1850-1950, Ladies with 200+ movie credits
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- Florence Lawrence was the first film player whose name was used to promote her films and the studio (Independent Moving Pictures Company [IMP]) for which she worked. Before her, actors and actresses worked anonymously, partly out of fear that stage managers would refuse to hire them if they were found to be working in films and partly because movie executives didn't want to put much money into the production of these short, practically disposable films, and didn't want their players to become well known and start demanding higher salaries. Lawrence was on the stage from age three, appearing in musicals and plays, whistling and playing the violin. At 20 she was cast in the Edison production of Daniel Boone (1907), and that led to work at Vitagraph Studios. From there she was hired by Biograph, where she refined and perfected her craft under the direction of D.W. Griffith. In 1909 she left Biograph to seek more recognizable employment at another film company. As a result she was blacklisted by the Motion Picture Trust, headed by Thomas A. Edison, to which most motion-picture producers belonged and which held the patents on most film production equipment and would not allow any companies that did not belong to the Trust to use them. Carl Laemmle started IMP in late 1909, and refused to join the Motion Picture Trust. The Trust took action--both legal and otherwise--to discourage Laemmle from producing films on his own. Lawrence and her husband, director Harry Solter, signed on as IMP's first featured players. In 1910 Laemmle, partly out of anger over the Trust's actions--such as hiring thugs to attack his film crews and wreck his equipment--decided to advertise the fact that he had Miss Lawrence. She made the first personal appearance of a film star in St. Louis, MO, that March, and the resulting publicity made her famous (and also increased the grosses on her--and Laemmle's--films). Other film companies soon followed suit, and the names of film actors and actresses began to appear in all segments of the media. Lawrence worked for IMP for a year, then spent another year at Lubin before she began her own production company, Victor, where she worked on and off until 1914. After a stage accident in which she injured her back, she retired from films, only to be lured back in 1916 for her first feature, Elusive Isabel (1916). It was unsuccessful. She tried a comeback again in 1921; that, too, was unsuccessful. She settled into bit parts and character roles through the 1920s and 1930s. She committed suicide in 1938 after years of unhappiness and illness. She was found in her apartment on Dec. 27, 1938 and died soon afterward in hospital.Canada. USA.
1890 - 1938. (48).
300 credits, 1906-1936. - Actress
- Soundtrack
A mining engineer's daughter, blond, blue-eyed Betty Compson began in show business playing the violin in a Salt Lake City vaudeville establishment for $15 a week. Following that, she went on tour, accompanied by her mother, with an act called 'The Vagabond Violinist'. Aged eighteen, she appeared on the Alexander Pantages Theatre Circuit, again doing her violin solo vaudeville routine, and was spotted there by comedy producer Al Christie. Christie quickly changed her stage name from Eleanor to Betty. For the next few years, she turned out a steady stream of one-reel and two-reel slapstick comedies, frequently paired with Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.
In 1919, Betty was signed by writer-director George Loane Tucker to co-star opposite Lon Chaney as Rose in The Miracle Man (1919). The film was a huge critical and financial success and established Betty Compson as a major star at Paramount (under contract from 1921 to 1925). One of the more highly paid performers of the silent screen, her weekly earnings exceeded $5000 a week at the peak of her career. She came to own a fleet of luxury limousines and was able to move from a bungalow in the hills overlooking Hollywood to an expensive mansion on Hollywood Boulevard. From 1921, Betty also owned her own production company. She went on to make several films in England between 1923 and 1924 for the director Graham Cutts.
During the late 1920's, Betty appeared in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles. She received good reviews acting opposite George Bancroft as a waterfront prostitute in The Docks of New York (1928), and was even nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of a carnival girl in The Barker (1928). She gave a touching performance in The Great Gabbo (1929), directed by her then husband James Cruze, as the assistant of a demented ventriloquist (Erich von Stroheim), with whom she is unhappily in love. That same year, she appeared in RKO's first sound film, Street Girl (1929), and was briefly under contract to that studio, cast in so-called 'women's pictures' such as The Lady Refuses (1931) and Three Who Loved (1931).
The stature of her roles began to diminish from the mid 1930s, though she continued to act in character parts until 1948.
Betty's personal fortunes also declined. This came about primarily as a result of her marital contract to the alcoholic Cruze, whom she had divorced in 1929. For several years, Cruze had failed to pay his income tax and Betty (linked financially to Cruze) ended up being sued by the federal government to the tune of $150,000. This forced her to sell her Hollywood villa, her cars and her antiques.
In later years, Betty Compson developed her own cosmetics label and ran a business in California producing personalized ashtrays for the hospitality industry.USA
1897 - 1974. (77).
222 credits, 1915-1954.- Rosemary Theby was born Rose Masing in St. Louis, MO, on April 8, 1892. She began her career at age 27 in 1912, with a part in The Godmother (1912), and went on to appear in more than 90 films. She was much in demand and was one of the most sought-after character actresses, and survived the transition from the silent era into the "talkie" stage. She was married to director Harry Myers for more than 20 years. He died in 1938 and two years later, after appearing in One Million B.C. (1940), she retired to Kansas City, MO.
She died June 10, 1973, at the Virgil Convalescent Center in Los Angeles, CA.USA.
247 credits, 1911-1940. - Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actress
One of the greatest playback singers in Bollywood history, Asha Bhosle has recorded over 10,000 songs for over 800 movies. Although every class (ghazals, pop, etc) of song was within her vocal range, her specialty was in sensual songs or Western-styled songs--she had an uncanny knack for making every actress for whom she sung, from Zeenat Aman to Urmila Matondkar, smolder on screen as never before.
Born on 8 September 1932, Asha, like her sister, the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, was trained by her father, Dinanath Mangeshkar, in classical music, and it was only a matter of time before she too turned to playback singing. She made her debut with the film Chunaria (1948), but it took her a long time to make it to the top. Between 1948 and 1957, she sang more songs than any other playback singer, but the majority of these were in small, indistinct films--and whatever big film she got a chance to sing in, it was usually for the heroine's best friend or in a duet with bigger singers like Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, or her own sister. And unfortunately having made an ill-advised marriage that alienated her from her family, she had no choice but to take up all available assignments to provide for her children.
However, in 1957, she got her big break with composer O.P. Nayyar in the films Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) and Naya Daur (1957). And 1958 saw the release of three of her films: Lajwanti (1958), Howrah Bridge (1958), and Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958); their hit songs took Asha right up to the top. Thereafter, she became Nayyar's premier singer until the early 1970s, and they created musical magic together, particularly in the films Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Mere Sanam (1965), Humsaya (1968), and Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye (1974).
Initially Asha's singing style was initially reminiscent of Dutt's, but she soon overcame that and evolved her own distinctive style. Her voice possessed a lilting, versatile quality that could capture any song at any form or scale. By the end of the 1960s, she was second only to her sister, and the two of them were the queens of Indian playback singing right through to the 1990s. However, in spite of her incredible vocal range, she was getting typecast in singing sensual songs.
The 1970s saw her start a new relationship (which eventually became her second marriage) with composer Rahul Dev Burman - and so saw the birth of a great combination. A master of 1970s pop and disco music, Burman gave Asha a hip and happening sound altogether, and the two of them made their greatest hits with Haré Rama Haré Krishna (1971), Jawani Diwani (1972), Procession of Memories (1973), and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977). Unfortunately, she again got stereotyped, this time in singing mainly Western-styled songs.
However, in 1981, the composer Khayyam revealed another, more lyrical quality to Asha's voice. Their collaboration in the Urdu film Umrao Jaan (1981), where the songs were mostly poetry, reveal some of her finest songs. And Permission (1987), another such film, got her the National Award. Today, unlike her sister, she has remained active in playback singing--she still makes actresses sizzle in songs, most notably in the films Rangeela (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), and Taal (1999). She has also released several Indipop (Indian pop) music albums, and their success has reaffirmed Asha's.
Recently, she was nominated for the prestigious Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World-Music Album. Even at 70, there is no stopping Asha Bhosle....India.
1901 + credits, 1948-2016:
1,480 Music Department credits, '48-'97.
403 soundtrack credits, '52-'16.
6 acting credits, '63-'13.
12 self credits, '88-'15.- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actress
Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore on September 28, 1929, and became, quite simply, the most popular playback singer in Bollywood's history. She sung for over 50 years for actresses from Nargis to Preity G Zinta, as well as recorded albums of all kinds (ghazals, pop, etc). Until the 1991 edition, when her entry disappeared, the Guinness Book of World Records listed her as the most-recorded artist in the world with not less than 30,000 solo, duet,and chorus-backed songs recorded in 20 Indian languages between 948 and 1987. Today that number may have reached 40,000!
She was born the daughter of Dinanath Mangeshkar, the owner of a theater company and a reputed classical singer in his own right. He started giving Lata singing lessons from the age of five, and she also studied with renowned singers Aman Ali Khan Sahib and Amanat Khan. Even at a young age she displayed a God-given musical gift and could master vocal exercises the first time.
Ironically, for someone of her stature, she made her entry into Bollywood at the wrong time - around the 1940s, when bass singers with heavily nasal voices, such as Noor Jehan and Shamshad Begum were in style. She was rejected from many projects because it was believed that her voice was too high-pitched and thin. The circumstances of her entry into the industry were no less inauspicious - her father died in 1942, the responsibility of earning income to support her family fell upon her, and between 1942 and 1948 she acted in as many as eight films in Hindi and Marathi to take care of economic hardships. She made her debut as a playback singer in the Marathi film Kiti Hasaal (1942) but, ironically, the song was edited out!
However, in 1948, she got her big break with Ghulam Haider in the film Majboor (1948), and 1949 saw the release of four of her films: Mahal (1949), Dulari (1949), Barsaat (1949), and Andaz (1949); all four of them became runaway hits, with their songs reaching to heights of what was until then unseen popularity. Her unusually high-pitched singing rendered the trend of heavily nasal voices of the day totally obsolete and, within a year, she had changed the face of playback singing forever. The only two lower-pitched singers to survive her treble onslaught to a certain extent were Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum.
Her singing style was initially reminiscent of Noor Jehan, but she soon overcame that and evolved her own distinctive style. Her sister, Asha Bhosle, too, came up in the late 1950s and the two of them were the queens of Indian playback singing right through to the 1990s. Her voice had a special versatile quality, which meant that finally music composers could stretch their creative experiments to the fullest. Although all her songs were immediate hits under any composer, it was the composers C. Ramchandra and Madan Mohan who made her sound her sweetest and challenged her voice like no other music director.
The 1960s and 1970s saw her go from strength to strength, even as there were accusations that she was monopolizing the playback-singing industry. However, in the 1980s, she cut down her workload to concentrate on her shows abroad. Today, Lata sings infrequently despite a sudden resurgence in her popularity, but even today some of Hindi Cinema's biggest hits, including Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), and Veer-Zaara (2004) feature her legendary voice.
No matter which female playback singer breaks through in any generation, she cannot replace the timeless voice of Lata Mangeshkar. She was an icon beyond icons....India.
1929 -.
1660 + credits, 1942-2015:
1,247 Music Department credits , '42-'15.
401 soundtrack credits, '49-'14.
4 acting credits, '42-'07.
2 composer credit.
1 Producer credits
5 self credits.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Helen was born in Burma to an Anglo Indian father named George Desmier and a Burmese mother named Marlene. Her father went missing during the Second World War. Her family migrated to India in 1942 as refugees in order to escape from the Japanese invasion of Burma. Helen was introduced to Bollywood in 1953 by the famous dancer Cuckoo. She got her break in 1958 when she performed the song 'Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo' in the movie Howrah Bridge. Helen rarely got roles as the lead heroine in movies. So, she opted dancing which proved to be her fortune. Throughout the 1960's, 1970's to 1985, she danced in more than 600 movies establishing herself as a prolific dancer. Her best performances are in films Pipili Saheb, Naya Aadmi, Halaku, Yahudi, Howrah Bridge, Uttamputhiran in Tamil, Bedard Zamana Kya Jane ,Sri Valli in Tamil, Hum Hindustani, Half Ticket, Hongkong, China Town, Woh Kaun Thi, Gumnaam, Kaajal, Jewel Theif, Yakeen, The Train, Caravan, Sange Muzhangu in Tamil, Zakhmee, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Ginny Aur Jhonny, Bairaag, Deewangee, Khel Khilari Ka, Inkaar, Don, Inteqaam, Kab Kyun Aur Kahan, Pagla Kahin Ka, Apradh, Mere Jeevan Saathi , Dil Daulat Duniya,Lahu Ke Do Rang, Shararat, Khamoshi, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Her last few films for which danced Cabaret were Sawaal in 1982 and Pakhandee in 1984.
She was known for wearing different colors of wigs, contact lenses and skimpy outfits in her movies. In the late 1970's, her demand started diminishing because of her age along with the entry of younger dancers like Padma Khanna, Jayshree T, Bindu, Aruna Irani and Kalpana Iyer. In 1979, she won the best supporting actress award for her role as Vinod Khanna's Chinese wife in 'Lahu Ke Do Rang'. She officially retired from movies in 1984. She was married to director Prem Narayan Arora from 1957 to 1972 and she divorced him and later married screenwriter Salim Khan in 1981.India
514+ credits, 1945-2012.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
The world's first female filmmaker, French-born Alice Guy entered the film business in 1896 as a secretary at Gaumont, a manufacturer of movie cameras and projectors who had purchased a "cinématographer" from its inventors, the Lumiere brothers. The next year Gaumont became the world's first motion picture production company when they switched to creating movies, and Guy became its first film director. She impressed the company so much with the output (she averaged two two-reelers a week) and quality of her productions that by 1905 she was made the company's production director, supervising its other directors. In 1907 she married Herbert Blaché, an Englishman who ran Gaumont's British and German offices. The pair went to the U.S. to set up the company's operations there. In 1910 Mme. Guy set up her own production company, Solax, in New York and with her husband built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After a period of critical and financial success, the couple's fortunes declined when Thomas Alva Edison's trust hindered film production in the East coast, and they eventually shut down the studio in 1919. Although her husband secured work directing films for several major Hollywood studios, Guy was never able to secure any directorial jobs there, never made a film again, most of her films were lost, some were credited to other film directors, and she did no receive recognition for her pioneering work in France and the United States. She returned to France in 1922 after her divorce from Blaché, and in 1964 returned to the U.S. and lived in Mahwah, New Jersey - not far from where her original studios were - with her daughter, where she died in 1968.France. USA.
489 + credits, 1896 - 1957:
433 Director credits.
31 Producer credits
16 writing credits
3 acting credits.
1 assistant director
1 Miscellaneous Credits
2 cinematography credit
2 self credits- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Tun Tun was a prolific singer and comedienne appearing in over 100 Bollywood films. She began her career as a singer but was soon overshadowed by others. A heavy woman, she turned to comedy, using her weight to her advantage and continued her career as a comedienne. She died at the age of 76.India
374 credits, 1947-1991:
365 credits.
7 music credits
1 soundtrack credit
1 self credits- 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.Canada. USA
351 credits, 1909 - 1976. Actress, producer, writer, soundtrack, director, actress.
1892 - 1987. (87).- Actress
With seventy years in the film businesses, Lalita Pawar's long career began as a child in the silent era and continued into leading lady roles, but she is best remembered for her years as a character actor.
Lalita was born Amba Laxman Rao Sagun, the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant. While visiting a film studio, young Lalita requested being photographed so she could see herself on film. The director was so impressed with her screen presence that he asked for her to take a role in his next movie.
In 1942, while filming a scene which required her character to be slapped, she was struck too hard across the face. The accident compounded with a severe reaction to the medication administered, damaged her eye and left her with a noticeable permanent squint. This event marked the end of her leading lady status.
In her late twenties, she began taking on character roles. She eventually became known and praised for portraying overly-domineering matriarchs. She won the Filmfare Award for her supporting role in Anari (1959), and was nominated a further three times in the best supporting actress category.India
345 credits, 1928-1998.- Actress
Anita Linda was born Alice Buenaflor Lake in Pasay City, Manila, Philippines. Her parents were James Lake, an American mining engineer, and Gorgonia Buenaflor of Iloilo. She attended Polo Elementary School and graduated from Good Shepherd Convent High School. She married actor Fred Cortes, with whom she had a son, actor Fred Cortes Jr..
Before WWII, a teenaged Alice, while watching a stage show at the Avenue Theater starring Leopoldo Salcedo and Lopito, was called backstage by director Lamberto V. Avellana and asked if she wanted to become an actress. There must have been something in her that the renowned director saw as she sat watching the show. She demurred that, being Visayan, she couldn't speak Tagalog. The director, nevertheless, told her to report for rehearsals for the next show. When she failed to appear he had her fetched. This is how she became an actress.Philippines
341+ credits, 1943-2016.- Leonor Gómez was born in 1905 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She was an actress, known for Una piedra en el zapato (1956), Viento salvaje (1974) and Huracán Ramírez (1953). She died on 28 October 1974 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.Mexico.
1905 -.
342 credits, 1936-1974 - Cecilia Leger was born on 19 December 1899 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico. She was an actress, known for El Topo (1970), Sin salida (1971) and Nos veremos en el cielo (1956). She was married to Salvador Augusto Zubieta and Manuel Arvide. She died on 15 June 1982 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico.Mexico
304 credits, 1937-1983. - Actress
- Writer
Kokila was born on January 4, 1931 in Valsad, Gujarat, India, in the Gujarati-speaking Balsara family.
She was married to Kamal Roy at a very young age, and shortly thereafter in 1946 both husband and wife decided to make a career on the silver screen. They traveled to Bombay, both applied, but only Kokila was chosen to act in a Gujarati movie, Ranakdevi, followed by Amar Raj, and Gunsundari in 1948. She was primarily effective in creating the Gujarati film industry. This is how Nirupa Roy was born.
She went on to act in many movies, initially as the leading lady then in various roles of a variety of Hindu Goddesses, so much so that people actually lined up to seek her blessings. From 1970s on she was type-cast to play the role of the mother for a number of leading actors, from Dev Anand to Amitabh Bachchan. She was perhaps the only actresses to have played the role of mother to Dharmendra and his son, Sunny Deol, albeit in different movies. In 1955 she acted as Dev Anand's mother, even though she is about 8 years younger than him.
A Capricorn, she then went on to act in movies like Do Bigha Zameen, Tangewali, and Garam Coat, a brand of movies which later came to be known as 'realistic movies'.
Her success has been reflected in 3 awards from 1955 to 1964 for her role in Munimji, Chhaya, and Shehnaai. She is also known for her trilogy with Bharat Bhushan namely Kavi Kalidas, Samrat Chandragupt, and Rani Rupmati.
But her most memorable role was yet to come in Deewar, opposite Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh. Dialogues for this movies, as like Sholay, are still remembered and talked about.
Throughout her career of over 60 years in movies, she has acted in over 250 movies. she did slow down considerably in the 1980s, but did make a comeback in 1999 with Lal Badshah.
Her marriage with Kamal Roy resulted in the birth of a son, Kiran, and 2 daughters. She was known to be very close to her son.
She was very friendly with yesteryear actress Shyama. She received one more award in 2003.
Her end came quickly on October 13, 2004, at the age of 73, when she passed away after a cardiac arrest in Bombay.
She will always be remembered, not only as the 'mother of Bollywood' for her roles in movies like Gunsundari, Rani Rupmati, Deewar, Amar Akbar Anthony and many others.India
297 credits, 1946 - 1999.- Bella Flores was born Remedios Papa Dancel in Sta Cruz, Manila. Her parents are Emilia Papa and Matias Dancel. She married Nestor Reyes, a detective police officer, with whom she has one child, Ruby Rose Arcilla, who lives presently in Las Vegas, U.S.A. Bella studied at the Cecilio Apostol Elementary School and Arellano High School, finishing her secondary education at Roosevelt College. She was a college sophomore at Far Eastern University when she decided on a movie career. Flores was only 14 years old when she made her first movie, Balaraw (1950), with Premiere Productions. She took a screen test at Sampaguita Pictures and was placed under a four-year contract. Her first big role was in Roberta (1951), as the cruel stepmother of child actors Tessie Agana and Boy Alano. This movie saved the studio from bankruptcy after it was razed by a fire early that year. Among her other films with Sampaguita are Bernardo Carpio (1951) with Cesar Ramirez, Batas ng daigdig (1951) with Fred Montilla and the mother-daughter team of Linda Estrella and Tessie Agana, _Rebecca (1952) with Van De Leon, Chichay and Gloria Romero, Kerubin (1952) again with Agana, Estrella, De Leon and Chichay, and 'Ang Asawa Kong Amerikana' (1953), the first Filipino movie to win a major award at the Asian Film Festival. When her contract with Sampaguita Pictures expired, she continued to play the role of villainess in the productions of other film companies. Later, she brought her own brand of movie villainy to the stage, as when she appeared in Bulwagang Gantimpala's 'Sipgnet' and 'Amag sa Tampipi' with Lou Veloso. On television, she has been a mainstay of such popular shows as 'Pa Easy-Easy' (1988), 'Victoria Hills' (1983), 'Yagit' (1982) and 'Dahong Lagas' (1973). Flores won the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS)best supporting actress award for _Kaibigan ko'ng Sto. Niño (1967)_. She was also nominated by FAMAS for Kilabot sa Makiling (1959), and Mga batang yagit (1984). She received the best supporting actress award from the Olongapo Film Festival for her performance in 'Dugo ng Bayan' (1973). In 1989 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines. She has recently been visible again, mostly in indie films like Illusion (2005), Imahe nasyon (2006), The Fortune Teller (2008) and as well as in the recent mainstream blockbuster/Vic Sotto starrer Pak! Pak! My Dr. Kwak! (2011). Her life story was made into a features episode in the weekly television docu-drama UNTOLD STORIES Mula sa Face to Face, aired on TV5.Philippines.
281 credits, 1950 - 2012. - Leela Mishra was born on 1 January 1908 in Jais, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India. She was an actress, known for Sholay (1975), Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Prince (1969). She died on 17 January 1988 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India.India
279 credits, 1937 - 1996. - 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).USA. UK.
275 credits, 1929 - 2008.
1901 - 1971. (70).- Titian haired, full figured, voluptuous Dorothy Vernon had a career that spanned from the early days of moving pictures through the boxed screen known as television.
Whether it was a comedy, a western, a musical or whatever was needed, Dorothy did it all. Her unforgettable glow and her almost heavenly serene appearance was the focal point of many western square dances, slapstick sequences, or horrid haunts.
One film historian noted that he had seen Vernon in so many PRC westerns that he started to believe that she was Charles King's out of work mother.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you watch from the 1920s - 1950, chances are eventually you'll run into the small lady with the big presence.Germany. USA.
1875 - 1970. (94).
274 credits, 1919-1957. - Actress
- Producer
Flora Finch was born in London, England, on June 17, 1867. After spending time on the legitimate stage, she began to make films, and was one of the early comedy stars of the silent-film era. Her first film was Mrs. Jones Entertains (1909). After making nine more films she began appearing with rotund comic John Bunny, and together they would make more than 250 shorts over the next five years, becoming the cinema's first popular comedy team. Among their more popular titles were The New Stenographer (1911), The Subduing of Mrs. Nag (1911) and A Cure for Pokeritis (1912). She made other films on her own in addition to those she made with Bunny, and after he died in 1915 she began her own series of comedy shorts, although not meeting with the kind of success she had with Bunny. By the time the sound era began she was relegated to minor supporting roles and bit parts, although she did have a fairly decent role in The Scarlet Letter (1934) with Colleen Moore, as one of the self-righteous women in Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of life in colonial America. Finch retired from acting after appearing in The Women (1939), ending a long and illustrious career. On January 4, 1940, she died of rheumatic fever, brought on by a streptococcus infection, in Los Angeles, California. She was 70 years old.UK. USA.
269 credits, 1908 - 1939.
1867 - 1946, (72).- Alice Tissot was born on 1 January 1890 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Vaccin 48 (1934), Pas sur la bouche (1931) and La maternelle (1933). She died on 5 May 1971 in Paris, France.France
263 credits, 1907-1964.
1890 - 1971, (81). - Actress
- Additional Crew
She was one British character player who seemed to show up everywhere on post-war film, stage and TV, although, more times than not, could barely be glimpsed. A most efficient actress, Marianne Stone's career spanned four decades and was primarily enjoyed in bawdy, ribald comedy playing lowbrow or working-class ladies about town (waitresses, barmaids, clerks, shrews, landladies, secretaries, receptionists, etc.)
Born in King's Cross, London, on August 23, 1922, the dark-haired Marianne was raised by her grandparents who were furniture owners. Her grandmother also ran her own music school and Marianne benefited from that. Winning a music scholarship to the Camden School for Girls, she instead studied at the Royal College of Music, then earned an acting scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1940. Following her graduation she initially made ends meet by working as secretary types in offices, and also found work as an assistant manager for various stock companies. She made her on-stage West End debut in 1945 with a role in "The King Maker" at age 23. A high point for her, as for her stage work, was winning the Gertrude Lawrence Award for "Character Acting".
Marianne moved quickly into films following WWII with minuscule roles in such films as Brighton Rock (1948) and Escape Dangerous (1947). During the latter film's shoot, she met her future husband, actor/producer, Peter Noble, who went on to become a noted London show business columnist, theatre critic and film historian. They married in 1947 and had two daughters Katina Noble and Kara Noble . Of the hundreds of films she appeared in, some "A" but primarily "B" pictures, Marianne was given the chance to shine in only a few.
Producing/directing brothers Roy Boulting and/or John Boulting utilized her presence in several of their films, albeit minor, including Seven Days to Noon (1950), High Treason (1951), Brothers in Law (1957), I'm All Right Jack (1959), Man in a Cocked Hat (1959) and Heavens Above! (1963). Marianne also became a steadfast player (nine total) in the highly popular "Carry On..." slapstick movie series beginning with Carry on Nurse (1959) and finishing a decade and a half later with Carry on Behind (1975). Her most engaging cameo in the series came with her old hag role in Carry on Dick (1974). In what would have been her tenth film in the series, she was deleted from the final print of Carry on Matron (1972).
While Marianne enjoyed a more visible part in Passport to Treason (1956), her most sharply-defined roles on celluloid was arguably that of co-writer Vivian Darkbloom in Lolita (1962) starring James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers and nubile Sue Lyon in the title role. Supposedly it was Winters (who wound up staying with Stone during the film's shooting) who helped Marianne get the part. Ironically, one of Stone's last film, Déjà Vu (1985) also happened to feature Winters. A few of the character lady's bawdier 70s film work included Au Pair Girls (1972), the similarly-styled "Carry On" film Bless This House (1972), The Love Ban (1973), Mistress Pamela (1973), The Cherry Picker (1974) and Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974).
On TV Marianne was seen in such colorful productions as Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1976), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1976) and the mini-series A Man Called Intrepid (1979). Marianne's husband Peter predeceased her (1997) and she herself died on December 21, 2009, at the age of 87. Survived by her children, one of her daughters, Kara Noble appeared with her mother in the film Funny Money (1983).UK.
260 credits, 1943-1989.
1922 - 2009, (87).
159 British films - A Guinness record for a British actress.- Frida Richard was born on 1 November 1873 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was an actress, known for Ihre Hoheit (1914), Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) and Hedda Gabler (1925). She was married to Fritz Richard. She died on 12 September 1946 in Salzburg, Austria.Austria
1873 - 1946. (72).
251 credits, 1910-1954. - Käthe Haack was born on 11 August 1897 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Emil and the Detectives (1931), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1943) and Meine vier Jungens (1944). She was married to Heinrich Schroth. She died on 5 May 1986 in West Berlin, West Germany.Germany
249 credits. - Bindu was born on April 17th in the Gujerati-speaking Desai family, consisting of her film producer dad, Nanubhai, and stage actress mom, Jyotsna.
Due to her Bollywood connections she was able to find a niche in movies as early as 1962 with 'Anpadh' in which she plays the 'well educated' daughter of an 'illiterate' Mala Sinha. But the real meaty and negative role came her way with 'Do Raaste' in which she plays the wife of Prem Chopra, and the movie that type-cast her in as a vamp was 'Kati Patang' with 'Meraaa Naam has Shabnam, Pyar Se Log Mujhey Shaboo Kahete Hain...' in which she belittles and then blackmails Asha Parekh - a song that is still popular and has also been remixed.
Quite unlike her screen characters, Bindu's life was not an easy one, especially at the age of 13 when her dad passed away, leaving the onus on her to fend for the rest of the Desai family.
She got married to Champaklal Zaveri, who supported her talents and encouraged her to continue to act in movies.
She has acted in over 160 movies in a career that spanned from 1962 through on to the 2004 hit 'Main Hoon Na'.
Bindu is now a Bollywood legend, a vamp, a character actress, a stern mother-in-law, a dancer, a singer, a seductress but above all - an excellent actress.India
247 credits, 1960-2013. - Actress
- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Emma Roldán was born on 3 February 1890 in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. She was an actress and costume designer, known for The Passion of Berenice (1976), Monja casada, virgen y mártir (1935) and El ahijado de la muerte (1946). She was married to Alfredo del Diestro. She died on 29 August 1978 in Mexico City, Mexico.Mexico
246 credits :
237 acting credits
9 costume designer credits.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
One of the pre-eminent divas of post-war German cinema, Hannelore Elsner (born 'Elstner') was the consummate actress: a gifted and versatile performer with a penchant for intense roles, often as emancipated, strong-willed women. A Bavarian engineer's daughter (her father died of tuberculosis when she was eight), 'Hanni' first took acting classes in Munich where she also debuted on stage at the Kammerspiele and the Kleine Komödie. She appeared on screen from 1959, initially in teenage melodramas and 'Paukerfilms', later featuring as a regular guest star on TV in procedural crime dramas like Isar 12 (1961) and Stahlnetz (1958) . From the late 60's, Elsner alternated 'sexy roles' (such as her native American maiden in Christoph Kolumbus oder Die Entdeckung Amerikas (1969) ) with more demanding fare. Under the direction of such prominent film makers as Wolfgang Staudte, Edgar Reitz and Alf Brustellin, she proved her diverse range, headlining, respectively, in the satirical caper comedy Die Herren mit der weissen Weste (1970), the period biopic Der Schneider von Ulm (1978) and the hard-luck drama Der Sturz (1979). Among many other notable big screen credits were the romantic drama Der grüne Vogel (1980) (directed by István Szabó) and the delightful Otto Sander farce Wer spinnt denn da, Herr Doktor? (1982). Elsner's powerful tour-de-force acting showcase Die Unberührbare (2000) won her the first of two German film awards as Best Actress, as well as a Silver Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. A patrician beauty well into middle age, she captured a large fan base on the small screen as star of Lady Cop (1994), a role which developed from two previous guest spots as a Chief Inspector in the long-running police series Tatort (1970).
She was married and divorced twice. Her subsequent life partner (from 1999) was Günter Blamberger, a professor of German philology. Her memoirs, entitled "Im Überschwang - Aus meinem Leben", appeared in 2011. Hannelore Elsner died after a long battle with cancer on April 21 2019 at the age of 76.Germany
233 + credits.- Carla Mancini was born on 21 April 1950 in Rome, Italy. She is an actress, known for My Name Is Nobody (1973), Karzan, il favoloso uomo della jungla (1972) and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970).Italy
229+ credits, 1968-2010+. - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Henny Porten was born January 7, 1890, in Magdeburg, Germany. She had one of the longest careers of any German actress and was highly sought after because of her wonderful thespian skills. Henny's career would stretch over six decades, from 1906 to 1955. Her first film was in Apachentanz (1906), making her one of the earliest film actresses anywhere in the world. At the age of 65, Henny filmed her last production entitled Die Schätze des Teufels (Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1955)). Henny died in Berlin, Germany, on October 15, 1960, at the age of 70.Germany
225 credits, 1906-1955.
1890 - 1960, (70).- Fanny Schiller was born on 5 September 1901 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico. She was an actress, known for Cantaclaro (1946), La mujer que yo amé (1950) and Santa (1943). She was married to Manuel Sánchez Navarro. She died on 26 September 1971 in Mexico D.F., Mexico.Mexico
221 credits. - Actress
- Director
- Producer
Shammi was born on 24 April 1929 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. She was an actress and director, known for Sangdil (1952), Ittefaq (1969) and Badal (1966). She was married to Sultan Ahmed. She died on 5 March 2018 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.India
221 credits.- María Isbert was born on 21 April 1917 in Madrid, Spain. She was an actress, known for Viridiana (1961), Un hombre de negocios (1945) and El C.I.D. (1990). She was married to Antonio Spitzer. She died on 25 April 2011 in Villarrobledo, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.Spain.
218 credits, 1944 - 2010.
1917 - 2011. (94). - Actress
- Soundtrack
Paulette Dubost was born on 8 October 1910 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for The Rules of the Game (1939), Les vingt-huit jours de Clairette (1933) and Les mystères de Paris (1962). She was married to André Ostertag. She died on 21 September 2011 in Longjumeau, Essonne, France.France.
218 credits, 1931 - 2010.
1910 - 2011. (100).- Ana Luisa Peluffo made her screen debut in 1953. She was a pioneer to appear in nude scenes in Mexican cinema in mid-decade. This helped her to establish her name and allowed her to turn to dramas and comedies, though she returned to her roots in the 1970s. Peluffo has one of the longest filmographies of any featured actress in Mexican cinema. She has won two Diosas de Plata: one for Best Actress for her role in La venida del rey Olmos (1975), and another for her long career (in 1996).Mexico
215 + credits. - Chouko Iida was born in 1897, in the old downtown of Tokyo, Asakusa.After dropping out of high school and working as a clerk at the Matsuzakaya Department Store, she joined the Nakamura Matsugoro Acting Company. In 1922, Iida entered Shochiku Kamata Productions. Her acting was soon recognized by a director at Shouchiku and she went on to debut in Shinyuku Tsuma (The Dying Wife). She then appeared in Gamaguchi (A Purse) and Goikenmuyo (Useless Opinions) in collaboration with Jun Arai. After her marriage to Hideaki Mohara, a cameraman, she played the principal role in a number of films of Godokoro Hiranosuke: Okame (The Turtle), Ukiyoeburo (The Bath of the Floating World), Onna to Umaretakaranya (Because I Was Born to Be a Woman). She later co-starred with Takeshi Sakamoto in Dekigokoro (Acting on Impulse), Ukigusa Monogatari and Tokyo no yado (A Japanese Inn in Tokyo) the successful series of films by Yasujiro Ozu. Iida received the Jujo Murasaki award in 1963, and the Tanho award fourth prize in 1967. She died in 1972, of lung cancer at the age of 75.Japan.
211 credits - Actress
- Make-Up Department
Dolores Camarillo was born on 31 March 1910 in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. She was an actress, known for You're Missing the Point (1940), Santo contra Blue Demon en la Atlántida (1970) and La reina de la opereta (1946). She was married to Antonio R. Frausto and Francisco Cañizares Molina. She died on 8 February 1988 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.Mexico
210 credits:
127 acting credits.
83 makeup department credits.- Joan Hickson was born in 1906 at Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Her stage career began with provincial theater in 1927, going on to a long series of West End comedies, usually playing the part of a confused or eccentric middle-age woman. She performed at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, at the time London was subject to World War II bombing. Her work gradually included screen roles: The Outsider (1948), The Promoter (1952), The 39 Steps (1959) - over 80 movies in all - but her stage career continued, with parts in three Peter Nichols plays, Noël Coward's "Blithe Spirit" (1976) and and a Tony award supporting actress performance in Alan Ayckbourn's "Bedroom Farce" (1977). Her first Agatha Christie role was "Miss Pryce" in the play, "Appointment With Death" (1946), which prompted Christie, herself, to write "I hope you will play my dear Miss Marple". She began playing this, her best known part, in her late 70s, in a BBC television series which ran from 1984 to 1992. A Miss Marple fan, Queen Elizabeth II, awarded her the Order of the British Empire in 1987. After the series closed, Joan recorded audio books of the Christie mysteries. She died, aged 92, in a hospital at Colchester, Essex, survived by a son and daughter (her physician husband Eric Butler died in 1967).UK.
208 credits - Actress
- Soundtrack
Marjorie Bennett was an Australian actress, who spend most of her career working in the United Kingdom and the United States. She was born in York, Western Australia, a town that was an important stop for miners and travelers during the Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century. York is located 97 kilometers (60 miles) east of Perth, Western Australia's capital and largest city.
Bennett made her film debut in the film "The Girl, Glory" (1917). She had a few credited roles in silent films of the 1910s. such as "Naughty, Naughty!", "Hugon, the Mighty", and "The Midnight Patrol". None of them had a lasting impact
She resumed her film career in 1946, with the uncredited part of a shop assistant in the mystery film "Dressed to Kill". The film was another adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes series on film, and was the 14th and final entry in a film series which cast Basil Rathbone as Sherlock. Bennet started appearing regularly in minor film roles in the late 1940s, with films such as the black comedy "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947), the romantic comedy "June Bride" (1948), and the horror comedy "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" (1949).
By the 1950s, Bennett was quite established as a character actress in both film and television. She played the gruff landlady Mrs. Alsop in "Limelight" (1952), appeared in several more "Abbot and Costello" films, and had a recurring role in the television series "Lassie".
In the 1960s, Bennett had her first known role as a voice actress, as the character "Duchess" in the animated film "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961). Duchess is one of the cows who offers shelter for the night and warm milk to the starving puppies, following their escape from villains Horace and Jasper.
Bennett continued regularly appearing in film throughout the 1960s. She had small roles in both "Mary Poppins" (1964) and "My Fair Lady" (1964). Her credits included psychological thriller "The Night Walker" (1964) and the horror film "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" (1966), She also made several more television appearances.
In the 1970s, Bennett had a more substantial role in the mystery film "Stacey" (1973). She played aging heiress Florence Chambers, who hired private investigator Stacey Hanson to examine whether the surviving members of Florence's family were worthy to be included in her will. Chambers eventually learns that one of her would-be heirs is homosexual, a second one is having extramarital affairs, and a third one belongs to a Manson Family-style religious cult.
Bennett's other film roles in this decade included the crime thriller "Charley Varrick" (1973), the disaster film "Airport 1975" (1974), the black comedy "I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now?" (1975), and the crime comedy "The North Avenue Irregulars" (1979). In the television film "Sherlock Holmes in New York" (1976), Bennett played Mrs. Martha Hudson, Holmes' landlady. In the television film "Better Late Than Never" (1979), Bennett played Marjorie Crane, one of the residents of a nursing home who revolt against oppressive rules.
In 1980, Bennet finally retired, due to poor health. Her final television appearance was in an episode of the sitcom "Barney Miller" (1975-1982). Bennett died in 1982, and her ashes were interred in the Great Mausoleum's Columbarium of Dawn at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale.
According to a 1977 article by "The Los Angeles Times", Bennett was one of the busiest of Hollywood's veteran character actresses. Her face was familiar to many Americans due to Bennett's numerous starring roles in television commercials.Australia. USA.
208 credits, 1917 - 2016 +.
1896 - 1982, (86).- Actress
- Director
Renée Carl was born on 10 June 1875 in Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée, France. She was an actress and director, known for Severo Torelli (1914), Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913) and Fantômas: The Dead Man Who Killed (1913). She died on 31 July 1954 in Paris, France.End of Part 1 of list, International ladies.
France
1875 - 1954. (79).
205 credits, 1907-1937. Acting, directing.- Actress
- Writer
Dot Farley was born on 6 February 1881 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for The Red Kimono (1926), So Big (1924) and The Little Irish Girl (1926). She died on 2 May 1971 in South Pasadena, California, USA.Part 2 of list. USA, 38 +.
USA.
384 credits:
361 acting credits.
23 writing credits.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Legendary voice actress June Foray was born June Lucille Forer on September 18, 1917 in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Maurice Forer and Ida Edith Robinson, who wed in Hampden, Massachusetts. Her father, who was Jewish, emigrated from Novgorod, Imperial Russia, while her Massachusetts-born mother was of Lithuanian Jewish and French-Canadian descent. Her mother converted to Judaism to marry, and took the name Sarah.
At age 12, young June was already doing "old lady" voices. She had the good fortune of having a speech teacher who also had a radio program in the Springfield area. This teacher became her mentor, and added June to the cast of her show. Eventually her family moved to Los Angeles, where she continued in radio. By age fifteen, she was writing her own show for children, "Lady Makebelieve", in which she also provided voices. June dabbled in both on-camera acting and voice work, but was particularly talented in voice characterizations, dialects and accents. Just like Daws Butler, one of her later co-stars, she was a "voice magician" and worked steadily in radio from the 1930s into the 1950s.
June branched out from radio and began providing voices for cartoon characters. In the 1940s, she provided the voices for a live-action series of shorts, "Speaking of Animals", in which she dubbed in voices for real on-screen animals, a task she was to repeat many years later in an episode of The Magical World of Disney (1954). In the late 1940s June, Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, Pinto Colvig and many others recorded hundreds of children's and adult albums for Capitol Records. Her female characterizations on these records ran the entire gamut from little girls to middle-aged women, old ladies, dowagers and witches. No one seemed to be able to do these same voices with the warmth, energy and sparkle that June did.
In the 1950s June's star in animation not only began to rise but soared when Walt Disney sought her out and hired her to do the voice of Lucifer the cat in Cinderella (1950). The Disney organization continued to use June many times over, well into the 21st century. Warner Brothers also hired her to replace Bea Benaderet and do all of its "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons. June has done many incidental characters for Warners, but her most famous voice has been that of Granny (in the "Tweety and Sylvester" series). Unfortunately, since Mel Blanc's contract called for exclusive voice credit on these cartoons, June never received credit for all the voices she did. During this time she also appeared on [error].
In 1957, Jay Ward met with June to discuss her voicing the characters of "Rocky the Flying Squirrel" and "Natasha Fatale" in a cartoon series. On November 19, 1959, the show debuted as The Bullwinkle Show (1959), later changing its name to The Bullwinkle Show (1959). June provided many other voices for this show, especially its "side shows" such as "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Son". She did fewer voices for the "Peabody's Improbable History" segment, but she did appear in at least three of those episodes. After the show had been successful for a few years, Ward added one of its most popular segments, "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties". June was a regular in this side show as Dudley's girlfriend Nell Fenwick.
Since Ward used June exclusively for nearly all his female voices, he showcased her talents as no other producer had before. June missed out on doing voices for three of the show's "Fractured Fairy Tales" because she could not reschedule some bookings to do recording work with Stan Freberg, so Julie Bennett filled in for her on those occasions. Dorothy Scott--co-producer Bill Scott's wife--also filled in for June a few times for "Peabody's Improbable History". Her collaboration with Ward made her incredibly famous, and "Rocky the Flying Squirrel" became her signature voice. To this day June regularly wears a necklace with the figure of Rocky sculpted by her niece Lauren Marems.
Ward later produced two other cartoon series, Hoppity Hooper (1964) and George of the Jungle (1967). June's appearances on "Hoppity Hooper" were limited to the segments of "Fractured Fairy Tales", "Dudley Do-Right" and "Peabody" that aired during its run. On "Fractured Fairy Tales" June did a whole montage of voices similar to those from her Capitol Records days. Her witch voices were so incredibly funny and magnificently done that Disney and Warner Brothers tapped her to provide that same voice for the character of Witch Hazel. She was once again the lone female voice artist, this time on "George of the Jungle". Included on that show were the "Super Chicken" and "Tom Slick" side shows.
In the 1960s, June lost out to Bea Benaderet when she auditioned for the voice of "Betty Rubble" on The Flintstones (1960). June appeared numerous times during the decade in holiday specials such as Frosty the Snowman (1969) and The Little Drummer Boy (1968)). In the 1960s and 1970s, June dubbed in voices for full-length live-action feature films many times. Jay Ward and Bill Scott also had her dub in dialogue for silent movies in their non-animated series Fractured Flickers (1963).
In the early 1970s, June tried her hand at puppetry. She became the voice of an elephant, an aardvark and a giraffe on Curiosity Shop (1971). Around this time she also recorded various voices for the road shows of "Disney on Parade", which toured the US and Europe for several years.
She acted on-camera occasionally over the years, primarily on talk shows, game shows and documentaries; in the early years of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), she performed a 13-week stint as a little Mexican girl. However, June had said that she prefers to record behind the scenes because she jokingly said "She can earn more money in less time."
June Foray died on July 26, 2017, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. She was ninety nine years old.USA.
351 + credits, 1943 - 2014+.
1917 - 2017, 99.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The first actress to sign a contract with Universal in 1915, Gertrude Astor (born in Ohio as Gertrude Irene Astor) began her career playing trombone and saxophone on a riverboat. Towering over most of her leading men at 5'11", she often played golddiggers, rich socialites or a leading lady's best friend in such one-reeled films and feature length silents as Polly Redhead (1917), The Price of a Good Time (1917), The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit (1918), The Lion Man (1919), Mary Pickford's Through the Back Door (1921), The Wall Flower (1922), Alice Adams (1923), The Ne'er-Do-Well (1923), Stage Struck (1925), The Boy Friend (1926), Kiki (1926), The Strong Man (1926), Shanghaied (1927), The Cat and the Canary (1927) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) (as Little Eva's mother). The popular female stars she bolstered included Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, Patsy Ruth Miller, Colleen Moore, Shirley Mason, Olive Borden and Laura La Plante
With the advent of sound, Astor's career continued, landing her in a number of two-reel comedies, mostly with the Hal Roach studio and occasionally with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the "Our Gang" gang and Charley Chase. "I've never been so embarrassed in all my life!" seemed to be one of her most used lines in films. Acting until the 1960s and often in bit parts (she once played a corpse in The Scarlet Claw (1944), her last movie bit was for John Ford in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Astor often relayed her film memories to friends, fans and historians. At one point in her career she and actress Lilyan Tashman, were known as the most elegant and best dressed women in Hollywood. Astor died following a stroke on her 90th birthday at the Motion Piture Home in Woodland Hills.USA
1887 - 1977. (90).
312 credits, 1915-1966.- A D.W. Griffith favorite matriarchal figure often playing mother characters. Kate Bruce appeared 292 times on the screen from 1908 to 1930, in movies including Intolerance (1916), The Idol Dancer (1920), Way Down East (1920), The Eternal Mother (1912), and Orphans of the Storm (1921). She was a close friend of actresses Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish, who supported Bruce financially for much of her life, including paying her rent in a little Hotel on Madison Avenue in New York. Lillian's maid would take care of her room once a week. Bruce would dine at Lillian's apartment several times a week. A very secretive and shy person, Bruce did not talk about her past or background. Lillian often compared her to a nun since her life was very austere and lonely.USA.
295 credits, 1908-1931. - Actress
- Writer
- Director
A stage actress from her early teens, Grace Cunard made her Hollywood debut in 1910. She soon partnered with actor/director Francis Ford at Univeral, where they began turning out serials. The films' success led to Cunard's nickname of "The Serial Queen," and by 1916 she and Ford were ranked among the most popular stars in Hollywood. Their careers began to falter by 1918, however, and while Ford went on to become a respected director and character actor well into the '40s, Cunard didn't have such luck. She began appearing in mostly B pictures, many made by lower-budget independent companies, and her career was mired there until she retired in the early '40s.USA
287 credits, 1910-1946.
1893 - 1967. (73).- Actress
- Soundtrack
When top "working girl" silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand would gripe to Mack Sennett about making classier films, Sennett's quippy retort would always be, "I'll send for Fazenda." This pretty, oval-faced, highly popular Keystone comedy cut-up put in her time first in comic two-reelers from 1913 on, but soon unleashed her real gift "dressing down" for laughs with her best known character types as frizzy-haired country bumpkins complete with spit curls, multiple pigtails and calico dresses, a look that went on to inspire bucolic comics Judy Canova and Minnie Pearl.
Louise was born on June 17, 1895, in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of a merchandise broker. Raised in California, she attended Los Angeles High School and St. Mary's Convent. She found odd jobs working a dentist, a candy store owner, and a tax collector. While performing in a high school show, lucky Louise was discovered by a Sennett talent agent and taken immediately to films. The 18-year-old hopeful made her first films with Joker Studios and went on to be highly featured in a slew of "Mike and Jake" comedy shorts starring Max Asher and Harry McCoy. She would also co-star in a number of burlesque-style features with Asher and Bobby Vernon in such vehicles as Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1914), A Freak Temperance Wave (1914), The Tender Hearted Sheriff (1914), Love and Electricity (1914), The Diamond Nippers (1914) and Schultz the Paperhanger (1914).
Soon silent kingpin Sennett himself began incorporating the funny girl's gift for slapstick comedy in his highly popular "Keystone Kops" shorts. Between the years 1915 to 1917, she rose quickly up the front ranks as an early plain-Jane Carol Burnett goofball playing an assortment of serviles -- maid, cook, janitress, flower girl, nurse and fortune teller types. In A Hash House Fraud (1915) she played a flirty cashier; in Her Fame and Shame (1917) she played a star-struck daughter who attempts burlesque to save her pop's mortgage; in The Betrayal of Maggie (1917) and Maggie's First False Step (1917) she portrayed the eager title roles; and in Her Torpedoed Love (1917), she plays a daffy cook whose life is in danger when a greedy butler (Ford Sterling) learns her boss is leaving her his entire estate.
During this peak time, Louise got to work alongside the most brilliant of silent male screen clowns, including Sterling himself, and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Ben Turpin, Charley Chase, Charles Murray, Harry Booker, Edgar Kennedy, Mack Swain, Chester Conklin, James Finlayson, Slim Summerville, Billy Bevan, Jack Cooper, Billy Armstrong and Hugh Fay. Other popular Sennett comic outings for Louise would include Ambrose's Nasty Temper (1915), Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915), A Game Old Knight (1915), A Versatile Villain (1915), The Judge (1916), Bombs! (1916), Are Waitresses Safe? (1917), Those Athletic Girls (1918), The Village Chestnut (1918) Hearts and Flowers (1919), Back to the Kitchen (1919), The Gingham Girl (1920), Bungalow Troubles (1921) and Made in the Kitchen (1921).
Sennett's Down on the Farm (1920) is a silent film feature-length rural comedy featuring an all-star cast of funsters with Louise playing a typical role as the farmer's daughter. Louise eventually left Sennett's company in the early 1920s and, in a change of pace, progressed on her own in both comic and dramatic outings. She appeared in the comedy drama Quincy Adams Sawyer (1922) starring John Bowers, Blanche Sweet and Lon Chaney; three dramatic pieces, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), The Wanters (1923) and Being Respectable (1924), all starring Marie Prevost; the social drama Main Street (1923) starring Florence Vidor; the historical drama (as a country gal) The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924); the tearjerker This Woman (1924) starring Irene Rich and Julliet Akinyi; the canine family adventure The Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) featuring Rin Tin Tin; the Raymond Griffith comedy vehicle The Night Club (1925); the melodramas The Price of Pleasure (1925) starring Virginia Valli and Déclassé (1925) starring Corinne Griffith; and a rare comedy Bobbed Hair (1925) starring Ms. Prevost; Occasional star roles during this silent period included the comedies Listen Lester (1924), Footloose Widows (1926), The Gay Old Bird (1927) and The Cradle Snatchers (1927).
Coming the advent of sound, Louise had no problem whatsoever adjusting to sound where her eccentric talents were greatly utilized in (mostly) Warner Bros. musicals, dramas and knockabout comedies. She provided comedy relief/support in such films as the mystery thriller The Terror (1928); the adventure film The Lady of the Harem (1926); the romantic comedy The Red Mill (1927) starring Marion Davies; the W.C. Fields talking remake of the silent comedy Tillie's Punctured Romance (1928); the sports comedy Babe Comes Home (1927) starring legendary ballplayer Babe Ruth; the war comedy Ham and Eggs at the Front (1927); the Will Rogers comedy A Texas Steer (1927); the comedy Heart to Heart (1928); the dramedy Vamping Venus (1928) which reunited her with Charles Murray and co-starred a rising Thelma Todd; the war drama Noah's Ark (1928); the action adventure Stark Mad (1929) the musicals On with the Show! (1929) and No, No, Nanette (1930) (as Sue Smith); the comedy Wide Open (1930); and the light romantic comedy Loose Ankles (1930).
On November 24, 1927, Louise married renowned Warner Bros. producer Hal B. Wallis who went on to produce several movies that she later appeared in, including Colleen (1936), First Lady (1937), Ready, Willing and Able (1937) and Swing Your Lady (1938). They had one child, Brent, who would grow up to become a psychiatrist. Ending her career on a dramatic note, Wallis would produce Louise's effort -- a supporting role in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins soaper The Old Maid (1939) in the role of, what else, a maid!
Away from the limelight, Louise remained socially prominent and became a noted humanitarian and art collector. In 1958, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 66-year-old former actress suffered a brain hemorrhage in Beverly Hills and died on April 17, 1962. She was survived by her husband, who, in 1966, married actress Martha Hyer. Louise was interred at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.USA
287 credits, 1913-1954.
1895 - 1962, (66).- Actress
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Ellen Corby was born Ellen Hansen on June 3, 1911, in Racine, Wisconsin. She played many uncredited bit parts from the late '20s through the '30s. Ellen would not be seen on the big screen again until 1945 in Cornered (1945). In 1946, she appeared in 14 films, although mostly in small, minor roles. One of them was in the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946). One of the highlights of her career came about in 1948 in I Remember Mama (1948) as Aunt Trina. Ellen garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, which was ultimately won by Claire Trevor in Key Largo (1948). The Oscar nomination didn't send her to the heights she had hoped. This wonderful actress continued in roles that were mostly minor compared to some of her contemporaries. However, it was television where she would receive the acclaim that had eluded her on the screen. Time after time she played parts that were absolutely outstanding. One of the funniest was as Myrt "Hubcaps" Lesh in The Andy Griffith Show (1960). She was the ringleader of a gang that stole cars and then sold them, and she sold Barney Fife a stolen car that turned out to be a real lemon. The series that brought her worldwide recognition, though, was the highly acclaimed The Waltons (1972) as Esther "Grandma" Walton. The role got her Emmy awards in 1973, 1974, and 1975. Although a stroke in 1976 slowed her down, Ellen still made appearances on the series. Her last TV appearance was in 1997 in the TV movie A Walton Easter (1997). On April 14, 1999, Ellen died at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was 87 years old.USA
1911 - 1999. (87).
276 credits, 1933-1997.- Actress
- Writer
Marin Sais was descended from one of the earliest Spanish families of California (Marin County was named after one of her ancestors). She was possessed of a fine singing voice. and after graduation from school journeyed to New York to pursue an operatic career. However, not long after her arrival she apparently changed her mind about her career path, and before long she was appearing in two-reel comedies for Vitagraph. Her career progressed steadily, and she was soon working in full-length films and serials. She soon journeyed to Hollywood, and began appearing in westerns, often with Hoot Gibson. She also became a fixture in action serials. In 1920 she married cowboy actor Jack Hoxie, and they appeared in several films together, but divorced five years later. With the coming of sound she began appearing in character roles rather than the leading or featured roles she was used to, and the films she appeared in were often for the cheap independent market. She seemed to specialize in westerns, and with few exceptions her pictures up until her retirement in 1953 were all in that genre.USA.
275 credits, 1910-1953.
1890 - 1971, (81).- Pauline Bush was born on 22 May 1886 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for A Mountain Melody (1915), The Recognition (1912) and Richelieu (1914). She was married to Allan Dwan. She died on 1 November 1969 in San Diego, California, USA.USA
1886 - 1969. (83).
248 credits, 1910-1924. - Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Lovely brown-eyed, brunette Claire Du Brey enjoyed a rich, four-decade film career in all. Born Clara Violet Dubrey on August 31, 1892, in Bonner's Ferry Idaho, her family traveled the rugged Sierra Madre terrain by covered wagon in their move to California when she was 13.
Educated in a convent setting and once trained to be a nurse, Claire responded to an newspaper ad and found employment working part time in motion pictures. From there, she found herself in front of the camera, making her movie debut as star Billie Burke's friend in the Triangle release Peggy (1916). Universal saw a leading lady vamp in her, however, and from 1917 she enjoyed star billing in such silent short and feature-length vehicles as Princess Dione in the Rex Ingram-directed The Reward of the Faithless (1917); The Fighting Gringo (1917), opposite Harry Carey; Anything Once (1917) and The Winged Mystery (1917) both co-starring Franklyn Farnum; Brace Up (1918) with Herbert Rawlinson; the family drama The Magic Eye (1918); and A Man in the Open (1919) with Dustin Farnum. She also appeared in a number of Lon Chaney's early Universal vehicles such as The Rescue (1917) Pay Me! (1917) and Triumph (1917).
A versatile player whether asked to portray royalty, servants, temptresses or prairie flowers, Claire turned to Los Angeles stage plays during an early 1920s lull in film offers and graced such vehicles as "Madame X," "Spring Cleaning" and "The Youngest". Later "jazz age" film roles included The Sea Hawk (1924), Drusilla with a Million (1925) Exquisite Sinner (1926), and The Devil Dancer (1927).
During the declining period of her career (1928), Claire met actress Marie Dressler and they became close friends. Claire wound up serving as Dressler's secretary, fan mail handler and travel companion. In reward, Dressler arranged for Claire to get small roles a few of her talking films Politics (1931) and Prosperity (1932). She also served as Dressler's nurse in 1933 when the elder woman was dying of cancer.
As a character actress, Claire became much in demand throughout the late 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, appearing in general purpose roles as secretaries, nurses, salesladies, housekeepers, matrons, spinsters, relatives, etc. On a rare occasion she managed to stand out, none more so than in her mad scene as Bertha Rochester in a "B"-level version of Jane Eyre (1934) starring Colin Clive and Virginia Bruce. Seen sporadically on TV into the 1950s, she retired by the end of the decade. Her last film roles were in Girls Town (1959) and The Miracle (1959), both unbilled.
An early marriage to a doctor, Mark Gorman, ended in divorce. She lived another four decades after leaving the limelight. In her final years she grew deaf and her health quite fragile, dying at the age of 100 on August 1, 1993.USA.
246 credits, 1915-1959.
1892 - 1992, (100).- Actress
- Additional Crew
Frances Morris was born on 3 August 1908 in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Thunder (1929), Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) and Adventures of Superman (1952). She was married to Russell Parker and Antrim Short. She died on 2 December 2003 in Santa Clarita, California, USA.USA.
242 credits, 1929-1964.
1908 - 2003, (95).- 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.USA
240 credits, 1917-1963.
1894 - 1963. (69).- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Lucille McVey was a writer at Vitagraph when she met Sidney Drew shortly after his wife's death. They married almost immediately although he was more than twice her age. She scripted and he directed a number of domestic comedies, said to be more subtle and wholesome than those previously filmed. After his death she lost interest in films. She died in 1925 after a lingering illness.USA.
234 credits:
154 acting credits
39 writing credits.
37 director credits.
4 producer credits.- 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.USA.
230 credits, 1908-1933.
1878 - 1933, 54. - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Widely publicized as "The Vitagraph Girl," dark-haired silent film actress Florence Turner was one of the screen's first celebrities to be called by the term "movie star." Born in New York City in 1885, she was pushed into the business at age 3 by an overzealous stage mother, performing on the vaudeville stage as Eugenie Florence. Audiences took delight in her talents as an impressionist of well-known stage actresses of the time such as Marie Dressler. Florence was a full-fledged professional by the time she hooked up with Vitagraph Studios in 1906 as a wardrobe mistress/cashier/actress.
Making her film debut in Cast Up by the Sea (1907), Turner was prominently displayed in front of the camera within a short period of time. Appearing in the company's more quality pieces, she formed a sturdy pairing with Maurice Costello and other matinée idols of the day. The diminutive, forlorn-looking performer eventually tested the acting waters in London in 1913, and was directed frequently by long-time friend Lawrence Trimble, occasionally collaborating on screenplays. She also contributed to her livelihood making appearances in music halls, still amazing audiences with her impersonations of everybody from Alla Nazimova to Charles Chaplin. She organized her own production company, Turner Films, and made more than 30 shorts, becoming the first star of the screen to take on producing chores. In 1915 she was the top box-office star.
Florence maintained a highly visible transatlantic career for nearly a decade while appearing both here and in England in everything from classic Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice (1908), Richard III (1908)) and historical epics (A Tale of Two Cities (1911), The Deerslayer (1913)) to classic drama (Far from the Madding Crowd (1915), Through the Valley of Shadows (1914), My Old Dutch (1915)). Her career started slipping after WWI, however, and by 1924 she was forced to settle permanently in Hollywood when the British film market dried up completely. At this point she had to make do as a stock player for MGM. The advent of sound was the final nail in her career's coffin, unfortunately. It was a respectful MGM that kept her on the payroll for the next decade, albeit in bit parts and extra roles.
She died practically forgotten at the Woodland Hills, California, Motion Picture Country Home in 1946 at age 61.USA
225 credits, 1907-1943. Actress, writer, producer.
1885 - 1946, (61).- Actress
- Writer
Louise Lester was born on 8 August 1867 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Calamity Anne's Dream (1913), Calamity Anne's Sacrifice (1913) and Calamity Anne, Detective (1913). She was married to Jack Richardson and Frank Beal. She died on 18 November 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.USA.
224 credits, 1911-1935.
1867 - 1952, (85).- Actress
- Writer
Born in Chicago in 1885, silent screen actress Myrtle Stedman's (née Lincoln) musical talents developed quite early, finding herself on stage at age 12 singing light opera in the chorus. She had progressed to singing leads in shows by the time she decided to abandon her music career altogether for the movies.
She and actor-husband Marshall Stedman were signed by the Selig Polyscope Co. in 1911 and Myrtle's first credit was The Two Orphans (1911), a three-reeler. She was often directed or paired up with Marshall during those early years, but Myrtle was the one who stood out with moviegoers. Known as "the girl with the pearly eyes," she was not only an adorably enchanting and enigmatic presence in film drama, her athletic abilities also complemented westerns and action adventures.
She moved to the Bosworth Company in 1914 and appeared in such noteworthy silents as The Country Mouse (1914), Jane (1915), Peer Gynt (1915), and, most notably, the classic Hypocrites (1915), the last helmed by pioneer lady director Lois Weber. She increased her reputation as a fine actress with The American Beauty (1916), As Men Love (1917), In the Hollow of Her Hand (1918) and The Teeth of the Tiger (1919). Her son, Lincoln Stedman, made his debut as a juvenile player about this time. She and her husband divorced in 1919.
Following her rich roles in Reckless Youth (1922) and The Famous Mrs. Fair (1923), which was considered one of her finest, her star began to fade and she began to support other stars such as Colleen Moore in Flaming Youth (1923); May McAvoy in Tessie (1925); and Mary Astor in No Place to Go (1927).
Come the advent of sound, Myrtle seemed to move with ease into matronly secondary roles in such films as The Jazz Age (1929), Little Accident (1930), Beau Ideal (1931), Klondike (1932) and The Widow in Scarlet (1932), but by 1933, she had regressed to unbilled roles and pretty much stayed in that capacity up until the time of her death. Myrtle suffered a heart attack in late 1937 and declined quickly, dying on January 8, 1938 at age 52. Her ex-husband died in 1943 and her son, Lincoln, died in 1948.USA
218 credits, 1910-1938.
1885 - 1938. (52).- Anna Quirentia Nilsson, popularly known as "Anna Q", who was born on March 30th, 1888, in Ystad, Sweden, emigrated to the United States in 1905. The 5'7" Nilsson used her blonde beauty to become a famous model for well-known fashion photographers and fine artists. In 1907 she was chosen the most beautiful girl in the US and in 1911 made her film debut in Molly Pitcher (1911). She was an overnight sensation, becoming a silent film superstar in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1914 she was chosen the most beautiful actress "in the world" and Photoplay magazine named her "the ideal American girl" in 1919.
She appeared in films by the top studios in Hollywood, including Goldwyn, Famous Players (Paramount), Metro and First National. Her movie career continued to flourish in the 1920s, the decade of the flapper and bathtub gin, the so-called Jazz Age. In 1926 she was chosen the most popular actress. However, she suffered a major setback in 1928, when she was thrown off a horse and fractured her thigh. To her relatives in Sweden she wrote " . . . no tragedy is greater than mine. I am still a young star and suddenly everything is lost". Her fans supported her with some 30,000 letters a month and Nilsson tried to rush her convalescence. It made a bad situation worse and doctors needed to shorten her leg.
In 1931 Nilsson was back before the camera, but her stardom was unfortunately in the past. She appeared in approximately 40 more films until she retired in 1954. She was one of the bridge players (a.k.a. the "wax works") in Norma Desmond's mansion in Sunset Boulevard (1950), appearing with her former co-star, silent film superstar and prominent victim of sound, H.B. Warner. Four years later, she appeared in a small part in her motion-picture swan-song, the classic musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
Anna Q. Nillson died on February 11, 1974, six weeks shy of her 85th birthday.USA.
218 credits. - 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.USA
213 credits. - Mabel Trunnelle was born in Dwight, Illinois on November 8, 1879. A stage actress from the East Coast, Mabel was 32 when she appeared on the silver screen. In 1911 she was in A MODERN CINDERELLA, IN THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY, and THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER, the latter being the most notable. Her last film was in 1923's THE LOVE TRAP. At 44 she went back to the stage. On April 29, 1981, Mabel died in Glendale, California at the age of 101.USA.
209 credits. - Having worked as a telephone operator at age 13 and a fashion model afterwards, Alice Joyce joined the Kalem film company at 20, making her debut in The Deacon's Daughter (1910), and achieved popularity as a charming, proper leading lady in many shorts. After Vitagraph bought out Kalem, Joyce began appearing in the company's features, and her career soared. She was so popular as an ingénue that she was still playing those parts into her late 20s, but eventually she switched to older, more mature roles. She played Clara Bow's mother in Bow's wildly popular film Dancing Mothers (1926). After retiring from the screen, she married director Clarence Brown.USA.
210 credits - Actress
- Writer
Marion Leonard was born on 9 June 1881 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for What Avails the Crown (1912), The Seed of the Fathers (1913) and The Voice of the Millions (1912). She was married to Stanner E.V. Taylor. She died on 9 January 1956 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.USA.
206 credits, 1915-2008.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in 1911, Jeanette Nolan began her acting career in the Pasadena Community Playhouse. While still a student at Los Angeles City College, she made her radio debut in 1932, aged 20, in "Omar Khayyam", the first transcontinental broadcast from station KHJ. Her film debut was probably also her best part: Lady Macbeth opposite director/actor Orson Welles's Macbeth (1948). Her final film role was as Tom Booker (Robert Redford)'s mother, Ellen Booker, in The Horse Whisperer (1998).
She appeared in more than 300 television shows, including episode roles in Perry Mason (1957), I Spy (1965), MacGyver (1985), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), and as a regular on The Richard Boone Show (1963) and The Virginian (1962). She received four Emmy nominations.
Nolan died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in 1998, aged 86, following a stroke.USA
1911 - 1998. (86).
203 credits, 1948-1998.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Leah Baird first made a name for herself in summer stock and traveling stock companies. After playing several leads in the William F. Brady troupe opposite Douglas Fairbanks Vitagraph signed her to a contract. Her peak years in film were from 1916-1918 at which time she was a very popular player. However, her career had faded by 1925, and she retired to concentrate on scriptwriting. Later in life, she became a bit part player.USA
1883 - 1971. (88).
203 credits:
178 acting credits.
25 writing credits.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Norma Talmadge was born on May 26, 1895, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The daughter of an unemployed alcoholic and his wife, Norma did not have the idyllic childhood that most of us yearn for. Her father left the family on Christmas Day and his wife and three daughters had to fend for themselves. Her mother, Peggy, took in laundry to help make ends meet. By the time Norma was 14 she took up modeling. She was successful enough that she attracted the attention of studio chiefs in New York City (where the Vitagraph studio was located at the time). Norma landed a small role in The Household Pest (1910). With her mother's prodding, she landed other small roles with the studio in 1910, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910), Love of Chrysanthemum (1910), A Dixie Mother (1910) and A Broken Spell (1910). By 1911 she was improving as an actress, so much so that she landed a good part in A Tale of Two Cities (1911). By 1913 she was Vitagraph's most promising young actress. In August of 1915 Norma and her mother left for California and the promise of success in the fledgling film industry there. Her first film in Hollywood was Captivating Mary Carstairs (1915). The film was not only a flop but the studio that made it, National Pictures, went out of business.
During this time her sister, Constance Talmadge, was working for legendary director D.W. Griffith. Constance managed to get Norma a contract with Griffith's company. Over the following eight months Norma made seven feature films and a few shorts. After the contract ran out, the family returned to the East Coast. In 1916 she met and married producer and businessman Joseph M. Schenck. With his backing they formed their own production company and turned out a number of films, the first of which was Panthea (1917). It was a tremendous hit, as was Norma. In 1920 the production company moved to Hollywood, where the big hits of the day were being produced. Her company produced hits such as The Wonderful Thing (1921), The Eternal Flame (1922) and The Song of Love (1923).
By 1928 Norma's popularity had begun to fade. Her film The Woman Disputed (1928) was a flop at the box-office. Her final film was Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930). By that time "talkies" were all the rage, but Norma's voice did not lend itself to sound and she was out of work. She divorced Schenck and married George Jessel. Jessel had his own radio show and Norma was added to the cast to help its sagging ratings. She thought this might be the vehicle by which she would revive her stalled film career, but the show continued its decline and was ultimately canceled, and with it the hopes of rebuilding her shattered career. She was finished for good.
She divorced Jessel in 1939 and married Dr. Carvel James in 1946. She remained with him until she died of a stroke on Christmas Eve of 1957 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was 62 and had been in a phenomenal 250+ motion pictures.USA
201 credits, 1917 - 1935.
1894 - 1957. (63).- Denver-born supporting actress Irene Tedrow is another in a long line of "I know the face...but not the name" character actors whose six-decade career was known more for its durability than for the greatness of roles she played. Born in 1907, she was a lady primarily of the stage, beginning her acting career as a teen. She trained in drama at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, PA, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. A slim, handsome woman in her early days, her features grew more severe with age, which ultimately typed her as puritanical meddlers and no-nonsense matrons practically from her entrance into film in 1937. She seldom, if ever, found a meaty part, appearing way, way down the list of credits, if at all. A founding member of the Old Globe Theatre, she was featured in such classical productions as "Richard III," "Hamlet" and "Henry IV, Part I." She became a primary player on radio during the war years, notably for the maternal role of Mrs. Janet Archer in the popular serial Meet Corliss Archer (1950), which she transferred to TV for one season. Her radio role lasted for nine years (43-52). Irene appeared in hundreds of episodic guest appearances for nearly 35 years in everything Dragnet (1951), The Andy Griffith Show (1960), and The Twilight Zone (1959) to the more recent The Facts of Life (1979), St. Elsewhere (1982) and L.A. Law (1986). Never a regular series player, she is probably best remembered as the kindly Mrs. Elkins who appeared occasionally on the Dennis the Menace (1959) sitcom. Over the years, Irene never abandoned the stage, gracing a number of shows in her senior years including "Our Town" on Broadway, plus "Foxfire," "The Hot L. Baltimore" and "Pygmalion." Continuing to work as an octogenarian, she died of a stroke at age 87 in the Los Angeles area.USA
1907- 1995. (87).
200 credits, 1940-1989.