1920s acting scene
by animefan-08335 | created - 28 Feb 2019 | updated - 06 Mar 2019 | Public
1. Clara Bow
Actress | Wings
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 ...
2. Greta Garbo
Actress | Ninotchka
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 ...
3. Mary Astor
Actress | The Maltese Falcon
Mary Astor was born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke on May 3, 1906 in Quincy, Illinois to Helen Marie Vasconcellos, an American of Portuguese and Irish ancestry from Illinois, and Otto Ludwig Langhanke, a German immigrant. Mary's parents were very ambitious for her and wanted something better for her...
4. Dolores Del Río
Actress | Las abandonadas
Dolores del Rio was the one of the first Mexican movie stars with international appeal and who had meteoric career in the 1920s/1930s Hollywood. Del Rio came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything and emigrated to Mexico City, ...
5. Aileen Pringle
Actress | The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Aileen Pringle's favorite film was a mid-1920s silent based on a book by Elinor Glyn: Three Weeks (1924), sort of a "Lady Chatterly's Lover". She recalled in a 1980 telephone conversation: "The film was in good taste; some people thought the book was trashy". Anita Loos wrote in "A Girl Like I", the...
6. Betty Balfour
Actress | Champagne
Betty Balfour was born on March 27, 1903 in London, England, UK. She was an actress and producer, known for Champagne (1928), Squibs (1935) and Squibs' Honeymoon (1923). She was married to Jimmy Campbell. She died on November 4, 1977 in Weybridge, Surrey, England, UK.
7. Betty Bronson
Actress | Peter Pan
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, ...
8. Myrna Loy
Actress | The Thin Man
Myrna Williams, later to become Myrna Loy, was born on August 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Radersburg where she spent her youth on a cattle ranch. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of ...
9. Jean Arthur
Actress | You Can't Take It with You
This marvelous screen comedienne's best asset was only muffled during her seven years' stint in silent films. That asset? It was, of course, her squeaky, frog-like voice, which silent-era cinema audiences had simply no way of perceiving, much less appreciating. Jean Arthur, born Gladys Georgianna ...
10. Louise Dresser
Actress | The Scarlet Empress
This knowing, plump-framed, strong-willed actress went on to play the gamut of emotions, from downtrodden, drunken ex-stars to self-controlled dowager empresses, in both silent pictures and early talkies. Grandly supporting the huge stars of her day (including Rudolph Valentino and Will Rogers), ...
11. Janet Gaynor
Actress | A Star Is Born
Janet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor on October 6, 1906, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, she & her parents moved to San Francisco, California, where she graduated from high school in 1923. She then moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled in a secretarial school. She got a job at a shoe ...
12. Fay Wray
Actress | King Kong
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 ...
13. Brigitte Helm
Actress | Metropolis
Born in Berlin, Germany. After her role in Metropolis (1927) she made a string of movies in which she almost always had the starring role, easily making the transition to sound films. Her last film was An Ideal Spouse (1935) which was released in 1935. She died on June 11th 1996 of heart failure in...
14. Kathryn Carver
Actress | Serenade
Kathryn Carver was born on August 24, 1899 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Serenade (1927), Outcast (1928) and No Defense (1929). She was married to Paul Vincent Hall, Adolphe Menjou and Ira L. Hill. She died on July 17, 1947 in Elmhurst, Long Island, New York, USA.
15. Billie Dove
Actress | The Black Pirate
In her silent heyday, this ravishing and highly photogenic star, known for her voluptuous femininity on the silent screen, rivaled that of Mary Pickford, Marion Davies and Clara Bow in popularity. She retired after only a few years into the talking picture era, however, and is not as ...
16. Marian Nixon
Actress | Captain Calamity
Marian Nixon was born on October 20, 1904, in Superior, Wisconsin. Her career started in 1923 when she played Agnes Evans in Cupid's Fireman (1923). She was nineteen. Marian always gave a good account for herself when she appeared in films and was much in demand throughout the 1920s. Marian was one...
17. Barbara Bedford
Actress | The Last of the Mohicans
Barbara Bedford was born on July 19, 1903 in Eastman, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1920), Sunshine of Paradise Alley (1926) and The Spoilers (1923). She was married to Terry Spencer, Alan Roscoe and Irvin Willat. She died on October 25, 1981 in ...
18. Madge Bellamy
Actress | White Zombie
Madge was born as Margaret Philpott in Texas. She got her start in theater working with a stock company in Denver. Put under a personal contract by a Broadway producer, Madge got her big break when she replaced Helen Hayes in the Broadway play "Dear Brutus". Her success as a stage actress led to ...
19. Sue Carol
Actress | In Line of Duty
Sue Carol was born Evelyn Jeannette Lederer on October 30, 1906 in Chicago, Illinois, to Caroline (Schmidt) and Samuel Lederer. Her parents were Jewish immigrants (from Bohemia and Germany). She was 20 years old when she entered film work. Her first role was a bit part in Soft Cushions (1927) in ...
20. Marceline Day
Actress | The Cameraman
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 ...
21. Mary Nolan
Actress | Desert Nights
Blonde and utterly beautiful, Mary Nolan had the requisite figure and prettiness to rise up fast in the Hollywood ranks. Her downfall, however, would be just as fast and not at all pretty.
She was born Mary Imogene Robertson in 1905 and began her show-business career as a teenage model. Showman ...
22. Virginia Brown Faire
Actress | Broadway Billy
Virginia Brown Faire was born on June 26, 1904 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Broadway Billy (1926), Handcuffed (1929) and The Calgary Stampede (1925). She was married to William Bayer, Duke Worne, Jack Dougherty and Dick Durham. She died on June 30, 1980 ...
23. Barbara La Marr
Actress | The Eternal City
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, ...
24. Joan Crawford
Actress | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1906, in San Antonio, Texas, to Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry laborer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated, and by the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. It wasn't an easy life; ...
25. Dorothy Mackaill
Actress | Chickie
Dorothy Mackaill was 11 when her parents separated; she then lived with her father. A rebellious teenager, Dorothy -- who had long wanted a career in the theater -- ran away to London and finally persuaded her father to pay for her board and lessons. Her first job was in the chorus; she then ...
26. Nita Naldi
Actress | The Ten Commandments
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 ...
27. Gertrude Olmstead
Actress | The Monster
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...
28. Mary Philbin
Actress | The Man Who Laughs
Mary Philbin's life should be a lesson to domineering parents. Mary was born on July 16, 1903, in Chicago, Illinois, to John Philbin and his first wife and namesake, Mary. The child was regarded as a little beauty from an early age and her mother was exceedingly proud of her and loved to show her ...
29. Leni Riefenstahl
Producer | Das blaue Licht - Eine Berglegende aus den Dolomiten
Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With...
30. Lilyan Tashman
Actress | The Matrimonial Bed
Lilyan Tashman was born on October 23, 1896 in Brooklyn, New York to Rose (Cook) from Germany and Morris Tashman from Bialystock, Poland. After toying with stage work, Lilyan made her film debut with Experience (1921), followed the next year by Head Over Heels (1922) (this was at a time when some ...
31. Olive Borden
Actress | Gang War
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...
32. Alberta Vaughn
Actress | Randy Rides Alone
Alberta Vaughn was born on June 27, 1904 in Ashland, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for Randy Rides Alone (1934), The Adorable Deceiver (1926) and The Live Wire (1935). She was married to John Robert Thomas (contractor) and Joe Egli. She died on April 26, 1992 in Studio City, California, ...
Skyscraper The Drop Kick The Romantic Age
33. Lupe Velez
Actress | The Girl from Mexico
Lupe Velez was born on July 18, 1908, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, as Maria Guadalupe Villalobos Velez. She was sent to Texas at the age of 13 to live in a convent. She later admitted that she wasn't much of a student because she was so rambunctious. She had planned to become a champion roller ...
34. Alice White
Actress | Show Girl in Hollywood
This Hollywood High graduate began her career as a secretary and script girl, working for Josef von Sternberg and Charles Chaplin. A sexy and bubbly player, she was repeatedly miscast as a singer-dancer. She toured the vaudeville circuit after her career spluttered, returning to Hollywood only to ...
35. Jacqueline Logan
Actress | The King of Kings
Beautiful auburn-haired, green-eyed leading lady of the silent screen, a "hand-picked" (by the great Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. himself) Ziegfeld Follies girl of 1920. "Jackie" was the daughter of architect Charles A. Logan and the Boston Conservatory opera singer and music teacher Marion Logan. She had ...
36. Jane Winton
Actress | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Statuesque, gorgeous Jane Winton was billed as the "Green-Eyed Goddess of Hollywood". The former Ziegfeld Follies dancer appeared in a good number of films from 1925--if not as the nominal star, then at least very high up on the list of credits. Her aloof beauty was tailor-made for playing ...
37. Natalie Kingston
Actress | Tarzan the Tiger
She traced her lineage back to the first Spanish governor of California. Her great-grandfather on her mother's side was Hungarian-born Agoston Haraszthy, dubbed the father of Californian viticulture. Leggy, olive-complexioned Natalia Ringstrom grew up and was educated in the San Francisco Bay area....
38. Carmelita Geraghty
Actress | The Pleasure Garden
The daughter of screenwriter Tom Geraghty and sister of writers Maurice Geraghty and Gerald Geraghty, Carmelita Geraghty was a graduate of Hollywood High School, where she was in charge of the school calendar. Voted a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1924, she spent most of her career as a leading lady, playing ...
39. Dorothy Sebastian
Actress | A Woman of Affairs
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 ...
40. June Marlowe
Actress | Pardon Us
June Marlowe was born on November 6, 1903 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for Pardon Us (1931), The Life of Riley (1927) and Code of the Air (1928). She was married to Rodney Sprigg. She died on March 10, 1984 in Burbank, California, USA.
41. Molly O'Day
Actress | The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
Molly O'Day was born on October 16, 1911 in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1928), The Patent Leather Kid (1927) and Bars of Hate (1935). She was married to James Kenaston and Jack Durant. She died on October 22, 1998 in Avila Beach, ...
42. Sally O'Neil
Actress | Sally, Irene and Mary
Cute-as-a-button, diminutive (5'2"), green-eyed brunette Sally O'Neil (sometimes billed as Sally O'Neill was a silent and early sound leading lady who maintained her leading status throughout her movie career. Born on October 23, 1908, in Bayonne, New Jersey, her father, Thomas Francis Patrick ...
43. Mary Brian
Actress | Peter Pan
Dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures", Mary Brian started life as Louise Byrdie Datzler. She was born in Corsicana, Texas, and went to high school in Dallas. Her widowed mother had big plans for young Louise and took her to California in 1923, with the intention of getting her into the film ...
44. Estelle Brody
Actress | Hindle Wakes
Estelle Brody was born on August 15, 1900 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Fanny Hawthorne (1927), Anne of Green Gables (1952) and Kitty (1929). She died on June 3, 1995 in La Vallette, Malta.
45. Leila Hyams
Actress | Freaks
Leila Hyams was one of the top leading ladies of the early talkie pre-code years. She was a likable, pleasing actress with a charming presence. She had much spark, personality and charisma, and a touch of down-to-earthiness and naturalness that won over movie fans; they could relate to her. A ...
46. Patsy Ruth Miller
Actress | The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Patsy Ruth Miller was born on January 17, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Daughters of Today (1924) and Fools in the Dark (1924). She was married to Effingham Smith Deans, John Lee Mahin and Tay Garnett. She died on July 16, 1995 ...
47. Nancy Carroll
Actress | The Kiss Before the Mirror
Nancy Carroll was born Ann Veronica Lahiff on November 19, 1903 in New York City. Nancy was the youngest of seven children. At the age of sixteen she dropped out of high school to work as a stenographer. Then she began performing in local talent competitions. She was a gifted dancer and appeared in...
48. Lois Moran
Actress | Stella Dallas
Her soft Irish beauty highlighted many films in the late 1920s and 1930s, but film actress Lois Moran's major claim to fame was as F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for the character of "Rosemary" in his classic novel Tender Is the Night. Lois trained in dance while young and moved to Paris with ...
49. Helen Foster
Actress | The Road to Ruin
Helen Foster was born on May 23, 1906 in Independence, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for The Road to Ruin (1928), The Primrose Path (1931) and Is There Justice? (1931). She died on December 25, 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
50. Greta Nissen
Actress | The Unwritten Law
Greta Ruzt-Nissen was born in Oslo, Norway, on January 30, 1905. As a young girl she studied dance and had intended to make a career out of it. For a while she did, but when she was 19 she appeared in her first big-screen production, The Wanderer (1925). Afterwards she made several more films, but ...
51. Sigrid Holmquist
Actress | The Light That Failed
Sigrid Holmquist was born on February 21, 1899 in Borås, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Light That Failed (1923), The Early Bird (1925) and The Men Women Love (1926). She was married to Anthony Cirici. She died on July 9, 1970 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
52. Annabella
Actress | Le million
At age 16, Annabella was chosen by Abel Gance to appear in Napoleon (1927). In the 30s, she became a star of French movies. She made movies in numerous other countries, before being called to Hollywood in 1938, where she met and married Tyrone Power. She remained in the USA until 1947. Then she ...
53. Catherine Hessling
Actress | Nana
Catherine Hessling was born on June 22, 1900 in Moronvilliers, Marne, France. She was an actress, known for Nana (1926), Little Red Riding Hood (1930) and Whirlpool of Fate (1925). She was married to Jean Renoir. She died on September 28, 1979 in La-Celle-Saint-Cloud, Yvelines, France.
54. Betty Ross Clarke
Actress | If I Were King
This brown-haired, grey-eyed ingénue of the early 20's made her way to the screen via touring stock companies immediately upon completing her education. She was a vaudeville dancer, then had a small role on Broadway in 1917. Eventually, she would come to greater prominence on the London stage. ...
55. June Collyer
Actress | The Ghost Walks
June Collyer was born Dorothea Heermance in New York City on August 19, 1906. She began her career in the film East Side, West Side (1927). After making the successful change to the sound era, June continued to work, something some of her counterparts couldn't do. She appeared on the silver screen ...
56. Dorothy Dwan
Actress | The Drifter
Dorothy Dwan was born on April 26, 1906 in Sedalia, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for The Drifter (1929), The Wizard of Oz (1925) and Square Crooks (1928). She was married to Paul Northcutt Boggs Jr., Larry Semon and Fred Buckels. She died on March 17, 1981 in Ventura, California, USA.
57. Ruth Mix
Actress | Saddle Aces
Ruth Mix was born on July 13, 1912 in Dewey, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress, known for Saddle Aces (1935), Custer's Last Stand (1936) and The Black Coin (1936). She was married to William Hickman Hill, Howard Tilman Cragg, John A. Guthrie, Harry Knight and Douglas Gilmore. She died on September ...
58. Alice Day
Actress | Two-Fisted Law
Alice Day began her film career as a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty in her mid-teens, and by age 18 was starring in features. Her younger sister, Marceline Day, was also an actress, but Alice never managed to eclipse her sister's career. She was soon working mainly in B pictures and shorts, and ...
59. Josephine Dunn
Actress | Murder at Dawn
Convent-educated Mary Josephine Dunn got her start in the chorus line of 'Good Morning, Dearie' at the age of 15. She was briefly in the Ziegfeld Follies and, in 1924, had a walk-on in 'Dear Sir' on Broadway. Two years later, she was picked by a talent scout to join the Paramount acting school for ...
Excess Baggage The Sorrows of Satan
60. Thelma Todd
Actress | Horse Feathers
Thelma Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, an industrial city near the New Hampshire state line. She was a lovely child with good academic tendencies, so much so that she decided early on to become a schoolteacher. After high school she went on to college but at her mother's insistence ...
61. Gwen Lee
Actress | A Lady of Chance
She was one of the archetypal flappers of the Jazz Age. Blonde, blue-eyed and impeccably coiffured, we recall Gwen Lee as tall, blonde flibbertigibbets and gold-digging vamps in films of the late 1920s and early '30s. Gwen was born in Nebraska and attended school in Omaha. Having suitably shortened...
62. Lilian Harvey
Actress | Die Drei von der Tankstelle
Lilian Harvey was born on January 19th, 1906 in London. Her mother was English and her father was German. When she was eight her family moved to Berlin shortly before the outbreak of WW1. She spent much of the war at school in Switzerland where she broadened her knowledge of languages and classical...
63. Betty Amann
Actress | Asphalt
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 ...
64. Jetta Goudal
Actress | Open All Night
Although Dutch-born silent screen femme fatale Jetta Goudal (pronounced Zhett-eh Goo-doll) may be pretty much forgotten today, she was, in her glorious Hollywood heyday, a star rivaling that of Gloria Swanson and fellow vamps Barbara La Marr and Nita Naldi. The daughter of a Jewish orthodox diamond...
65. Camilla Horn
Actress | Schloß Königswald
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 ...
66. Anna Sten
Actress | Devushka s korobkoy
Born in Russian Empire to a Ukrainian father and a Swedish mother, Anna Sten studied at the Russian Film Academy and joined the Moscow Art Theater. Strikingly beautiful, she went on to appear in a number of Russian silent films, but it was in the German film Der Mörder Dimitri Karamasoff (1931)...
67. Janet Gaynor
Actress | A Star Is Born
Janet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor on October 6, 1906, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, she & her parents moved to San Francisco, California, where she graduated from high school in 1923. She then moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled in a secretarial school. She got a job at a shoe ...
1609 points
68. Brigitte Helm
Actress | Metropolis
Born in Berlin, Germany. After her role in Metropolis (1927) she made a string of movies in which she almost always had the starring role, easily making the transition to sound films. Her last film was An Ideal Spouse (1935) which was released in 1935. She died on June 11th 1996 of heart failure in...
1401 points
69. Jane Winton
Actress | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Statuesque, gorgeous Jane Winton was billed as the "Green-Eyed Goddess of Hollywood". The former Ziegfeld Follies dancer appeared in a good number of films from 1925--if not as the nominal star, then at least very high up on the list of credits. Her aloof beauty was tailor-made for playing ...
1353 points
70. Maly Delschaft
Actress | Der letzte Mann
Maly Delschaft was born on December 4, 1898 in Hamburg, Germany. She was an actress, known for The Last Laugh (1924), Emilia Galotti (1958) and Im weißen Rößl (1926). She died on August 20, 1995 in Berlin, Germany.
1230 points
71. Mary Philbin
Actress | The Man Who Laughs
Mary Philbin's life should be a lesson to domineering parents. Mary was born on July 16, 1903, in Chicago, Illinois, to John Philbin and his first wife and namesake, Mary. The child was regarded as a little beauty from an early age and her mother was exceedingly proud of her and loved to show her ...
1196 points
72. Eleanor Boardman
Actress | Souls for Sale
Philadelphia-born Eleanor Boardman had always wanted to be an actress, and as soon as she graduated high school she headed for New York to conquer Broadway. When Broadway proved not quite ready to be conquered yet, she took whatever jobs she could find, including one as an artist's model. In that ...
1146 points
73. Barbara Kent
Actress | Lonesome
A pretty, diminutive (4'11") actress of the silent and early sound era, Barbara Cloutman (later Kent) was born in Gadsby, Alberta, Canada on December 16, 1907. Upon graduating from Hollywood High School in 1925, Kent won the Miss Hollywood Pageant, and set her sights on a career in the movies. She ...
1057 points
74. Louise Brooks
Actress | Die Büchse der Pandora
Mary Louise Brooks, also known by her childhood name of Brooksie, was born in the Midwestern town of Cherryvale, Kansas, on November 14, 1906. She began dancing at an early age with the Denishawn Dancers (which was how she left Kansas and went to New York) and then with George White's Scandals ...
1044 points
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