 1903 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924) and The Big Diamond Robbery (1929). She was married to George Landy. She died on 10 October 1978 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1224 points
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Yvette Guilbert was born on 20 January 1865 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Faust (1926), The Two Orphans (1933) and Iceland Fisherman (1934). She was married to Max Schiller. She died on 3 February 1944 in Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.1220 points- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Marion Davies was one of the great comedic actresses of the silent era and into the 1930s.
Marion Cecelia Douras was born in the borough of Brooklyn, New York on January 3, 1897, the daughter of Rose (Reilly) and Bernard J. Douras, a lawyer and judge. Her parents were both of Irish descent. Marion had been bitten by the show biz bug early as she watched her sisters perform in local stage productions. She wanted to do the same. As Marion got older, she tried out for various school plays and did fairly well. Once her formal education had ended, Marion began her career as a chorus girl in New York City, first in the pony follies, and eventually found herself in the famed Ziegfeld Follies. But she wanted to do more than dance. Acting, to Marion, was the epitome of show business and aimed her sights in that direction. Her stage name came when she and her family passed the Davies Insurance Building. One of her sisters called out "Davies!!! That shall be my stage name", and the whole family took on that name.
Her first film was Runaway Romany (1917), when she was 20. Written by Marion and directed by her brother-in-law, the film wasn't exactly a box-office smash, but for Marion, it was a start and a stepping stone to bigger things. The following year Marion starred in two films, The Burden of Proof (1918) and Cecilia of the Pink Roses (1918). The latter film was backed by newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst. When Marion moved to California, she already was involved with Hearst. They lived together at his San Simeon castle, an extremely elaborate mansion which stands as a California landmark to this day. At San Simeon, they threw grand parties, many of them in costume. Frequent guests included Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Sonja Henie, and Dolores Del Río - basically all the top names in Hollywood and other celebrities including the mayor of New York City, President Calvin Coolidge, and Charles Lindbergh. Davies and Hearst would continue a long-term romantic relationship for the next 30 years. Because of Hearst's newspaper empire, Marion would be promoted as no actress before her.
She appeared in numerous films over the next few years, with The Cinema Murder (1919) being one of the most suspenseful. In 1922, Marion appeared as Mary Tudor in the historical romantic epic, When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922). It was a film into which Hearst poured in millions of dollars as a showcase for her. Although Marion didn't normally appear in period pieces, she turned in a wonderful performance, and the film turned a profit. Marion remained busy, one of the staples in movie houses around the country. At the end of the twenties, it was obvious that sound films were about to replace silents. Marion was nervous because she had a stutter when she became excited and worried she wouldn't make a successful transition to the new medium, but she was a true professional who had no problem with the change. Time after time, film after film, Marion turned in masterful performances. In 1930, two of her better films were Not So Dumb (1930) and The Florodora Girl (1930). By the early 1930s, Marion had lost her box office appeal and the downward slide began.
Had she been without Hearst's backing, she possibly could have been more successful. He was more of a hindrance than a help. Hearst had tried to push MGM executives to hire Marion for the role of Elizabeth Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934). Louis B. Mayer had other ideas and hired producer Irving Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer instead. Hearst reacted by pulling his newspaper support for MGM without much impact. By the late 1930s Hearst was suffering financial reversals and it was Marion who bailed him out by selling $1 million of her jewelry. Without her, the Hearst Corporation might not be where it is today. Hearst's financial problems also spelled an end to her career. Although she had made the transition to sound, other stars fared better, and her roles became fewer and further between. In 1937, a 40-year-old Marion filmed her last movie, Ever Since Eve (1937). Out of films and with the intense pressures of her relationship with Hearst, Davies turned more and more to alcohol. Despite those problems, Marion was a very sharp and savvy business woman.
When Hearst died in 1951, Marion did not really know what was going on. The night before, there had been a lot of people in the house. Marion was very upset by the large crowd of family and friends. She said it was too noisy, and they were disturbing Hearst by talking so loud. She was upset and had to be sedated. When she woke, her niece, Patricia Van Cleve Lake, and her husband, Arthur Lake, told her that Hearst was dead. Upon Patricia's death, it was revealed she had been the love child of Davies and Hearst. Marion was banned from Hearst's funeral.
She later started many charities including a children's clinic that is still operating today. She was very generous and was loved by everyone who knew her. She went through a lot, even getting polio in the 1940s. Marion married for the first time at the age of 54, to Horace Brown. The union would last until she died of cancer on September 22, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. She was 64 years old.1219 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
She won a beauty contest at age fourteen. In 1920 her mother, Edith Shearer, took Norma and her sister Athole Shearer (Mrs. Howard Hawks) to New York. Ziegfeld rejected her for his "Follies," but she got work as an extra in several movies. She spent much money on eye doctor's services trying to correct her cross-eyed stare caused by a muscle weakness. Irving Thalberg had seen her early acting efforts and, when he joined Louis B. Mayer in 1923, gave her a five year contract. He thought she should retire after their marriage, but she wanted bigger parts. In 1927, she insisted on firing the director Viktor Tourjansky because he was unsure of her cross-eyed stare. Her first talkie was in The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929); four movies later, she won an Oscar in The Divorcee (1930). She intentionally cut down film exposure during the 1930s, relying on major roles in Thalberg's prestige projects: The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) and Romeo and Juliet (1936) (her fifth Oscar nomination). Thalberg died of a second heart attack in September, 1936, at age 37. Norma wanted to retire, but MGM more-or-less forced her into a six-picture contract. David O. Selznick offered her the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), but public objection to her cross-eyed stare killed the deal. She starred in The Women (1939), turned down the starring role in Mrs. Miniver (1942), and retired in 1942. Later that year she married Sun Valley ski instructor Martin Arrouge, eleven years younger than she (he waived community property rights). From then on, she shunned the limelight; she was in very poor health the last decade of her life.1176 points- Edna Purviance began working as a stenographer in San Francisco. Charles Chaplin invited her to join him at Essanay Studio in 1915, the year of her film debut in Chaplin's His Night Out. Over the next seven years she appeared as his leading lady in over 20 Chaplin films made by Essanay, Mutual, and First National, including the classics The Tramp (1915), The Immigrant (1917), Easy Street (1917), The Kid (1921), and The Idle Class (1921). As a repayment for years of work with him, Chaplin intended real stardom for her with A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923). The movie was a commercial failure though it advanced the career of Adolphe Menjou. She remained on Chaplin's payroll until her death, her last two appearances being non-speaking extra parts in his Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952).1127 points
- Actress
- Producer
- Costume Designer
Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Svensson in Chicago, Illinois. She was destined to be perhaps one of the biggest stars of the silent movie era. Her personality and antics in private definitely made her a favorite with America's movie-going public. Gloria certainly didn't intend on going into show business. After her formal education in the Chicago school system and elsewhere, she began work in a department store as a salesclerk. In 1915, at the age of 18, she decided to go to a Chicago movie studio with an aunt to see how motion pictures were made. She was plucked out of the crowd, because of her beauty, to be included as a bit player in the film The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket (1915). In her next film, she was an extra also, when she appeared in At the End of a Perfect Day (1915). After another uncredited role, Gloria got a more substantial role in Sweedie Goes to College (1915). In 1916, she first appeared with future husband Wallace Beery. Once married, the two pulled up stakes in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles to the film colony of Hollywood. Once out west, Gloria continued her torrid pace in films. She seemed to be in hit after hit in such films as The Pullman Bride (1917), Shifting Sands (1918), and Don't Change Your Husband (1919). By the time of the latter, Gloria had divorced Beery and was remarried, but it was not to be her last marriage, as she collected a total of six husbands. By the middle 1920s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. It has been said that Gloria made and spent over $8 million in the '20s alone. That, along with the six marriages she had, kept the fans spellbound with her escapades for over 60 years. They just couldn't get enough of her. Gloria was 30 when the sound revolution hit, and there was speculation as to whether she could adapt. She did. In 1928, she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role of Sadie Thompson in the film of the same name but lost to Janet Gaynor for 3 different films. The following year, she again was nominated for the same award in The Trespasser (1929). This time, she lost out to Norma Shearer in The Divorcee (1930). By the 1930s, Gloria pared back her work with only four films during that time. She had taken a hiatus from film work after 1934's Music in the Air (1934) and would not be seen again until Father Takes a Wife (1941). That was to be it until 1950, when she starred in Sunset Blvd. (1950) as Norma Desmond opposite William Holden. She played a movie actress who was all but washed up. The movie was a box office smash and earned her a third Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, but she lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950). The film is considered one of the best in the history of film and, on June 16, 1998, was named one of the top 100 films of all time by the American Film Institute, placing 12th. After a few more films in the 1950s, Gloria more or less retired. Throughout the 1960s, she appeared mostly on television. Her last fling with the silver screen was Airport 1975 (1974), wherein she played herself. Gloria died on April 4, 1983, in New York City at the age of 84. There was never anyone like her, before or since.1108 points- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Lillian Diana Gish was born on October 14, 1893, in Springfield, Ohio. Her father, James Lee Gish, was an alcoholic who caroused, was rarely at home, and left the family to, more or less, fend for themselves. To help make ends meet, Lillian, her sister Dorothy Gish, and their mother, Mary Gish, a.k.a. Mary Robinson McConnell, tried their hand at acting in local productions. Lillian was six years old when she first appeared in front of an audience. For the next 13 years, she and Dorothy appeared before stage audiences with great success. Had she not made her way into films, Lillian quite possibly could have been one of the great stage actresses of all time; however, she found her way onto the big screen when, in 1912, she met famed director D.W. Griffith. Impressed with what he saw, he immediately cast her in her first film, An Unseen Enemy (1912), followed by The One She Loved (1912) and My Baby (1912). She would make 12 films for Griffith in 1912. With 25 films in the next two years, Lillian's exposure to the public was so great that she fast became one of the top stars in the industry, right alongside Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart".
In 1915, Lillian starred as Elsie Stoneman in Griffith's most ambitious project to date, The Birth of a Nation (1915). She was not making the large number of films that she had been in the beginning because she was successful and popular enough to be able to pick and choose the right films to appear in. The following year, she appeared in another Griffith classic, Intolerance (1916). By the early 1920s, her career was on its way down. As with anything else, be it sports or politics, new faces appeared on the scene to replace the "old", and Lillian was no different. In fact, she did not appear at all on the screen in 1922, 1925 or 1929. However, 1926 was her busiest year of the decade with roles in La Bohème (1926) and The Scarlet Letter (1926). As the decade wound to a close, "talkies" were replacing silent films. However, Lillian was not idle during her time away from the screen. She appeared in stage productions, to the acclaim of the public and critics alike. In 1933, she filmed His Double Life (1933), but did not make another film for nine years.
When she returned in 1943, she appeared in two big-budget pictures, Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942) and Top Man (1943). Although these roles did not bring her the attention she had had in her early career, Lillian still proved she could hold her own with the best of them. She earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role of Laura Belle McCanles in Duel in the Sun (1946), but lost to Anne Baxter in The Razor's Edge (1946).
One of the most critically acclaimed roles of her career came in the thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955), also notable as the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton. In 1969, she published her autobiography, "The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me". In 1987, she made what was to be her last motion picture, The Whales of August (1987), a box-office success that exposed her to a new generation of fans. Her 75-year career is almost unbeatable in any field, let alone the film industry. On February 27, 1993, at age 99, Lillian Gish died peacefully in her sleep at her Manhattan apartment in New York City. She never married.1087 points- Curly-locked, cherubic knockabout comedienne of the silent cinema. Her mother, portrait photographer Mrs. Kemp Raulston, named her after her favorite actress, Jobyna Howland. She harbored ambitions for her daughter to achieve similar fame and trained her to that end. After a failed teenage marriage to a local farmer, Jobyna left her Tennessee home and went to New York in 1919 to join the Ned Wayburn dancing academy, a popular springboard for aspiring actresses.
In 1920, she appeared first on screen in Reelcraft "Cuckoo" comedy shorts made in Jacksonville, FL. Around this time she also co-starred in Humor Risk (1921), which marked the film debut of The Marx Brothers, and is now considered a lost film. The following year she made her one Broadway appearance in "Two Little Girls in Blue" by George M. Cohan. Deciding that comedy was her forte, she went to Hollywood in 1922, starting as an extra with Hal Roach. She was cast in a rare dramatic role in The Call of Home (1922), then partnered with French comedian Max Linder and subsequently starred in Roach's James Parrott comedies. When Harold Lloyd became aware of her talent, he picked her as his leading lady, succeeding his wife-to-be Mildred Davis. By that time, Jobyna had already been in 60 one-reel comedy shorts for Hal Roach. She proceeded to star in six of Lloyd's features, of which Why Worry? (1923), The Freshman (1925) and The Kid Brother (1927) are standouts for her ability to combine considerable comedic talent with pathos. Of her performance in Girl Shy (1924), "Variety" commented (April 2) "Jobyna Ralston . . . proves herself considerable of an actress [sic] in addition to being decidedly pretty". In 1927 "Joby" was cast in a featured role in the Academy Award-winning drama Wings (1927), whose star, Richard Arlen, she married in January of that year (she eventually divorced Arlen in 1945 on the grounds of desertion, obtaining a $250,000 settlement). As a freelance comedienne she appeared in leading roles opposite stars like Eddie Cantor, Charles Ray and Buck Jones.
Jobyna also starred with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in an obscure Frank Capra melodrama, The Power of the Press (1928). She made just three talkies, The College Coquette (1929), Rough Waters (1930) (her co-star being Rin Tin Tin!) and Sheer Luck (1931). In regard to the first, the New York Times (August 26, 1929) declared that "Miss Ralston's utterances are frequently indistinct". Indeed, Jobyna was found to have a noticeable lisp which, combined with her impending pregnancy, effectively put an end to her career as a motion picture actress.1074 points - Touted by contemporary studio publicity as a 'native Parisian', Marcelle was in fact born in Brussels on January 8 1890. Her father, who was most definitely French, had her packed off to be educated at private schools in Paris and Geneva. She began her acting career on stage in her home town before moving to Paris where she delighted audiences as an ensemble member of Jacques Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. The financier and producer Otto Kahn eventually took over the company and brought the troupe to New York with a portfolio of twenty-five plays. They were to be featured at the Garrick Theatre in midtown Manhattan, which had been leased to Kahn in 1916. By 1924, the brunette, grey-eyed, somewhat regal looking actress had made her way to California for her feature film debut, perhaps at the behest of Kahn who was himself enamoured with Hollywood. Over the next 24 years, Marcelle would appear numerous times as (usually French) governesses, maids, concierges and nurses. By the mid 30's, her roles had shifted to mostly unbilled bits. Nonetheless, she stuck around as a freelance supporting player until leaving the business in 1952. She spent her remaining life in California and died at Newport Beach in June 1971 at the age of 81.1051 points
- Actress
- Script and Continuity Department
Trained as a ballet dancer she turned to acting. Stage work at Det ny Teater and Det kongelige Teater without much success. Started acting in films in 1917 with much more appeal. In her silent film career, she worked with some of the worlds most prominent directors. Her low key but intense acting made her characters very believable. After a long hiatus, she reappeared in 1942 in small parts.1032 points- Actress
- Writer
Greta Schröder was a German actress. She is best known for the role of Thomas Hutter's wife in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. In the fictionalized 2000 film, Shadow of the Vampire, she is portrayed as having been a famous actress during the making of Nosferatu, but in fact she was little known.
The peak of her career was during the 1920s, and she continued to act well into the 1950s, but by the 1930s her roles had diminished to only occasional appearances.
Greta Schröder died on 8 June 1980 at the age of 87.998 points- Born Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova, one of six children of Vladimir Baklanoff and his wife Alexandra, later billed as the Russian Tigress in her early talking films, was born August 19, 1893. She graduated from the Cherniavsky Institute in Moscow prior to her selection in 1912 at age 19 to apprentice at the Moscow Art Theatre. During her early years at M.A.T. (1914-1918) she appeared in perhaps 18 films bringing her into contact with Tourjansky, Boleslawski and M. Chekov among others. Her last Russian film, Bread (1918) was the first communist agitprop vehicle. From 1917 she appeared in the "classics" on the parent stage and at the M.A.T. First Studio. Her mentor, Nemirovich-Danchenko, showcased her in avant-garde productions of the newly created M.A.T. Musical Studio from 1920-1925. She was honored with the Worthy Artist Of The Republic by the Soviet regime.
Eight months after her M.A.T. New York debut in December 1925, she declined to return with the M.A.T. company to Russia and subsequently defected. She was noticed by the Hollywood studios while performing on stage in Los Angeles in The Miracle in the role of the nun. Her film debut was a bit in The Dove (1927). Her dramatic Portrayals in The Man Who Laughs (1928), Street of Sin (1928), The Docks of New York (1928) and Forgotten Faces (1928) brought her critical acclaim in 1928. Her subsequent vamp/tramp roles in early Paramount and Fox talking films nearly destroyed her promising start. Stagey mannerisms and a heavy accent relegated her to supporting roles. She appeared to advantage in three films at MGM including the infamous Freaks (1932) with an unrestrained and legendary performance.
After appearing in west coast stage productions in 1931-32, she permanently left for the Broadway stage in 1933 following one last film at Paramount. From 1933 to 1943 she starred in various Broadway productions and then toured in road companies of Cat And The Fiddle, Twentieth Century, Grand Hotel and Idiot's Delight. She debuted on the London stage in 1936 in Going Places. One last big role in Claudia (1943) kept her busy for two years (1941-1943). She returned to Hollywood in 1943 to recreate her stage role. Some summer stock and occasional night club appearances followed as she moved into retirement.
During the mid-1960s Olga was interviewed by Richard Lamparski, Kevin Brownlow and John Kobal who all recognized her unique contributions in the performing arts. Her death occurred at Vevey, Switzerland on September 6, 1974 after a period of declining health.994 points - Josephine Crowell was a Canadian-born character actress. She appeared in vaudeville as early as 1879. On screen, she is best remembered for her dramatic portrayal of the mother in D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), her comedic performances in Harold Lloyd's Speedy (1928) and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's Wrong Again (1929). She also played a succession of queens and princesses in such films as Main Street (1923), Mantrap (1926), The King of Kings (1927) and The Man Who Laughs (1928).990 points
- Born in Bad Kissingen, Germany, in 1885, Hanna Ralph made her stage debut in 1913 and her film debut in 1917. She was quite active in silent films, and worked for such directors as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau, and at one point was married to Emil Jannings (they later divorced). She made her final film, The Unholy Intruders (1952), in 1952. She died in Berlin, Germany, in 1978.975 points
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Georgia Theodora Hale was born on June 27, 1900 in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her parents were George Washington Hale and Laura Imbrie, and her two older sisters were Eugenia and Helen. Soon, her family moved to Illinois. In 1922, she won a beauty contest in Chicago and despite strong disapproval from her father, she used the award money to go to New York City to break into theater. Unsuccessful, she left New York for Hollywood. She immediately found work as a bit player in By Divine Right (1924), and she danced in the chorus of Vanity's Price (1924). Josef von Sternberg was an assistant director on both of these films, and he gave Georgia her first break came when he cast her for the film that he directed titled The Salvation Hunters (1925). It was from this picture that Charles Chaplin hired her to play the Georgia, the dance-hall girl who wins Charlie's heart, in The Gold Rush (1925). With a very successful film, Georgia became an instant celebrity and was signed by Paramount Pictures. Her big film with Paramount was The Great Gatsby (1926) where she played the role of Myrtle Wilson. But her career never went anywhere and her last silent picture would be the film The Last Moment (1928). Deemed unsuitable for talkies, she was one of the first to be released in 1931. She found solace in Christian Science. She never married and remained loyal to Chaplin, who had her on his payroll on-and-off until 1953. She ran a dance school for a while. She also wrote her two versions of her autobiography in the 1960s but couldn't find a publisher at the time. She eventually went into real estate that made her wealthy and also found a companion, who had no idea of her film career, until she gave an interview about Charlie Chaplin in the PBS documentary Unknown Chaplin (1983). He received most of her estate when she died at the age of 85 on June 17, 1985. Her second version of her autobiography, which was more detailed than her first, that she had written in the 1960s, would finally be published ten years after her death in 1995, and it's title is "Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Closeups".866 points- Actress
- Writer
Many recognise Marion Mack as the beautiful but brainless heroine Annabelle Lee, of Buster Keaton's classic 'The General'. However, few realise that Marion was also a talented screenwriter who, with her husband, formed a successful production team. Born Joey Marion McReery, she began her career as a Mack Sennet Bathing Girl. She soon progressed to become a popular figure in two-reelers and serials. On one of these, 'Mary of the Movies' (1923) she featured - uncredited - as screenwriter as well as star, something she was to do many times. She did not earn her first credit until 1938 - `and only because I insisted'. She married the movie's producer, Lewis Lewyn, in 1924. She heard of the part in `The General' through her hairdresser. The resulting six month shoot was arduous, and Marion decided afterwards that she would rather quit acting than endure such a long separation from her husband again. Her last starring appearance was in `Alice in Movieland' (1927). From then on, her work was mainly done behind the camera. She and her husband produced a number of successful series of shorts, including as `Voice of Hollywood' and `Hollywood on Parade'. Soon after Lewis' death in 1969, interest in `The General' was revived and Marion toured extensively with the movie, giving interviews and lectures about working with the comic legend Buster Keaton.866 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
The younger sister of actress Alice Day, Marceline achieved stardom in the mid-1920s, appearing opposite such stars as John Barrymore and Lon Chaney. Adept at comedy, she also starred with such top comics as Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon. Her career faltered in the early 1930s, however, and she was soon reduced to appearing in low-budget thrillers and action pictures. She retired in the mid-1930s.850 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Hilda Borgström was born on 13 October 1871 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Phantom Carriage (1921), Ingeborg Holm (1913) and Striden går vidare (1941). She died on 2 January 1953 in Stockholm, Sweden.847 points- Renée Jeanne or Maria Falconetti, born in Pantin (not in Sermano, Corsica, as many film dictionaries wrongly attest) on July 21, 1892 and died in Buenos Aires on December 12, 1946, is a French actress of theater and cinema. Joining the troupe of the Odeon theater in 1916, she made her debut in "l'Arlésienne", and played the heroines of Saint-Georges de Bouhélier "The Life of a Woman", 1919. She made a short passage at the Comédie Française (1924-1925), where she plays Rosine among others in "La Dame aux camélias" and "Lorenzaccio". His last role before a long stay in South America will be that of Andromache in "The Trojan War will not happen", Jean Giraudoux. She remains world famous for having embodied in the cinema the main role of "The Passion of Joan of Arc" by Carl Theodor Dreyer.844 points
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Margaret Livingston was born on 25 November 1895 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. She was an actress, known for Sunrise (1927), God's Gift to Women (1931) and The Last Warning (1928). She was married to Paul Whiteman. She died on 13 December 1984 in Warrington, Pennsylvania, USA.844 points- Actress
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
The daughter of a railroad official, Camilla Horn was educated in Germany and Switzerland. She initially trained as a dressmaker and received her first job experience in a fashion salon in Erfurt. This was merely a stepping stone for a performing career which began with dance lessons in Berlin and subsequent acting studies under Lucie Höflich. The lithe, blond and strikingly beautiful Camilla soon appeared in cabaret revues staged by Rudolf Nelson. By 1926, she was employed as an extra at Ufa, where she was spotted by the director F.W. Murnau, who found in her the ideal representation of Gretchen for his seminal production of Faust (1926) . The role catapulted Camilla to instant stardom. Within a year, she was signed by United Artists in Hollywood, befriending Charles Chaplin and, more importantly, studio chairman Joseph M. Schenck. The friendship with Schenck may, or may not, have led to an affair -- depending on which story one is to believe -- but it did result in two high profile starring roles opposite John Barrymore in the torrid melodramas Tempest (1928) and Eternal Love (1929), both produced by Schenck. Neither film was a commercial success.
With the coming of sound, Camilla returned to Europe, briefly appearing on stage in London and Paris, before resuming her screen career in Germany. As the 1930's went on, she rarely turned down a role, playing anything from baronesses and fashion models, to vamps and 'fallen women'. The quality of her films was variable, but there were several noteworthy standouts, such as Hans in allen Gassen (1930) (opposite Hans Albers), The Last Waltz (1934) and Fahrendes Volk (1938) (as a circus artiste, again with Albers).
During this tumultuous decade, Camilla conducted a lengthy affair with the singer Louis Graveure, fifteen years her senior. This came to an end in 1938, when Graveure was suspected of espionage by the Gestapo and fled to England, via the Cote d'Azure. After her luxury villa in Berlin was ransacked in search for non-existent clues, Camilla's outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime reached a point where it got her into serious trouble. She saw out the first half of her career with a trio of long forgotten films made in Italy. Having failed in an attempt to flee to Switzerland, she kept a low profile and even tried her hand at farming. After the war, she had a stint as an interpreter for the occupying U.S. forces in Germany. Camilla made a successful return to the stage in a 1948 Frankfurt production of Jean Cocteau's "L'Aigle a Deux Tetes" (aka 'The Eagle Has Two Heads'). She spent the latter half of her acting career playing grand dames, matriarchs and worldly ladies with colourful backgrounds, in both films and on television. In 1974, she was awarded the 'Filmband in Gold' (also known as 'Lola') for lifetime achievement in the German film industry. In her 1985 autobiography, "Verliebt in die Liebe" ('In Love with Love'), she happily recounted her marriages and liaisons.830 points- Merna Kennedy was born on 7 September 1908 in Kankakee, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Circus (1928), Ghost Valley (1932) and The Big Chance (1933). She was married to Forrest Brayton and Busby Berkeley. She died on 20 December 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA.828 points
- Ruth Dwyer was born on 25 January 1898 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Reckless Age (1924), The Lurking Peril (1919) and Seven Chances (1925). She was married to William Jackie. She died on 2 March 1978 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.822 points
- Mildred Davis was born on 22 February 1898 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for A Sailor-Made Man (1921), Safety Last! (1923) and Dr. Jack (1922). She was married to Harold Lloyd. She died on 18 August 1969 in Santa Monica, California, USA.821 points
- Estelle Clark was born on 7 May 1898 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. She was an actress, known for The Crowd (1928), Don't (1925) and Sinners in Silk (1924). She died on 3 December 1982 in Ventura, California, USA.818 points
- Julanne was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but she and her family briefly lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then settled in Los Angeles, California, where she attended the Hollywood School for Girls. She also studied dancing and went on tour with the Ruth St. Denis Dancers, which led to her first screen part as a dancer. In her post-screen life in Grosse Pointe and Detroit, Michigan, she volunteered actively at the Detroit Institute of Arts.810 points
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American movie star, was born Wong Liu Tsong on January 3, 1905, in Los Angeles, California, to laundryman Wong Sam Sing and his wife, Lee Gon Toy. A third-generation American, she managed to have a substantial acting career during a deeply racist time when the taboo against miscegenation meant that Caucasian actresses were cast as "Oriental" women in lead parts opposite Caucasian leading men. Even when the role called for playing opposite a Caucasian in yellowface, as with Paul Muni's as the Chinese peasant Wang Lung in The Good Earth (1937), Wong was rejected, since she did not fit a Caucasian's imagined ideal look for an Asian woman. The discrimination she faced in the domestic industry caused her to go to Europe for work in English and German films. Her name, which she also spelled Wong Lew Song, translates literally as "Frosted Yellow Willows" but has been interpreted as "Second-Daughter Yellow Butterfly." Her family gave her the English-language name Anna May. She was born on Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles in an integrated neighborhood dominated by Irish and Germans, one block from Chinatown, where her father ran the Sam Kee Laundry.
The Wong family moved back to Chinatown two years after Liu Tsong's birth, but in 1910 they uprooted themselves, moving to a nearby Figueroa Street neighborhood where they had Mexican and East European neighbors. There were two steep hills between the Wongs' new home and Chinatown, but as her biographer, Colgate University history professor Graham Russell Gao Hodges, points out, those hills put a psychological as well as physical distance between Liu Tsong and Chinatown. Los Angeles' Chinatown already was teeming with movie shoots when she was a girl. She would haunt the neighborhood nickelodeons, having become enraptured with the early "flickers." Though her traditional father strongly disapproved of his daughter's cinephilia, as it deflected her from scholastic pursuits, there was little he could do about it, as Liu was determined to be an actress. The film industry was in the midst of relocating from the East Coast to the West, and Hollywood was booming. Liu Tsong would haunt movie shoots as she had earlier haunted the nickelodeons. Her favorite stars were Pearl White, of The Perils of Pauline (1914) serial fame, and White's leading man, Crane Wilbur. She was also fond of Ruth Roland.
Educated at a Chinese-language school in Chinatown, she would skip school to watch film shoots in her neighborhood. She made tip money from delivering laundry for her father, which she spent on going to the movies. Her father, if he discovered she had gone to the movies during school hours, would spank her with a bamboo stick. Around the time she was nine years old, she began begging filmmakers for parts, behavior that got her dubbed "C.C.C." for "curious Chinese child."
Liu Tsong's first film role was as an uncredited extra in Metro Pictures' The Red Lantern (1919), starring Alla Nazimova as a Eurasian woman who falls in love with an American missionary. The film included scenes shot in Chinatown. The part was obtained for her by a friend of her father's (without his knowledge) who worked in the movie industry. Retaining the family surname "Wong" and the English-language "Christian" name bestowed on her by her parents, Liu Tsong Americanized herself as "Anna May Wong" for the movie industry, though she would not receive an on-screen credit for another two years.
The rechristened Anna May Wong appeared in bit parts in movies starring Priscilla Dean, Colleen Moore and the Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa, the first Asian star of American movies. Due to her father's demands, she had an adult guardian at the studio, and would be locked in her dressing room between scenes if she was the only Asian in the cast. Initially balancing school work and her budding film career, she eventually dropped out of Los Angeles High School to pursue acting full time. She was aided by the fact that, though still a teenager, she looked more mature than her real age.
Director Marshall Neilan cast the teenage Anna May in a bit part in his film Dinty (1920), then gave her her first credited role in the "Hop" sequence of Bits of Life (1921), the American movie industry's first anthology film. In "Hop" Wong played Toy Ling, the abused wife of Lon Chaney's character Chin Gow, which the Man of a Thousand Faces played in yellowface. She next appeared in support of John Gilbert in Fox's Shame (1921) before being cast in her first major role at the age of 17, the lead in The Toll of the Sea (1922). She played Lotus Flower in this adaptation of the opera "Madame Butterfly," which moved the action from Japan to China. "The Toll of the Sea" was the first feature film shot entirely in Technicolor's two-strip color process. By appearing top-billed in this romantic melodrama, Anna became the first native-born Asian performer to star in a major Hollywood movie. Most portrayals of Asian women were done by Caucasian actresses in "yellow-face," such as the 1915 Madame Butterfly (1915) starring "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford (who was born in Toronto, Canada) in the title role. In "The Toll of the Sea," Anna May's character perpetuates the stereotype of the Asian "lotus blossom," a self-sacrificial woman who surrenders her life for the love of a Caucasian man. The film was a hit, and it showcased Wong in a preternaturally mature and restrained performance. This breakthrough should have launched Anna May Wong as a star, but for one thing: She was Chinese in a country that excluded (by law) Chinese from emigrating to the US, that forbade (by law) Chinese from marrying Caucasians and that generally excluded (by law or otherwise) Chinese from the culture at large, except for bit roles as heavies in the national consciousness.
"The Toll of the Sea" made Anna May Wong a known, and thus a marketable, commodity in Hollywood. She became the #1 actress when a young Asian female part had to be cast, but unfortunately lead roles for Asians were few and far between. Instead of becoming a star, this beautiful woman with a complexion described as "a rose blushing through old ivory" continued to be stuck in supporting roles, as in Tod Browning's melodrama Drifting (1923) and the western Thundering Dawn (1923). She even played an Eskimo in The Alaskan (1924). She appeared as Tiger Lily, "Chieftainess of the Indians," in Paramount's prestigious production of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1924), but the role was very small (the film was shot on Santa Catalina Island, where the cast stayed during the production.
The 170-cm-tall (5'7", although other sources cite her height as 5'4½") beauty was known as the world's best-dressed woman and widely considered to have the loveliest hands in the cinema. Her big breakthrough after her auspicious start with "The Toll of the Sea" finally came when Douglas Fairbanks cast her in a supporting role as a treacherous Mongol slave in his Middle Eastern/Arabian Nights extravaganza The Thief of Bagdad (1924). The $2-million blockbuster production made her known to critics and the movie-going public. For better or worse, a star, albeit of the stereotypical "Dragon Lady" type, was born.
Despite her waxing fame, she was limited to supporting roles, as Caucasian actresses, including most improbably Myrna Loy, continued to be cast as Asian women in lead roles from the 1920s through the 1940s, despite the ready availability of Anna May Wong. She was unable to attract lead parts despite her beauty and proven acting talent, even in films featuring Asian women, but she did carve out a career as a supporting player in everything from A-list movies to two-reel comedies and serials. The characters she played typically were duplicitous or murderous vamps who often reaped the wages of their sin by being raped. It was a demeaning apprenticeship that most Caucasian actresses did not have to go through. Anna wanted was to play modern American women all through her career but was thwarted because of racism. Later, when she journeyed to Europe to escape the typecasting of Hollywood, she told journalist Doris Mackie, "I was so tired of the parts I had to play. Why is it that the screen Chinese is always the villain? And so crude a villain--murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass."
Wong embodied the Caucasian ideal of a foreign exotic beauty, an alien presence despite her American citizenship. The movie magazine "Pictures" published a memoir of hers in 1926 in which she complained, "A lot of people, when they first meet me, are surprised that I speak and write English without difficulty. But why shouldn't I? I was born right here in Los Angeles and went to the public schools here. I speak English without any accent at all. But my parents complain that the same cannot be said of my Chinese. Although I have gone to Chinese schools, and always talk to my father and mother in our native tongue, it is said that I speak Chinese with an English accent!". Many Chinese-Americans considered themselves "Chinese in America," an attitude bolstered by the anti-Chinese, anti-Asian attitude of the US government and the American culture. In her memoir, Wong referred to herself as "Chinese" or "Americanized Chinese," but not as an "American" or "Chinese-American."
Anna May Wong appeared as a dancer in a play within a movie shot in Technicolor for the Ronald Colman vehicle His Supreme Moment (1925), but her Hollywood output generally was undistinguished. In 1926 she seems to have appeared in a "race" film made by Chinese-Americans for a Chinese-American audience, The Silk Bouquet (1926) (aka "The Dragon Horse"). Moving between Poverty Row and the majors, she appeared again with Lon Chaney in Mr. Wu (1927) at MGM and with Warner Oland and Dolores Costello in Old San Francisco (1927) at Warner Brothers. Warners also cast her in support of Oriental yellowface queen Myrna Loy in The Crimson City (1928). Despite her WASP looks and red hair, Loy in Chinese yellowface had become a major "Oriental" star in American films desiring an exotic element. This indignity may have been what pushed Wong to seek her future somewhere other than Hollywood.
She moved to Europe in 1928, where she made movies in the UK and Germany. She made her debut on the London stage with the young up-and-coming Laurence Olivier in the play "The Circle of Chalk." After receiving a drubbing for her voice and singing from the London critics, she paid a Cambridge University tutor to improve her speech, with the result that she acquired an upper-crust English accent. Later she appeared in Vienna, Austria, in the play "Springtime."
European directors appreciated Wong's unique talents and beauty, and they used her in ways that stereotype-minded Hollywood, hemmed in by American prejudice, would not or could not. Moving to Germany to appear in German films, she became acquainted with German film personalities, including Marlene Dietrich and actress-filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. She learned German and French and began to develop a continental European attitude and outlook. In Europe she was welcomed as a star. According to her biographer Graham Russell Gao Hodges, Wong hobnobbed with "an intellectual elite that included princes, playwrights, artists and photographers who clamored to work with her." Anna May Wong was featured in magazines all over the world, far more than actresses of a similar level of accomplishment. She became a media superstar, and her coiffure and complexion were copied, while "coolie coats" became the rage. According to Hodges, "[S]he was the one American star who spoke to the French people, more than Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford or Mary Pickford, the top American actresses of the time." But, ironically, "[S]he's the one who's now forgotten." Wong was cast in Ewald André Dupont's silent film Piccadilly (1929) as a maid who is fired from her job at a London nightclub after dancing on top of a table, then rehired as a dancer to infuse the club with exotic glamour. Her first talkie was The Flame of Love (1930) (aka "The Road to Dishonour", although some sources claim it was "Song" aka "Wasted Love" in that same year), which was released by British International Pictures. In a time before dubbing, when different versions of a single film were filmed in different languages, Wong played in the English, French and German versions of the movie.
Paramount Pictures offered her a contract with the promise of lead roles in major productions. Returning to the US in 1930, Wong appeared on Broadway in the play "On the Spot." It was a hit, running for 167 performances, and she moved on to Hollywood and Paramount, where she starred in an adaptation of Sax Rohmer's novel "Daughter of Fu Manchu" called Daughter of the Dragon (1931). She was back in stereotype-land, this time as the ultimate "Dragon Lady," who with her father Fu Manchu (played by ethnic Swede Warner Oland, the future Charlie Chan) embodied the evil "Yellow Peril." While "Daughter of the Dragon" may have been B-movie pulp, it enabled Wong to show off her talent by delivering a powerful performance.
Her best role in Hollywood in the early 1930s was in support of Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's Oscar-winning classic Shanghai Express (1932). However, Hollywood in the 1930s was as racist as it had been in the Roaring Twenties, and MGM refused to cast her in its 1932 production of The Son-Daughter (1932), for which she did a screen-test, as she was "too Chinese to play a Chinese." Helen Hayes played the role in yellow-face. Similarly, she was later kept out of both a lead and supporting role in MGM's prestige production of The Good Earth (1937), its filming of Pearl S. Buck's popular novel, after flunking another screen test for failing to live up to a white man's idea of what "looked" Chinese. MGM screen-tested her for the lead role of O-Lan, the sympathetic wife of Chinese farmer Wang Lung (to be played by Paul Muni, personally cast in the part by Irving Thalberg). She also was considered for the supporting role of Lotus, Wang Lung's concubine. Anna, an ethnic Chinese, lost out on both roles to two Austrian women, Luise Rainer and Tilly Losch, as Albert Lewin, the Thalberg assistant who was casting the film, vetoed Wong and other ethnic Chinese because their looks didn't fit his conception of what Chinese people should look like. Ironically, the year "The Good Earth" came out, Wong appeared on the cover of Look Magazine's second issue, which labeled her "The World's Most Beautiful Chinese Girl." Stereotyped in America as a dragon lady, the cover photo had her holding a dagger. Luise Rainer would win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance of O-Lan in Chinese yellowface.
There were practical considerations for MGM's refusal to cast Wong opposite Muni. It was illegal in many states, including California, for Asians to marry Caucasians, and featuring an interracial couple, even if they were playing the same race, likely would mean the movie would be rejected by many theater chains in regions in which anti-Asian prejudice was particularly severe, such as the South. The new Motion Picture Production Code of 1934 forbid black/white miscegenation and MGM did cast Walter Connelly (a white actor) opposite Soo Yong (a Chines-American actress) as a married couple. Anna May returned to England, reportedly distraught at the injustice perpetrated by MGM and her home country. In England she alternated between films and the stage, but she was obliged to return to the US to fulfill her Paramount contract. She appeared in two Robert Florey-directed pictures, Daughter of Shanghai (1937) as a non-stereotypical Asian-American female lead, and Dangerous to Know (1938). She also appeared in major roles in King of Chinatown (1939) and Island of Lost Men (1939).
Anna May Wong did not appear in films from 1939-41, when she was cast as a supporting player in Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941), an entry in the B-movie series. Her last two starring roles in films were in a pair of anti-Japanese propaganda films, Bombs Over Burma (1942) and Lady from Chungking (1942), both of which were made by Producers Releasing Corp., the lowest of the Poverty Row studios. The major studios, when shooting propaganda films requiring a sympathetic Asian lead, reverted to the old practice of casting Caucasians in yellow-face, no matter how absurd the result.
As her movie career went into eclipse in the 1940s (she would not appear in another motion picture until 1949), she found work on the stage and in radio and then in the new medium of television. Wong wrote a preface to the book "New Chinese Recipes" in 1942, which was one of the first Chinese cookbooks printed in the US. The proceeds from the cookbook were dedicated to United China Relief.
Though Wong was vocal in her opposition to stereotypes and typecasting, and was one of Hollywood's more memorable victims of racism in being denied leading roles in A-list pictures because the racist mores of the times prevented an Asian woman from kissing a Caucasian actor, she was considered socially suspect by her own people. The roles she was forced to accept in order to have an acting career, as well as her status as a single woman, disgusted many Chinese in America and in her ancestral homeland, where actresses were equated with prostitutes and where women were still played by men in classical opera. On a trip to China in 1936, Anna May was welcomed by the country's cultural elite in cosmopolitan Beijing and Shanghai, but she had to abandon a trip to her parents' ancestral village when her progress was blocked by a crowd of protesters. Someone in the crowed denounced her with "Down with Huang Liu Tsong, the stooge that disgraces China. Don't let her go ashore." Upon her return from China, Wong was determined to play Chinese characters more authentically, but her only options were to reject roles she deemed racist or to try to soften them from within the belly of the beast. Ultimately for this proud woman, it was a losing battle.
Chinese nationalism had been on the upswing since Yat-sen Sun ended the Manchu Empire in 1911 and was rife in reaction to the war of aggression launched against China by the Empire of Japan. Chinese nationalists, concerned about the portrayal of Chinese people as evil incarnate in American popular culture, were offended by Wong's portrayals of Asians and exotics. Though she would spend the World War II years working for Chinese charities and relief agencies, she was snubbed by Madame Chiang, the sister-in-law of Yat-sen Sun and wife of Kai-Shek Chiang, the army general who led the Nationalist Chinese, during Madame Chiang's 1942-43 propaganda tour of the US. Her biographer Hodges claims this was the beginning of a consensus among Chinese and Chinese-Americans that Wong was an embarrassment. Chinese and Chinese-Americans chose to blame her rather than Hollywood for the demeaning stereotypes she had to play in order to work. The result of this new consensus, according to Hodges, was that "her memory has been washed away."
Anna May's career in motion pictures was virtually finished after the war. She got her own TV series, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (1951), on the Dumont Network, playing a Chinese detective in a role written expressly for her, a character who was even given her real Chinese name. The half-hour program, which ran weekly from August 27 to November 21, 1951, was the first TV show to star an Asian-American.
Wong's personal relationships typically were with older Caucasian men, but California law forbade marriage between Asians and Caucasians until 1948. One of her white lovers offered to marry her in Mexico, but the couple's intentions became known and he backed off when his Hollywood career was jeopardized. Wong mused about marrying a Chinese man at times, but the Chinese culture held actresses to be on a par with prostitutes, which made her suspect marriage material. She was afraid that the mores of her culture likely meant that marrying a Chinese would force her to quit her career and be an obedient wife.
Anna May Wong appeared in over 50 American, English and German films in her career, making her the first global Chinese-American movie star. She was forced to fight against racism and stereotyping all her professional life, while simultaneously being criticized by Chinese at home and abroad for perpetuating stereotypes in the media. Despite this tremendous burden, the beautiful woman assayed an elegance and sophistication on-screen that made her the paradigm of Asian women for a generation of movie audiences.
Anna May Wong loved reading, and her favorite subjects spanned a wide range, everything from Asian history and Tzu Lao to William Shakespeare. She never married but occupied her time with golf, horses, and skiing. Wong smoked, drank too much, and suffered from depression. She was poised to make a comeback as a character actress on the big screen toward the end of her life, having appeared as Lana Turner's maid in Ross Hunter's sudsy potboiler Portrait in Black (1960). She was cast in the role of Madame Liang in Flower Drum Song (1961), the movie version of Richard Rodgers's and Oscar Hammerstein II's Broadway musical "Flower Drum Song," but before shooting could begin she passed away.
Anna May Wong died of a massive heart attack on February 3, 1961, in Santa Monica, CA, after a long struggle against Laennec's cirrhosis, a disease of the liver. She was 56 years old. Her fame lives on, four decades after her death. She is a part of American popular consciousness, chosen as one of the first movie stars to be featured on a postage stamp. And the interest in her continues: a play about Anna entitled "China Doll--The Imagined Life of an American Actress," written by Elizabeth Wong, had its premiere at Maine's Bowdoin College in 1997. A lecture and film series, "Rediscovering Anna May Wong," was held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2004, sponsored by "Playboy" publisher Hugh Hefner. That same year New York City's Museum of Modern Art held its own tribute to Wong, "Retrospective of a Chinese-American Screen Actress." Finally she was getting the respect in her own country that was denied her during her career.
A biography by Colgate University history professor Graham Russell Gao Hodges, "Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend," was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2004. Hodges considers Anna May's life and career to be amazing, particularly in light of the fact that her star has yet to be eclipsed by any other Asian-American female star, despite the change in attitudes. Finally, in 2004, the British Film Institute restored E.A. Dupont's 1929 silent film "Piccadilly".810 points- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Aleksandra Khokhlova was born on 4 October 1897 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress and assistant director, known for By the Law (1926), Luch smerti (1925) and Incident on a Volcano (1941). She was married to Lev Kuleshov and Konstantin Khokhlov. She died on 22 August 1985 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].809 points- Actress
Tiny, blue-eyed Ann Christy started in films with a bit part in Long Pants (1927) with Harry Langdon. She was then signed by one of the three major producers of silent comedy, Al Christie, to appear in a series of short comedies filmed at Paramount. It was there that she was spotted by Harold Lloyd, who saw in her the perfect down-to-earth New York girl he needed as co-star for his next film, Speedy (1928). This gag-laden comedy was filmed on location in New York and was popular with the public and critics alike. That same year she was selected as a WAMPAS baby star, but the promise of stardom was never fulfilled. Upon her return from New York, only minor roles in minor films came her way. She appeared in The Water Hole (1928), a Zane Grey western, and then ended up in a film for Chesterfield Pictures--a "Poverty Row" outfit--and Mack Sennett short comedies. Her career over before it had really begun, Ann Christy retired from film acting in 1932.806 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
At Warner Brothers, tiny, five feet tall Marion Byron was nicknamed (and occasionally billed as) "Peanuts". She was a cute and vivacious soubrette who featured in early, long forgotten musicals, with titles like Show of Shows (1929), Broadway Babies (1929) and Playing Around (1930). Marion began her performing career as a teenage showgirl in Los Angeles and got her first break in films as leading lady to Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). In a biographical form, she was required to submit at First National, she answered the question of how she got her first screen opportunity with: "By mistake".
In the early 30's, Marion's regular screen assignments included the usual assortment of feisty maids, college girls, friends of the heroine, flappers and chorines, which were reserved for those deemed 'second leads'. Though stardom eluded her, she was briefly popular in lightweight comedies, notable examples being the Michael Curtiz-directed The Matrimonial Bed (1930) and Mervyn LeRoy's quirky Jewish farce The Heart of New York (1932) (which sported comic duo Smith & Dale as eccentric matchmakers 'Schnapps and Strudel'). Already by 1933, Marion's roles had diminished to uncredited bits and walk-ons. Her last film was as a nurse in Five of a Kind (1938), the story of the Dionne Quintuplets, scripted by her husband, the screenwriter Lou Breslow.803 points- Julia Swayne Gordon was born on 29 October 1878 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for My Lady's Slipper (1916), You Can't Fool Your Wife (1923) and The Painted World (1919). She was married to Hugh Thomas Swayne. She died on 28 May 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA.792 points
- Vera Baranovskaya was born on 7 March 1885 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Mother (1926), Takový je zivot (1930) and Konets Sankt-Peterburga (1927). She died on 7 December 1935 in Paris, France.786 points
- Actress
- Director
Rosa Valetti was born Rosa Alice Vallentin, the daughter of industrialist Felix Vallentin and his wife, Bertha. Her brother was actor Hermann Vallentin, who emigrated to Mandatory Palestine. She first appeared on the Berlin stage and later also in Paris, Brussells and Vienna. During the First World War, she worked with Ludwig Roth, her first husband, at the Residenz-Theater in Berlin. She also worked as a director and acted in many theaters. A meeting with Kurt Tucholsky gave her an opportunity to work in cabaret, firstly in "Schall und Rauch." Valetti produced her own cabaret show "Café Grössenwahn" in 1920, then "Die Rampe" in 1922, and "Comedia Valetti" in 1923.
Valetti played in many cabarets around Europe and appeared in the premiere of "Die Dreigroschenoper" ("The Three Penny Opera"). In all, she appeared in more than 40 films, including in 1930 's "Der Blaue Engel" (The Blue Angel) with Marlene Dietrich. In 1933, she left Nazi Germany for Vienna and worked until 1935 at the Theater at der Josefstadt, also making guest appearances in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1934, she moved back to Berlin and then in 1936 to Palestine. She died the following year in Vienna. Her only child, her daughter Elisabeth, an actress known as Lisl Valetti, emigrated to the USA.651 points- The daughter of a Hungarian baroness and a military officer, Lya De Putti went on to perform classical ballet in Berlin, Germany, after a brief stint in Hungarian vaudeville. She later made several films at the German UFA studios, most notably Variety (1925), before going to Hollywood in 1926. While in America she starred in several movies, mostly in vamp roles.584 points
- Mabel Van Buren was born on 17 July 1878 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Dawn of a Tomorrow (1924), The Light That Failed (1923) and Brewster's Millions (1914). She was married to Ernest Joy and James Gordon. She died on 4 November 1947 in Hollywood, California, USA.571 points
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mae Busch can certainly claim career versatility, having successfully played Erich von Stroheim's mistress, Lon Chaney's girlfriend, Charley Chase's sister, James Finlayson's ex-wife and Oliver Hardy's wife! She was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1891; her parents were in the theater and when she was six years old the family moved to the US, arriving in San Francisco in 1897 before moving to New York. It is claimed Mae was placed in St. Elizabeth's Convent in New Jersey until at least the age of 12, when she joined her parents in vaudeville as part of the Busch Devere Trio (New York press articles confirm Mae as being part of the group in early 1908). Her big break came in March 1912 when she replaced Lillian Lorraine in the lead role in the Broadweay play "Over the River", with Eddie Foy. She continued in this role until the end of the season, when she joined one of Jesse L. Lasky's touring "girl" shows, where she stayed until signed by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Pictures in 1915. As she was performing on Broadway at the same time as "The Agitator" was filming in California, the claim that this was her first film is incorrect. Similarly, there is no evidence that she knew Mabel Normand prior to arriving in Los Angeles in 1915.
In Hollywood things didn't begin so well for Mae. In order to get work, she falsely claimed to have lived in Tahiti and to be able to swim and dive. A high dive she took while filming The Water Nymph (1912) resulted in an injury and her returning to her parents in New York. It was only then when working in the theater again that she developed into leading-lady status.
Mae returned to Hollywood, and Keystone, in 1915. However, her friendship with Mabel ended abruptly when she was "caught" with Sennett, Mabel's fiancé, and Mae was forced to leave Keystone. Over the years she had substantial roles in quite a few films, such as von Stroheim's The Devil's Passkey (1920) and Foolish Wives (1922). Although 1927 was the year of her first movie with Stan Laurel and Hardy, it wasn't until Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) that she first played Mrs. Hardy, the role that she will always be remembered for. She was Mrs. Hardy again in Their First Mistake (1932), Sons of the Desert (1933), and The Bohemian Girl (1936). She also appeared in other Laurel and Hardy pictures but not as Mrs. Hardy, such as Charlie Hall's wife in Them Thar Hills (1934), and she only flirted with Hardy in Tit for Tat (1935).
Mae's Hollywood career lasted 30 years; she worked with many of the leading directors, actors and actresses of the time. After a long illness she died in 1946, aged 54. She was cremated and her ashes remained in a cardboard box at the Motion Picture Country Home Hospital for over 20 years until a proper interment and plaque was provided.557 points- Vilma Bánky appeared in Hungarian, Austrian and French movies between 1920 and 1925, the year in which Samuel Goldwyn signed her, in Budapest, to a Hollywood contract. In Hollywood she was billed as the "The Hungarian Rhapsody". In the mid and late 1920s she was Goldwyn's biggest money maker, especially playing with Ronald Colman. Her best-known works were with Rudolph Valentino: daughter of a Russian aristocrat in The Eagle (1925) and an Arab dancer in The Son of the Sheik (1926). Her first talking movie was This Is Heaven (1929). She toured the U.S. in "Cherries Are Ripe" with her husband Rod La Rocque in 1930-1 and, the next year, went with him to Germany to make her last film.519 points
- Extremely popular silent star of the 1920s. Her popularity was enhanced when she co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926). She made her screen debut at Essanay Studios in 1915. While she was popular in the 1920s (thanks to the patronage of her lover, Jesse Lasky), her popularity had slipped by the time she briefly retired from the screen in 1927. Divorces, lawsuits and mental health battles all took their toll on her. Ayres returned to the movies almost immediately after but had difficulty re-establishing herself. She hoped that a bit part in Souls at Sea (1937) would lead to a comeback but it did not. She died three years later of a cerebral hemorrhage.518 points
- Lyudmila Semyonova was born on 17 February 1899 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Bed and Sofa (1927), Fragment of an Empire (1929) and Severnoye siyaniye (1926). She died on 25 May 1990 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].513 points
- Phyllis Haver was born Phyllis O'Haver on January 6, 1899, in Douglas, KS. When she was a child her family moved to California. Young Phyllis got a job playing piano at a local movie theater. Producer Mack Sennett saw her and hired her to be one of his "Sennett Bathing Beauties". Between 1916-20 she appeared in more than 35 short films. With her curvy figure and blonde hair she quickly became one of the most popular of Sennett's bathing beauties. Eventually she left Sennett compact and signed a contract with Cecil B. DeMille. She co-starred with Olive Borden in Fig Leaves (1926) and with Victor McLaglen in What Price Glory (1926). She also won rave reviews for her performances as Roxie Hart in Chicago (1927).
In 1929 she married millionaire William Seeman. Although she was at the peak of her career, she decided to retire from acting. She and William moved into an 11-room penthouse in New York City. Phyllis said she loved being a wife and never wanted to return to Hollywood. Sadly, after 16 years of marriage she and William divorced. The couple had no children. As she grew older Phylis became more reclusive. She lived in a large house in Connecticut and rarely had visitors. Her only companion was her longtime housekeeper. She reportedly made several suicide attempts and was devastated when her former boss Mack Sennett died.
On November 19, 1960, 61-year-old Phyllis took her own life with an overdose of barbiturates. She was found in her bed fully dressed and wearing make-up. Phyllis was buried at Grassy Hills Cemetery in Falls Village, CT.511 points - Silent-screen star May McAvoy was born in an upscale area of New York City. Her well-to-do family owned and operated a large livery stable situated where the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel now stands. She initially wanted to be a teacher but became intrigued with show business after watching a friend rehearse a show at a nearby vaudeville theater. A model whose first job was a commercial for Domino Sugar, she moved into extra work in films and received her first major break with The Devil's Garden (1920) co-starring Lionel Barrymore. Stardom was hers, however, as the lead in Sentimental Tommy (1921), which led to a Paramount contract.
McAvoy later stated that she was not content to play whatever part the studio might choose for her and she demanded quality. She claimed that Cecil B. DeMille wanted her as the leading lady for _Adam's Rib (1923)_ but she balked at bobbing her hair and wearing the required pelt for the caveman sequence. She believed that he was able to have her unofficially suspended because of her refusal. Whatever her reasons for leaving Paramount, May bought out her contract and freelanced for the next six years. McAvoy wound up flourishing in such movies as The Enchanted Cottage (1924), Tessie (1925) and Lady Windermere's Fan (1925), while replacing Gertrude Olmstead as Esther in her best known silent film, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). Mostly forgotten today except by more devoted film enthusiasts, May nevertheless holds a steadfast position in film history thanks to her co-starring role in Hollywood's first talkie, The Jazz Singer (1927) opposite Al Jolson, which is actually a silent film with several sound musical and speaking sequences; she herself had no talking scenes. Coincidentally, May also starred in England's first all-talking picture The Terror (1928). She retired after her marriage in 1929 and bore one son, Patrick. She returned to films for a decade and a half in the 1940s for MGM but never received any screen credit for these parts (her final role was as an extra in Ben-Hur (1959). She was widowed in 1973 and died a decade later of a heart attack.509 points - Actress
- Costume Designer
Julia Faye's career is inextricably linked to director Cecil B. DeMille. He was her mentor, while she was for many years his mistress (a liaison which was tolerated by De Mille's long-suffering wife Constance Adams). Julia was born in Richmond, Virginia, of French-American parentage. She had a Southern drawl which she never lost. When she was six months old her family moved to St. Louis, MO, where she spent most of her early childhood. She was educated at Illinois State University. Her parents intended for her to have a teaching career, but Julia had other ideas. She started out as a model for fashion magazines, touted as "the girl with the perfect legs" and "the prettiest feet and ankles in America". Her photo shoots did not escape the attention of De Mille, who summoned her for an audition (though, according to author Charles Higham, it was actor Wallace Reid who first introduced Julia to De Mille at a party). Her "pegs" certainly passed muster and Julia was fast-tracked to the silver screen, initially appearing in a few small roles at Fine Arts=Paramount. Casting directors were also eager to utilize her as a "leg model", doubling for actresses deemed less endowed in that department. In 1916 Julia moved to Keystone as one of Mack Sennett's Bathing Beauties and knockabout comediennes, occasionally as leading lady and at times performing her own stunts.
Despite limitations to her acting ability, Julia was possessed of sophistication, wit and charm. which contributed to her having a pretty good career for the better part of the 1920s. She was featured in billed supporting roles in a number of De Mille's big-budget extravaganzas, including The Ten Commandments (1923) (as Pharaoh's wife), The Volga Boatman (1926) (as a gypsy) and The King of Kings (1927) (as Martha). Dynamite (1929), co-scripted by another De Mille protégé and mistress (not to mention fierce rival), Jeanie Macpherson, gave Julia her best opportunity to shine in a meatier role. However, by the early 1930s her career was already in decline. Perhaps hoping to emulate Macpherson, she proceeded to study screenwriting for three years under De Mille's tutelage, but, in the end, to little avail. Eventually, offers from Hollywood dried up and her money ran out. To his credit, De Mille continued to support Julia by putting her on the payroll as one of his regular stock players. She went on to appear in cameos and bit parts in his films for another two decades, usually without dialogue. Her last film role was as a dowager in The Buccaneer (1958).
Julia Faye died in April 1966 at the age of 72. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.507 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Popular star in Hollywood for two decades through 1936, Marie Prevost began as a Mack Sennett "Bathing Beauty" in 1917, later starring in dozens of light comedies. But not long into the sound era, she encountered problems with her burgeoning weight, to the jeopardy of her career. Her self-remedy resulted ultimately in her starving to death.
Marie Prevost was born Mary Bickford Dunn in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, on November 8, 1898. She broke into films when she was 18 years old in Unto Those Who Sin (1916). Finding work in films was difficult in the early days, just as it is today. Marie found herself doing odd jobs until 1917, when she made another film, Secrets of a Beauty Parlor (1917). After filming was completed, Marie found herself unemployed again and went back to scraping around for a living. She kept going to casting calls, but it wasn't until 1919 when she landed a role in Uncle Tom Without a Cabin (1919). Finally, in 1921, movie moguls discovered her talent and began casting her in a number of roles. She appeared in four films that year and an additional six in 1922. Marie seemed to be on a roll. She stayed busy through the balance of the 1920s in a number of films, mostly comedies. As a matter of fact, she would continue making films until 1933, when her appeal began to fade. She made no films in 1934 and precious few after that. With the advent of sound her thick New England accent didn't lend itself well to the "demon microphone", despite her beauty. Her depression about her career--or lack of it--drove her to alcohol, and she died on January 23, 1937, in Hollywood, of a combination of alcoholism and malnutrition, virtually broke and living in a dilapidated apartment. She never saw the release, in 1938, of her final film appearance: Ten Laps to Go (1936). She was 38 years old.503 points- Actress
- Additional Crew
Ilka Grüning was born on 4 September 1876 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was an actress, known for Peer Gynt (1919), Figaros Hochzeit (1920) and Words and Music (1948). She died on 11 November 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA.474 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Petite, sultry leading lady of the 1920's and 30's who was born and schooled in Tampa, Florida, until the age of ten when she lost her mother. She moved to New York with her dad and started modelling while still in her teens. Her original intention was to go into the teaching profession. Instead, Evelyn became enamored with acting during a school visit to the Popular Plays and Players Studio in Ft.Lee, New Jersey, a production cooperative for distributors World Film, Pathe and Metro. Before long, she obtained a job as an extra for $3 a week using her birth name Betty Riggs. Between 1914 and 1920, she appeared in featured film roles with stars like Olga Petrova and John Barrymore (who hand-picked her as his leading lady for Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917)), then took a sabbatical for health reasons and went to England.
By making the acquaintance of American playwright Oliver Cromwell she was able to land a good role in the George Bernard Shaw comedy 'The Ruined Lady' on the London stage. This, in turn, led to her being cast as leading lady in several British films. In 1922, she even went to Spain as star of The Spanish Jade (1922), distributed in America by Paramount. Upon her return to the United States in 1924, she was briefly under contract to Fox, then joined Associated Authors, and, finally, Paramount-Famous Players-Lasky (1926-30). At the height of her career in silent films, the dark-haired, aquiline Evelyn became a matinee idol with performances as exotic temptresses and vamps, particularly in films by Austrian director Josef von Sternberg. She was notable as the gangster's moll 'Feathers' in Underworld (1927) (the proverbial tough broad with the heart of gold) and as a self-sacrificing Russian girl in love with an exiled Czarist general (Emil Jannings) in The Last Command (1928). She gave another interesting performance as a blackmailer in Paramount's first all-talking picture Interference (1928)
While Evelyn's voice proved no detriment to her success in talking pictures, the declining quality of her films certainly did. Her Alaskan epic The Silver Horde (1930) in which she portrayed another disreputable character named Cherry Malotte was described in critical review as 'dull and trivial' (New York Times, October 25). Her performances as gang molls in Framed (1930) and The World Gone Mad (1933), as well as her unlikely mission worker in Madonna of the Streets (1930) engendered lukewarm write-ups like 'satisfactory' or 'competent'. This did nothing to elevate Evelyn's post-Paramount career. By the end of the decade she had moved down the cast list from second leads to supporting roles, finally appearing in westerns and 'quota quickies' for poverty row studios, such as Monogram and PRC. One example of the 'cheap and cheerful' category in which she seemed to enjoy herself was the Columbia serial Holt of the Secret Service (1941), playing Kay Drew, partner of tough agent Jack Holt. She was also memorable in one of her last roles as a one-armed satanist in the eerie Val Lewton horror flic about devil-worshippers in Greenwich Village, The Seventh Victim (1943).
After making her last film in 1950, Evelyn found work as an actor's agent with the Thelma White Agency in Hollywood. After the death of her third husband, Harry Fox (who gave the Foxtrot its name) in 1959, Evelyn made a final screen appearance as a guest star on Wagon Train (1957). She left the limelight for good in 1960 and lived her remaining years in retirement in Westwood Village, California. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6548 Hollywood Boulevard.444 points- Lucie Höflich was born on 20 February 1883 in Hannover, Germany. She was an actress, known for Anastasia: The Czar's Last Daughter (1956), Tartuffe (1925) and Sky Without Stars (1955). She was married to Georg Anton Mayer and Emil Jannings. She died on 9 October 1956 in Berlin, Germany.442 points
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Classic comedienne Zasu Pitts, of the timid, forlorn blue eyes and trademark woebegone vocal pattern and fidgety hands, was born to Rulandus and Nellie (Shay) Pitts, the third of four children on January 3, 1894. Her aged New York-native father, who lost a leg back in the Civil War era, had settled the family in Kansas by the time ZaSu was born but relocated to Santa Cruz, California, when she was 9, seeking a warmer climate and better job opportunities. She attended Santa Cruz High and somehow rose above her excessively shy demeanor to join the school's drama department. She went on to cultivate what was once deemed her negative qualities by making a career out of her unglamorous looks and wallflower tendencies in scores and scores of screwball comedy treasures.
Pitts made her stage debut in 1915 and was discovered two years later by pioneer screenwriter Frances Marion, who got her work, though in small, obscure parts, in vehicles for such Paramount stars as Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Mary cast her in another of her films to greater effect and the rest is history. She grew in popularity following a series of Universal one-reeler comedies and earned her first feature-length lead in King Vidor's Better Times (1919). She met and married matinée idol Tom Gallery in 1920 and paired up with him in several films, including Bright Eyes (1921), Heart of Twenty (1920), Patsy (1921), and A Daughter of Luxury (1922).
Their daughter Ann was born in 1922. In 1924 the actress, now a reputable comedy farceur, was given the greatest tragic role of her career in Erich von Stroheim's epic classic Greed (1924), an over-four-hour picture cut down by the studio to less than two. The surprise casting initially shocked Hollywood but showed that she could draw tears and pathos as well as laughs with her patented doleful demeanor. The movie has grown tremendously in reputation over time, although it failed initially at the box office due to its extensive cutting.
Trading off between comedy shorts and features, she earned additional kudos in such heavy dramas as Sins of the Fathers (1928), The Wedding March (1928), also helmed by Von Stroheim, and War Nurse (1930). Still, by the advent of sound, which was an easy transition for Pitts, she was fully secured in comedy. One bitter and huge disappointment for her was when she was replaced in the war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) by Beryl Mercer after her initial appearance drew unintentional laughs from preview audiences. She decided, however, to make the most of a not-so-bad situation. She had them rolling in the aisles in such wonderful and wacky entertainment as The Dummy (1929), Finn and Hattie (1931), The Guardsman (1931), Blondie of the Follies (1932), Sing and Like It (1934), and Ruggles of Red Gap (1935). She also excelled deliciously in her comedy partnerships with stunning blonde comedienne Thelma Todd (in short films) and gangly comedian Slim Summerville (in features).
Breezing through the 1940s in assorted films, she found work in vaudeville and on radio as well, trading quivery banter with Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, and Rudy Vallee, among others. She also tackled Broadway, making her debut in the mystery "Ramshackle Inn" in 1944. The play, which was written especially for her, fared quite well and, as a result, took the show on the road frequently in later years. Postwar films continued to give Pitts the chance to play comic snoops and flighty relatives in such quality fare as Life with Father (1947), but into the 1950s she started focusing on TV. This culminated in her best known series role, playing second banana to cruise line social director Gale Storm in The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna (1956) [aka "Oh, Susannah"]. As Nugie, the shipboard beautician and partner-in-crime, she made the most of her timid, twitchy mannerisms.
Sadly, ill health dominated Pitts' later years when she was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1950s. She bravely carried on, continuing to work until the very end, making brief appearances in The Thrill of It All (1963) and the all-star comedy epic It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). Having married a second time after her divorce from Gallery, the beloved sad sack comedienne passed away at age 69 on June 6, 1963, leaving behind a gallery of scene-stealing worrywarts for all to enjoy.441 points- Marguerite de la Motte was trained as a dancer, reputedly by the great ballerina Anna Pavlova, and entered films in 1918. She played opposite Douglas Fairbanks in many of his productions. Like many performers of the silent era, however, she was not able to sustain her career with the coming of talkies, and was soon relegated to smaller roles in minor productions.408 points
- Priscilla Bonner was born on 17 February 1899 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress, known for Charley's Aunt (1925), 3 Bad Men (1926) and The False Alarm (1926). She was married to Dr. E. Bertrand Woolfan and Allen Wynes Alexander. She died on 21 February 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA.401 points
- Actress
- Producer
- Production Manager
Aud Egede-Nissen was born on 30 May 1893 in Bergen, Norway. She was an actress and producer, known for Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), Das Phantom der Oper (1916) and Deception (1920). She was married to Paul Richter and Georg Alexander. She died on 6 November 1974 in Oslo, Norway.440 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Though she is little remembered today, silent screen star Carmel Myers had a high-flying career in her heyday and was ranked among the screen's most glamorous and enticing vamps. She was born at the turn of the century in San Francisco, the daughter of immigrant parents. Her father, a rabbi, emigrated from Australia and her mother from Austria. Her older brother, Zion Myers, would grow up to become a successful writer and director in Hollywood. The family moved to Los Angeles when she was in her early teens and her father, an acquaintance of director D.W. Griffith, advised Griffith on the biblical scenes for his movie Intolerance (1916), for which Carmel received a bit role as a dancer.
Signed by Universal, Carmel rose quickly up the ranks appearing with Rudolph Valentino in A Society Sensation (1918) and All Night (1918). She later branched out and worked for other studios. She appeared in her most prestigious film over at MGM. In the epic extravaganza Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), she portrayed Iras, the evil Egyptian seductress out to snare both Ramon Navarro and Francis X. Bushman. Outrageously adorned, she was a tremendous hit and MGM signed her up for their pictures The Devil's Circus (1926) and Tell It to the Marines (1926), with each showcase striving to outdo the costumes she wore for "Ben-Hur."
Carmel managed the transition into talkies but, due to her age, started appearing more and more in support roles until she was left with nothing but bits. In the 1950s she tried television and made her debut in July 1951 with an interview show called, fittingly, The Carmel Myers Show (1951), in which she bantered with such show biz elite as Richard Rodgers and Sigmund Romberg, but the show lasted only one season. Married three times, she turned to real estate and also founded Carmel Myers, Inc. in which she distributed French fragrances. She died on November 9, 1980.401 points- Gertrud Pfiel was born in present day Croatia, the daughter of an engineer and inventor. A strikingly beautiful blonde with high cheekbones and expressive blue eyes, she grew up in Vienna where she was trained as a singer and dancer, embarking on a theatrical career by the age of fifteen. Until 1944, 'Gertraud' regularly performed at various theatres in Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. During a performance, she came to the attention of the director Fritz Lang, who became instantly enamored with her. Without an audition, Lang gave her a starring role as a defecting Russian spy in Spies (1928), the success of which led to further back-to-back leads in Woman in the Moon (1929) and Hochverrat (1929).
Lang eventually left his wife and long-time collaborator, the screenwriter Thea von Harbou, while Gerda Maurus went onto marry another prolific director, Robert A. Stemmle, who directed her in Daphne und der Diplomat (1937). During the sound era, Gerda was intermittently given further opportunities to shine, including opposite Hans Albers (Dope (1932)) and Paul Hörbiger (Prinzessin Sissy (1939)), but she seemed somehow unable to repeat the success of her earlier (silent) films. Her association, however tenuous, with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels tainted her career during the immediate post-war period. While her acting ban was eventually lifted, she rarely again graced the screen, but for several more years continued on as a stage actress in Munich and Düsseldorf.401 points - Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Dorothy Cumming was born on 12 October 1913 in North Carolina, USA. She is known for The Gallant Blade (1948), Hot Blood (1956) and Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966). She died on 22 April 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.400 points- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Clara Gordon Bow, destined to become "The It Girl", was born on July 29, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in poverty and violence. Her often absentee and brutish father could not or did not provide and her schizophrenic mother tried to slit Clara's throat when the girl spoke of becoming an actress. Bow, nonetheless, won a photo beauty contest which launched her movie career that would eventually number 58 films, from 1922 to 1933.
The movie It (1927) defined her career. The film starred Clara as a shopgirl who was asked out by the store's owner. As you watch the silent film you can see the excitement as she prepared for her date with the boss, her friend trying hard to assist her. She used a pair of scissors to modify her dress to try to look "sexier." The movie did much to change society's mores as there were only a few years between World War I and Clara Bow, but this movie went a long way in how society looked at itself. Clara was flaming youth in rebellion. In the film she presented a worldly wisdom that somehow sex meant having a good time. But the movie shouldn't mislead the viewer, because when her boss tries to kiss her goodnight, she slaps him. At the height of her popularity she received over 45,000 fan letters a month. Also, she was probably the most overworked and underpaid star in the industry. With the coming of sound, her popularity waned. Clara was also involved in several court battles ranging from unpaid taxes to being in divorce court for "stealing" women's husbands. After the court trials, she made a couple of attempts to get back in the public eye. One was Call Her Savage (1932) in 1932. It was somewhat of a failure at the box office and her last was in 1933 in a film called Hoopla (1933).
She then married cowboy star Rex Bell at 26 and retired from the film world at 28. She doted on her two sons and did everything to please them. Haunted by a weight problem and a mental imbalance, she never re-entered show business. She was confined to sanitariums from time to time and prohibited access to her beloved sons. She died of a heart attack in West Los Angeles, on September 26, 1965 at age 60. Today she is finding a renaissance among movie buffs, who are recently discovering the virtues of silent film. The actress who wanted so much to be like the wonderful young lady in It (1927) has the legacy of her films to confirm that she was a wonderful lady and America's first sex symbol.398 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Pola Negri was born in Lipno, Poland, and moved to Warsaw as a child. Living in poverty with her mother, a teenage Pola auditioned and was accepted to the Imperial Ballet. Due to an illness that ended her dancing career, she soon switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became an actress. By 17 she was a star on the Warsaw stage, but World War I would soon change the theater scene. Without the theater, Pola turned to films. With her new career in pictures and her stage success in "Sumurun", she went to Berlin and was teamed with German director Ernst Lubitsch. The Lubitsch-Negri combination was very successful and the roles that Pola played were earthy, exotic, strong women. One of her films, Passion (1919), was optioned and retitled "Passion" for exhibition in America. The film was such a success that by 1922 she and Lubitsch were both given contracts to work in Hollywood. While her first few films showed some success, they were overshadowed by her reported romances with such stars as Charles Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. Forbidden Paradise (1924), made with Lubitsch, and Hotel Imperial (1927) were two of her more successful films. However, three things conspired to end her career in Hollywood: (1) The perception that her mourning for Rudolph Valentino was insincere, though Negri did describe him as the love of her life; (2) The Hays Office codes that would not allow her to show the very traits that made her a sex-siren in Europe; (3) Her thick Polish accent would not play in the sound pictures that were coming into vogue.
Pola Negri returned to Europe and eventually made films for UFA, which was under Nazi management. In 1941 she returned to America penniless. She made Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) and became an American citizen in 1951. Her next and last movie was The Moon-Spinners (1964).
She died of pneumonia in San Antonio, TX, in 1987.396 points- Born in Germany to American parents, dark-haired Betty Amann (born Philippine Amann) grew up in the US. She began her screen career as Bee Amann in the mid-'20s, but returned to Germany after appearing in a 'Tom Tyler' Western for low-budget FBO Pictures. Arriving in the wake of Louise Brooks, she was awarded a screen test by producer Erich Pommer and went on to star or co-star in such German productions as Joe May's silent Asphalt (1929) and the talkies Der weiße Teufel (1930)-- opposite Lil Dagover and Ivan Mozzhukhin--and Die kleine Schwindlerin (1933), opposite Dolly Haas. She later did Daughters of Today (1933) in England, but was back in Hollywood by the mid-'30s, where she mainly appeared in "Poverty Row" productions. Her final appearance came in Edgar G. Ulmer's bizarre Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943) for rock-bottom PRC Pictures as one of Gale Sondergaard's "hostesses."394 points
- Valeska Gert was born on 11 January 1892 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for The Threepenny Opera (1931), Ein Sommernachtstraum (1925) and Coup de Grâce (1976). She was married to Robin Hay Anderson and Helmuth von Krause. She died on 15 March 1978 in Kampen, Sylt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.394 points
- Doris Pawn was born on 29 December 1894 in Norfolk, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for The Penalty (1920), Putting It Over (1922) and What Happened to Rosa (1920). She was married to Samuel William Dunaway, Paul Reiners and Rex Ingram. She died on 30 March 1988 in La Jolla, California, USA.393 points
- A graduate of the Notre Dame academy at Roxbury, Massachusetts, Ethel began her career as a classical dancer working under the direction of Belasco and the Shuberts. She began her career on the stage at two years of age, later being going to New York to pursue a career on the stage. On Broadway she appeared in "The Lily" with Julia Dean, "The Only Son," "Search Me" with Montagu Love and "Honor Be Damned!" with William Courtleigh. Ethel made her screen debut in 1914 and went on to play roles as society women. Although in 1922 she did play the role of Calamity Jane opposite William S. Hart and it was around this time, her career started to slip. She died from an illness she'd suffered for over a year.393 points
- Claire Adams was born in Winnipeg, Canada (her brother was prolific screenwriter Gerald Drayson Adams), and after her education in that country she was sent to a private school in England, where she studied drama. At the outbreak of World War I, however, she joined the nursing corps and spent the war years as a nurse. At war's end she returned to Canada, but soon left for California to break into films. She made quite a few pictures for producer Benjamin B. Hampton, whom she later married. She had a long career in silents, appearing with such major stars as John Gilbert, Tom Mix and Lon Chaney, but when sound came along she made one picture in 1934, What a Mother-in-Law! (1934), and then retired (Hampton had died in 1932).
She died in Melbourne, Australia, on September 25, 1978.393 points - Actress
- Writer
- Director
Once you saw her, you would not forget her. Despite her age and weight, she became one of the top box office draws of the sound era. She was 14 when she joined a theater group and she went on to work on stage and in light opera. By 1892, she was on Broadway and she later became a star comedienne on the vaudeville circuit. In 1910, she had a hit with 'Tillie's Nightmare' which Mack Sennett adapted to film as Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) with Charles Chaplin. Marie took top billing over a young Chaplin, but her film career never took off and by 1918, she was out of films and out of work. Her role in the chorus girls' strike of 1917 had her blacklisted from the theaters. In 1927, MGM screenwriter Frances Marion got her a small part in The Joy Girl (1927) and then a co-starring lead with Polly Moran in The Callahans and the Murphys (1927) (which was abruptly withdrawn from circulation thanks to objections of Irish-American groups over its depiction of gin-guzzling Irish). Her career stalled and the 59-year old actress found herself no longer in demand. In the late 1920s she had been largely forgotten and reduced to near-poverty. Despite her last film being a financial disaster, Irving Thalberg, somewhat incredibly, sensed her potential was determined to re-build her into a star. It was a slow return in films but her popularity continued to grow. But it was sound that made her a star again. Anna Christie (1930) was the movie where Garbo talks, but everyone noticed Marie as Marthy. In an era of Harlow, Garbo and Crawford, it was homely old Marie Dressler that won the coveted exhibitor's poll as the most popular actress for three consecutive years. In another film from the same year, Min and Bill (1930) she received a best actress Oscar for her dramatic performance. She received another Academy Award nomination for Emma (1932). She had more success with Dinner at Eight (1933) and Tugboat Annie (1933). In 1934, cancer claimed her life.392 points- Actress
- Director
Alice started as an extra in films at age 15. She worked in "Inceville" and would appear as several characters in 'Civilization (1916)'. In 1917, she would meet director Rex Ingram and they would marry in 1921. It was also in 1921 that Alice would gain acclaim as Marguerite in 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)'. She would continue to play the heroine is the films 'The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)' and 'Scaramouche (1923)'. In 1924, Metro would merge into the new MGM and both Ingram and Terry would work there. She would make the 'The Great Divide (1924)' with Wallace Beery in a western melodrama. She would be directed by Ingram in 'The Arab (1924)', which was filmed in North Africa and owed much to the influence of screen idol Valentino. Alice would get her chance to play the wicked woman in 'Mare Nostrum (1926)'. Filmed in Italy and Spain, this film was both a critical and financial success directed by Ingram. Ingram would make his third independent film in Italy when he directed Alice in 'The Garden of Allah (1927)'. Later that year, Alice would be reunited with Ramon Navarro in 'Lovers? (1927)', but the film would not be as well received as their earlier films. When sound came to the screen Alice retired when her favorite director Rex Imgram retired.388 points- Claire McDowell was born on 2 November 1877 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), The Big Parade (1925) and The Mark of Zorro (1920). She was married to Charles Hill Mailes. She died on 23 October 1966 in Hollywood, California, USA.376 points
- The daughter of a clergyman and a mother, who was an accomplished painter of portraits and landscapes, Stella Dorothy Sabiston spent her formative years in her home state of Alabama. She had three siblings, all of whom died relatively young. She attended the University of Alabama, but always harbored ambitions of becoming an actress. In the early 1920s, the curly-haired brunette abandoned her studies and ran away to New York (as Dorothy Sebastian), where she took up acrobatic dancing at the prestigious Ned Wayburn academy. By the time she took elocution lessons to get rid of her noticeable southern drawl, Dorothy had her first failed marriage (1920-24) behind her. Living in a cheap apartment, and after several rejections, she landed her first job in show business as a chorus girl in "George White's Scandals" in June 1924. The show opened at the Apollo Theatre and ran for 198 performances, closing in December. Sometime prior to that, according to recollections of fellow cast member and friend Louise Brooks, Dorothy struck up a somewhat personal connection with then-British cabinet minister Lord Beaverbrook. Their meeting took place during a party at the Ritz Hotel in an apartment owned by producer Otto Kahn, at which several Scandals girls and Hollywood producers were present. The end result was an MGM contract for Dorothy.
She showed promise in her first film, Sackcloth and Scarlet (1925), starring Alice Terry. Much to her chagrin, as her career went on she was often cast as vamps or, at least, disreputable or hard-boiled "other women" in films like Hell's Island (1930). On occasion she played nice girls, for instance in A Woman of Affairs (1928), with Greta Garbo. Then there were 'friends of the heroine' roles, which included her major successes, Our Dancing Daughters (1928) with Joan Crawford, and Spite Marriage (1929) with Buster Keaton(to whom she was romantically linked at the time). At the end of her five-year contract with MGM she asked for a raise (her weekly salary amounted to $1,000 per week), but was refused. Out of a contract, her film career faltered after several "Poverty Row" productions at Tiffany and, finally, a leading role in the (for her) ironically titled They Never Come Back (1932). Thereafter, like so many other actors who bucked the studio system or simply failed to make the grade as major stars, she was relegated to minor supporting roles (though some of them were in A-grade pictures like The Women (1939) and Reap the Wild Wind (1942), which starred Ray Milland and John Wayne).
Sadly, Dorothy Sebastian grabbed the headlines not always as a result of her profession: the three-times-married actress was involved in several well-publicized court cases over tax evasion (1929), acrimonious divorce proceedings from ex-husband William Boyd (of 'Hopalong Cassidy' fame) (1936), a drunk driving charge after a party at Keaton's house in November 1938 (naively suggesting that a meal of spaghetti and garlic had been responsible for "retaining the intoxicating odor of the wine") and a charge by a San Diego hotel of not paying a $100 account, which was later dismissed (she eventually countersued the hotel for defamation of character and was awarded $10,000). During the war years Dorothy worked as an X-ray technician at a defense plant, Bohn Aluminium & Brass, but continued to act in small parts. She met her third husband at this time, the aircraft technician Herman Shapiro. Dorothy had a brief scene with Gloria Grahame in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), but it ended up on the cutting room floor. After being ill for some time, Dorothy died of cancer in August 1957 at the Motion Picture Country House, Woodland Hills. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.376 points - Actress
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Canadian-born Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. She was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. She began her career as a heroine in westerns at Universal during the silent era. In 1926 the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers selected 13 young starlets it deemed most likely to succeed in pictures. Fay was chosen as one of these starlets, along with Janet Gaynor and Mary Astor. Fame would indeed come to Fay when she played another heroine in Erich von Stroheim's The Wedding March (1928). She continued playing leads in a number of films, such as the good-bad girl in Thunderbolt (1929). By the early 1930s she was at Paramount working with Gary Cooper and Jack Holt in a number of average films, such as Master of Men (1933). She also appeared in such horror films as Doctor X (1932) and The Vampire Bat (1933). In 1933 Fay was approached by producer Merian C. Cooper, who told her that he had a part for her in a picture in which she would be working with a tall, dark leading man. What he didn't tell her was that her "tall, dark leading man" was a giant gorilla, and the picture turned out to be the classic King Kong (1933). Perhaps no one in the history of pictures could scream more dramatically than Fay, and she really put on a show in "Kong". Her character provided a combination of sex appeal, vulnerability and lung capacity as she was stalked by the giant beast all the way to the top of the Empire State Building. That was as far as Fay would rise, however, as this was, after all, just another horror movie. After "Kong", she began a slow decline that put her into low-budget action films by the mid '30s. In 1939 her 11-year marriage to screenwriter John Monk Saunders ended in divorce, and her career was almost finished. In 1942 she remarried and retired from the screen, forever to be remembered as the "beauty who killed the beast" in "King Kong". However, in 1953 she made a comeback, playing mature character roles, and also appeared on television as Catherine, Natalie Wood's mother, in The Pride of the Family (1953). She continued to appear in films until 1958 and television into the 1960s.370 points- Gertrude Olmstead was born in Chicago, IL, on Nov. 13, 1897. She entered the film business early, making her film debut in The Fox (1921) at 17 years of age. The next year she appeared in the hit The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1922). She stayed busy throughout the 1920s, appearing in a total of 41 films. At age 25, however, she made what would be her last picture: The Time, the Place and the Girl (1929). Movies had entered the sound era, but by that time Gertrude was happily married to director Robert Z. Leonard and no longer had any desire or need to stay a struggling starlet.
On January 18, 1975, Gertrude died in Beverly Hills, CA, at the age of 77.333 points - Actress
- Producer
- Director
Danish leading woman of German films who became one of the greatest stars of the silent era. A native of the Copenhagen suburb of Vesterbro, Nielsen was the daughter of a coppersmith and a washerwoman, both of whom died before Nielsen was fifteen. Her stage debut came as a child in the chorus of the Kongelige Teater's production of Boito's opera "Mephistopheles." She studied at the Royal Theatre School of Copenhagen and embarked upon a stage career in her late teens. She toured Scandinavia and became one of the highest-paid and most popular stage actresses of her time and place. In 1909, director Urban Gad suggested that the silent screen would allow her to transcend her Danish language barrier, and she agreed appear in his film 'Afgrunden (1910)'. The film was successful and Nielsen was encouraged to continue in this new art form. A German distributor, Paul Davidson, invited Nielsen to Germany, where he was building a film studio which would eventually become Europe's largest--the Universum Film Union A.-G. (or Ufa). Nielsen and her director, Gad, whom she had married, went to Germany and spent the next quarter century there. She became one of the true superstars of the silent screen, a tragic heroine whose photograph during the First World War accompanied German and also British and French troops into battle. Among her notable films after the war was a version of "Hamlet, " which was not so much a Shakespearean film as it was an exploration of a then-current theory that the real Hamlet had been, in fact, a woman. Nielsen played the title role. She continued to play a wide variety of roles in Germany and occasionally in Denmark and Norway, never losing the respect and popularity she had maintained almost from the beginning of her career. She abandoned her film work just as sound was taking over the industry. Aside from one or two brief forays in talkies, her acting was thereafter confined to the stage. She died in 1972 at the age of 89, shortly after her fifth marriage.328 points- Actress
- Writer
Barbara La Marr was born in Yakima, Washington, on July 28, 1896, as Reatha Watson. Her childhood was mostly uneventful, mainly because Yakima--today a medium-sized city with a population of over 50, 000-wasn't exactly a beehive of activity. Her parents eventually moved to the Los Angeles area, where she began to explore the show business lifestyle in whatever form she could. Barbara loved the L.A. way of living and was forced to grow up fast. She was still Reatha at the time, but her arrest for dancing in burlesque while still a teen caused her to change her name to Barbara La Marr to avoid being associated with her past. Her passion was dancing and writing, but the powers-that-be in the movie industry thought she was meant for other things--her dazzling beauty captured the imagination of all who came across her path. Moving to New York, she was ultimately lured into the film world, her first picture being Harriet and the Piper (1920). She was still going by her married name of Barbara Deely (already working to shed her fourth husband) and was being dubbed "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful." The next year she appeared in The Three Musketeers (1921) and Desperate Trails (1921). That same year, her role as Claudine Dupree in The Nut (1921) sent Barbara into super-stardom. Hordes of fans flocked to theaters to see this beautiful actress in movies such as Arabian Love (1922), Trifling Women (1922), Domestic Relations (1922) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) whose beauty kept them enthralled. In 1923, she kept up her frenzied filming pace with such pictures as Poor Men's Wives (1923), The Brass Bottle (1923) and Souls for Sale (1923). The public adored her, as evidenced by the volumes of fan mail she received, but Barbara was more interested in the late-night partying she was involved with. The combination of alcohol and drugs was, clearly, beginning to wear her down. She made four films in 1924 and three in 1925. Her last picture was The Girl from Montmartre (1926). On February 2, 1926, Barbara died of tuberculosis in Altadena, California. Her demise was, no doubt, brought about by her constant late-night partying. She had lived a lifetime and had made 30 films, but was only 29 when she died.328 points- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Bebe Daniels already had toured as an actor by the age of four in a stage production of "Richard III". She had her first leading role at the age of seven and started her film career shortly after this in movies for Imperial, Pathe and others. At 14 she was already a film veteran, and was enlisted by Hal Roach to star as Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his "Lonesome Luke" shorts, distributed by Pathe. Lloyd fell hard for Bebe and seriously considered marrying her, but her drive to pursue a film career along with her sense of independence clashed with Lloyd's Victorian definition of a wife. The two eventually broke up but would remain lifelong friends. Bebe was sought out for stardom by Cecil B. DeMille, who literally pestered her into signing with Paramount. Unlike many actors, the arrival of sound posed no problem for her; she had a beautiful singing voice and became a major musical star, with such hits as Rio Rita (1929) and 42nd Street (1933). In 1930 she married Ben Lyon, with whom she went to England in the mid-'30s, where she became a successful West End stage star. She and her husband also had their own radio show in London, and became the most popular radio team in the country--especially during World War II, when they refused to return to the US and stayed in London, broadcasting even during the worst of the "blitz".
They later appeared in several British films together as their radio characters. Her final film was one in that series, The Lyons Abroad (1955).304 points- Nonna Dooley, the future silent screen star, began her career as a showgirl in a Shubert revue in the Winter Garden, later went on to the famed Ziegfeld Follies.
After a successful career on the stage with the Follies, Nita decided to try her hand with films in Hollywood. Her rise to fame was very quick. In 1920, at the age of 25, she starred with the legendary John Barrymore in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This early role seemed to solidify her film career right from the beginning. It was said she was outstanding and beautiful. Her vamp roles were grand. In 1921, she starred in three fine productions: The Last Door, A Divorce of Convenience, and Experience. She was fast becoming filmdom's leading, sexy lady.
However, it was 1922's Blood and Sand that was to set apart from others. Nita starred opposite Rudolph Valentino in one of the silent era's epic last truly great productions. And it was also the last of the vamp roles filmed since Clara Bow had shown that good girls knew about sex too instead of just her more worldly counterparts. Nita would go on to be Valentino's most frequent co-star.
Nita played Dona Sol who leads the Valentino character into dissipation and disgrace. Nita was an absolute hit as the film was at the box-office. Blood and Sand was a smash hit! She made two more hits in 1922, The Snitching Hour and Anna Ascends, but neither measured up to her role as Dona Sol. Nita made several good films in 1923, but the pinnacle that year was Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Not the powerful epic as was the 1956 version, Nita played an adventurous woman, Sally Lung. It was a saga of wages-of-sin drama with flashbacks to Moses time. The film was well-received. Nita continued to star in good movies, most of which were from Paramount.
In 1926 Nita left for Paris where she eloped with J. Searle Barclay, who she had been dating since 1920. The pair would separate in 1931 when Nita returned to New York and filed bankruptcy. While in Europe she made her last 3 films La Femme Nue, The Golden Mask, and The Mountain Eagle. Despite an attempt in the 1940s Nita never made another film despite an acceptable voice.
In need of money she continued to be active on the stage and later on in the infant medium of television. On February 17, 1961, Nita died of a heart attack in her room at the Wentworth Hotel.304 points - Eugenie Besserer was born in Watertown, New York on Christmas Day of 1868. She was largely a silent film actress who made her debut in 1910's silent version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910). She was 42 at the time. For the most part Eugenie was a character actress, much in demand for filling in roles. Because of her willingness to take just about any role, Eugenie was able to be a part of films such as Enemies of Children (1923), The Millionaire Policeman (1926), The Jazz Singer (1927) (the first "talkie"), and A Royal Romance (1930). Her final film was 1933's To the Last Man (1933). Eugenie died of natural causes on May 28, 1934 in Los Angeles, California.303 points
- Belle Bennett's parents were William and Mary Bendon (stage name Bennett). They appeared in "Billy Bennett's Big Shows" which were traveling shows appearing in tents and local 'opera' houses. The shows presented vaudeville acts and melodramas. Belle was headlining in her teens before moving on to stage and film in her twenties. Dozens of advertisements and articles appeared in the local paper "The Mille Lacs Co. Times." None refer to a circus but to the above mentioned 'shows'.264 points
- Vera Lewis was born on 10 June 1873 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Roaring Twenties (1939), Betty in Search of a Thrill (1915) and Four Daughters (1938). She was married to Ralph Lewis. She died on 8 February 1956 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.264 points
- Betty Bronson's discovery reads like a Hollywood dream. As a New Jersey teenage bit-player, she was rocketed from obscurity when she was chosen to play the part of Peter Pan in 1924's Peter Pan (1924). She was hand-selected by author J.M. Barrie and beat several Hollywood superstars to the part, most notably Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford. Pickford, though nearly 30, had built a career out of playing such parts, and faced the first serious threat to her status as "America's Sweetheart". Betty's beautifully expressive performance and unsophisticated looks earned her instant success. For the year following "Peter Pan"'s release, Bronson-mania easily equaled the sort of hysteria previously reserved only for Pickford.
Unfortunately, Bronson's studio seemed unsure of how to exploit this talent, which was wasted in small or unchallenging roles. "Peter Pan"'s 1925 follow-up, A Kiss for Cinderella (1925), seemed destined for the same success--but instead was a major flop. In only one year the public taste had changed so much as to render the sentimental entertainment of yesteryear obsolete. Had Bronson emerged ten years earlier she would have been a worthy competitor to Pickford; in 1925, audiences were suddenly more interested in the more adult charms of flappers such as Clara Bow and Colleen Moore. Betty, too, was re-launched as a flapper, sophisticate and occasional period dame. Her career was moderately successful but her superstardom had subsided. She sparkled and demonstrated an excellent voice in her first sound appearance (The Singing Fool (1928) with Al Jolson) but it became clear that her formidable skills as a pantomimist was wasted in the new form. She retired in 1933 to marry, and only appeared on-screen intermittently thereafter.257 points - Kathleen Key was born Kitty Lanahan. Her great-great grandfather was Francis Scott Key who composed The Star Spangled Banner. When she was a baby her family moved to ranch in Southern California. In 1920 she made her acting debut opposite Snowy Baker in the Australian film The Jackeroo of Coolabong. Then producer Thomas Ince offered her a contract. Kathleen was given supporting roles in The Rookie's Return and The Beautiful And The Damned. The lovely brunette was chosen as one of the Wampas Baby Stars of 1923. She was signed by MGM and cast as Tirzah in the drama Ben Hur. Her performance got rave reviews and she seemed destined for stardom. Kathleen appeared in several westerns including The Flaming Frontier, Under Western Skies, and The Desert's Toll. Off screen she became known for having a fiery temper.
In an interview she said "I think I'm a little bit crazy. Not much, you understand, but just a little nutty in the head." She was briefly engaged to Ottavio Prochet, an Italian doctor. Then she began a passionate affair with married actor Buster Keaton. When he ended their romance in 1931 she beat him up and ransacked his dressing room. Kathleen was arrested and the bad publicity destroyed her career. Her final role was a bit part in the 1936 film One Rainy Afternoon. By this time she was suffering from alcoholism and nearly bankrupt. She was arrested in November of 1938 for public intoxication. Three years later she was arrested for drunk driving. Eventually was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and moved into the Motion Picture Country House. On December 22, 1954 she died from a hepatic coma at the age of fifty-one. Kathleen was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.257 points - Helen Lynch was born on 6 April 1900 in Billings, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for Romance of the Underworld (1928), Minnie (1922) and Bustin' Thru (1925). She was married to Carroll Nye. She died on 2 March 1965 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.257 points
- Virginia Bradford was born on 7 November 1899 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress, known for Atta Boy (1926), Chicago (1927) and Two Lovers (1928). She was married to Thomas Prentice, Cedric Belfrage, Joseph Petrie Lyons and Frederick Minter. She died on 30 October 1995 in Indiana, USA.256 points
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Born Mary Jeanette Robison. She was the youngest daughter of Henry Robison of Penrith, Cumberland, England and Julia Schelesinger of Liverpool, Lancashire, England. Her father died in 1860 and her mother remarried. In 1866/67 they were living in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and moved back to London, England in 1871. She ran away from home to marry Charles Leveson Gore in 1875 and in 1877 the young couple went to Fort Worth, Texas, USA to establish a cattle ranch. They survived for two years before moving to New York where her husband died about 1881.
In 1884 she took up acting to support her three children (only her son Edward Gore survived childhood). She played both leads and supporting roles on the road and on Broadway, and over several decades she became highly respected as a character actress. She appeared in a few silent films, then returned to the screen for good in 1926 and flourished in the subsequent sound era. She was usually cast as crusty, gruff, domineering society matron or grandmother. For her portrayal of Damon Runyon's Apple Annie in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933), one of her rare starring roles, she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Ultimately she appeared in more than 60 films, the last of which was released the year of her death.256 points- Dutch actress Lien Deyers was discovered by the great German director Fritz Lang, who gave her a part in his film Spies (1928). After that she became a big star in Germany and appeared in many successful films in the 1930s. She married director Alfred Zeisler. When the Nazis came to power, she and her Jewish husband left Germany for England. There she couldn't find work in the film business, so she and her husband went to the US to try their luck.
In the US things went from bad to worse. Unable to find work in Hollywood, she was forced to take jobs outside the business. Her marriage to Zeisler eventually failed, and she took to the bottle to solve her problems. She soon became an alcoholic and had numerous run-ins with the law. She married and divorced a few times, but soon completely vanished from the public view. The last time she was heard from was in 1964, when she was in a Las Vegas (NV) jail. It is thought that she died shortly after that.256 points - Actress
- Additional Crew
Yelena Kuzmina was born on 17 February 1909 in Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. She was an actress, known for Girl No. 217 (1945), Russkiy vopros (1948) and Sekretnaya missiya (1950). She died on 15 October 1979 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].256 points- Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the silent era, Olive Borden was a Mack Sennett bathing beauty at 15 and reached the peak of her career in 1926 when she made 11 films for Fox Studios and was earning $1,500 a week. Refusing to take a salary cut, Borden abruptly left Fox in 1928 and made only a few pictures for other studios before retiring from films in 1938. In 1943, she joined the WACS, and after her discharge, returned to Hollywood in a failed attempt to revive her career. At the time she was quoted as saying, "Since I got out of the Army I've gone from job to job. Something always goes wrong." By 1946 she was found scrubbing floors for a living and in 1947, at the age of 40, died of a "stomach ailment" at the Sunshine Mission - a home for destitute women on Los Angeles' Skid Row.255 points
- Lydia Knott was born on 1 October 1866 in Tyner, Indiana, USA. She was an actress, known for Luck in Pawn (1919), As Ye Sow (1914) and Crime and Punishment (1917). She died on 30 March 1955 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.253 points
- Actress
- Writer
Natalie Talmadge was the middle daughter of the original "stage mother", Margaret Talmadge (Peg). Her two sisters, Constance Talmadge (the comedienne) and Norma Talmadge (the tragedian) were also in the movies, and had their own production companies, bankrolled by Norma's husband in the 1920s, Joseph M. Schenck. Natalie married Buster Keaton in 1921. She only played one further role, "Virginia Canfield" in Keaton's Our Hospitality (1923). She had worked for Comique as a script girl/secretary for Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle in 1917, and traveled west with the troupe when Schenck found new premises for "Roscoe" in California. She spent a lot of time signing autographs on behalf of her popular sister, Contance. Anita Loos, author of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", wrote a book called "The Talmadge Girls", which is mainly about Constance and Norma; Loos based the philosophy of "Lorelei Lee" on the philosophy of Peg Talmadge ("Get the money, and then get comfortable"). Natalie ended her days after her divorce from Keaton in a house in Santa Monica, a confirmed alcoholic. Apart from "Our Hospitality", she appeared in supporting roles in several of her sister Norma's films (now believed to be lost).253 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Irene Luther on October 13, 1891, silent-screen femme Irene Rich came from a once well-to-do family in Buffalo, New York. Her father had a reversal of fortune while she was quite young and the family subsequently had to move to California. Following her education, Irene pursued a career as a realtor. She had already married twice by the time she decided to become an actress and, by the "ripe old age" of 27, had begun working as a movie extra.
Success came quickly for Irene and her first part of real substance was in The Girl in His House (1918). She continued on as a poised, resourceful co-star and became a particular favorite of Will Rogers, who used her in Water, Water, Everywhere (1920), The Strange Boarder (1920), Jes' Call Me Jim (1920), Boys Will Be Boys (1921) and The Ropin' Fool (1922). Her array of leading men ran the gamut -- from Harry Carey in Desperate Trails (1921) to Lon Chaney in The Trap (1922) to John Barrymore in Beau Brummel (1924) to movie mutt Strongheart the Dog in Brawn of the North (1922).
Irene's true screen persona, however, arrived in the form of tearjerkers, nobly portraying the ever-suffering, well-coiffed "doormat" in her own plush, domestic dramas. Somewhat reminiscent in both looks, style and demeanor of Irene Dunne, she became a favorite in women's pictures throughout the 1920s, one of her best known roles being in Lady Windermere's Fan (1925).
With age Irene moved into more motherly roles, and by the coming of sound she was playing Will Rogers' pushy wife in a few of his social comedies, including So This Is London (1930) and Down to Earth (1932). At around the same time Irene enjoyed a spectacular new career on radio. In 1933 she began her nationwide anthology program entitled "Dear John" (also called "The Irene Rich Show"), which lasted over a decade. Her leading man on that show for many of those years was Gale Gordon, who later played Lucille Ball's apoplectic boss and nemesis on 1960s TV.
Irene also enjoyed some success on stage in such productions as "Seven Keys to Baldpate" (1935), which starred George M. Cohan. Eventually she left it all, marrying a fourth time to businessman George Henry Clifford in 1950, and settling in comfortable retirement. She died at age 96 quietly of heart failure and was survived by two daughters, one of whom, Frances Rich, was an actress briefly on the 1930s stage and screen before becoming a noted sculptor.252 points- Carrie Daumery was born Carrie Mess in Amersterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She was an actress who married Belgian composer and pianist, Théophile Ysaÿe (1865-1918). After her husband's death in Nice, France, she moved to the United States. She had acted in two short films in France in 1908, and began her career in Hollywood films in 1921 as a bit player at poverty row studios, eventually moving to the major studios. She died on July 1, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Her son, John Daumery, was born in 1898 in Brussels, Belgium, and became a director for Warner Brothers and other studios.252 points
- Theresa Maxwell Conover was born on 26 September 1884 in Richmond, Indiana, USA. She was an actress, known for When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), Yolanda (1924) and The Age of Innocence (1934). She died in September 1968 in Levittown, New York, USA.252 points
- Houston-born-and-bred Florence Vidor was one of the great beauties of early Hollywood. But while her photogenic looks went a long way, audiences would not get to enjoy or really experience her voice as she abruptly left the silver screen after her first disastrous attempt at a talking picture.
Born Florence Arto on July 23, 1895, she was the daughter of realtor John F. Arto and his wife Ida. Educated in both public and finishing schools, she was also a student at the Convent of the Sacred Heart for a time. Her fate was sealed after a happenstance but eventful first meeting of two aspiring filmmakers: future directors Edward Sedgwick and King Vidor. Vidor, a freelance photographer, cast Florence in his very first 2-reel picture although she had no real designs on being an actress. The two became a romantic item, married in 1915, and welcomed one child together, Suzanne Vidor Parry, in 1919.
King set his sites on Hollywood and the couple made the big move, financing their trip by filming travelogue for the Ford Motor Company. The couple settled in Santa Monica and soon found employment at Vitagraph Studios. Florence knew actress Corinne Griffith from her days in Houston and was introduced around the sets. The studio, quite taken by her exquisite beauty, quickly signed her to a contract, starting with some minor roles in such comedy shorts as The Yellow Girl (1916) and Curfew at Simpton Center (1916). Meanwhile, husband King sought work as a scriptwriter and occasional movie extra.
Florence first turned heads portraying tragic seamstress "Mimi" in A Tale of Two Cities (1917). Audiences took notice and the beautiful brunette was immediately promoted to leading-lady status opposite such established stars as Sessue Hayakawa and chic "drag" performer Julian Eltinge. She and Hayakawa made several pictures together, including Hashimura Togo (1917), The Secret Game (1917), and The White Man's Law (1918), among others. With the popular Eltinge, who often outdressed his leading ladies, the actress graced the comedies The Countess Charming (1917) and The Widow's Might (1918). Within a short time she was starring in quality pictures for both William C. de Mille and his brother Cecil B. DeMille, but still preferred to work for her husband King, who had by this time established himself as a formidable director after opening his own studio in 1919.
A mature, opulent presence, Florence became a huge star under her husband's guidance, operating under the banners of King Vidor Productions and Florence Vidor Productions. With such silent classics as The Other Half (1919), Poor Relations (1919), The Family Honor (1920), The Jack-Knife Man (1920), Real Adventure (1922), Dusk to Dawn (1922), and Conquering the Woman (1922), Florence came to the forefront. Her best-regarded film of that period was King's comedy-drama Alice Adams (1923), remade successfully a decade later by Katharine Hepburn.
King and Florence divorced in 1924 and Florence went on to appear for other well-known directors, notably Ernst Lubitsch, in such glossy pictures as The Marriage Circle (1924) and The Patriot (1928). She also portrayed famous female Revolutionary War character Barbara Frietchie in Barbara Frietchie (1924), but she earned most of her kudos specializing in sophisticated comedy. She was well represented in that genre with Marry Me (1925), The Grand Duchess and the Waiter (1926), and The Magnificent Flirt (1928). Her stylish humor coupled with a charming sensitivity put her squarely on top throughout most of the 1920s opposite such other well-tailored charmers as Adolphe Menjou, Clive Brook, and William Powell.
Florence's first major talking film would also be her last. The unhappy experience and end-result of working on Chinatown Nights (1929), which used highly experimental sound equipment, was enough to convince her to leave films altogether. By that time Florence had married a second time, to famed violinist Jascha Heifetz, and preferred to raise a family. The couple had two children. Following their divorce in 1946, Florence continued to remain completely out of the limelight. She later moved to Pacific Palisades, California and stayed there for the rest of her life. She succumbed to heart failure in 1977 at age 82.252 points - Actress
- Soundtrack
Gina Manès was born on 7 April 1893 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Thérèse Raquin (1928), Le diable en bouteille (1935) and La nuit rouge (1923). She died on 6 September 1989 in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France.252 points- Brunette, exotic Lucienne Marie Marchal overcame her affliction with shyness by enrolling in, and ultimately winning, a beauty contest. One of the judges was the director Léonce Perret, who promptly helped her get her first role in motion pictures. After that, her face was sufficient to keep her in constant demand for both leading and supporting roles in Hollywood silent films (with MGM and Paramount), as well as in French and German-speaking productions. She hit her highs in such popular fare as Madame Sans-Gêne (1925) (as Napoleon Bonaparte's sister), Diplomacy (1926) (as rival to Blanche Sweet) and Blonde or Brunette (1927) (as the 'brunette' love interest to Adolphe Menjou). Arlette was not just a pretty face, however, as American critics consistently rated her performances from at least 'satisfactory', to 'excellent'. Back on the European continent from 1928, she had a few more successes before appearances in front of the camera became more widely spaced. By 1951, she had given up acting and concentrated on running her chain of fashion houses in France.252 points
- Marie Mosquini was a pert, slightly-built comedienne of amazingly prolific output. Between 1917 and 1926, the feisty brunette appeared in close to 200 one- and two-reel shorts, mostly for Hal Roach. She was featured in the initial series of comedies, which propelled Stan Laurel to stardom. Following that, she enjoyed a lengthy run as leading lady to pint-sized Australian comic 'Snub' Pollard, often under the direction of another noted farceur, Charley Chase. Marie also co-starred opposite Will Rogers in Two Wagons: Both Covered (1924), a clever send-up of the classic silent western The Covered Wagon (1923). After striking up a close friendship with fellow actress Bebe Daniels, she was regularly featured in the films of Harold Lloyd, albeit only in minor supporting roles.
Marie Mosquini was born in Los Angeles in December 1899 and educated at a convent school. She spent three years as a stenographer, before deciding to try her luck in Hollywood. The bulk of her work consisted of short comedies, but there were also a handful of feature films for Paramount and Fox, including a rare dramatic role as Madame Gobin in the classic Janet Gaynor romance 7th Heaven (1927). Marie went into quasi retirement in October 1930 after her marriage to electronics and radio pioneer Lee De Forest, a man 26 years her senior. She became a leading socialite during the 1930's, though continuing to dabble in film acting up to 1938. Seven years after her husband's death in 1961, Marie De Forest became a well-known 'Novice Class' HAM radio operator and member of the Lockheed-affiliated LERC Amateur Radio Club.252 points - The daughter of actress Billie Brockwell, Brockwell first appeared on the stage at the age of three. She made her screen debut in Philadelphia for the Lubin Company in 1913, later working with D.W. Griffith. Joining Fox Studios, Brockwell was one of the busiest actresses in town and easily made the transition to sound films. Married to director Robert Broadwell, she was also married for a brief period to Harry Edwards, former husband of actress Louise Glaum. On June 27, Brockwell was a passenger in a car with her boyfriend, advertising man Thomas Stanley Brennan, when the car plunged over a 75 foot embankment in Calabasas. Brockwell was pinned under the car and sustained compound fractures to her jaw, a fractured skull and several other serious injuries Brennan was seriously hurt and survived his injuries. While hospitalized, Brockwell received four blood transfusions and died from peritonitis which developed as a result of her several injuries. Brennan stated that dust and cinders blew into his eyes causing him to lose control of the vehicle, he was exonerated of blame by the coroner's jury.252 points
- Norah Baring was born on 26 November 1905 in Acton, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Murder! (1930), Underground (1928) and Mystery at the Villa Rose (1930). She was married to John Henry K. Baerselman, Douglas A. Forbes and Ronald M. Simon. She died on 8 February 1985 in Puttenham, Surrey, England, UK.252 points
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Elsie Charlotte (Hennessy) and John Charles Smith. She was of English and Irish descent. Pickford began in the theater at age seven. Then known as "Baby Gladys Smith", she toured with her family in a number of theater companies. At some point, at her devout maternal grandmother's insistence, when young Gladys was seriously ill with diphtheria, she received a Catholic baptism and her middle name was changed to "Marie".
In 1907, she adopted a family name Pickford and joined the David Belasco troupe, appearing in the long-running The Warrens of Virginia". She began in films in 1909 with the 'American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]', working with director D.W. Griffith.
For a short time in 1911, to earn more money, she joined the IMP Film Co. under Carl Laemmle. She returned to Biograph in 1912, then, in 1913 joined the Famous Players Film Company under Adolph Zukor. She then joined First National Exhibitor's Circuit in 1918. In 1919, she co-founded United Artists with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and then-future husband, Douglas Fairbanks.251 points