Actresses

Born Alice Talton 7 June 1920 is born in Atlanta, Georgia, of part Cherokee Indian descent. Her mother’s maiden name is Bryd. 1938 is crowned "Miss Atlanta" 10 September 1938 as "Miss Atlanta," she is among Dixie's hopes in the "Miss America" beauty pageant held in City, New Jersey ? is discovered by a Warner scout in a production of the Community Playhouse in Atlanta, Georgia March 1941 is added to the contract list at Warner Brothers. She stands 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 123 pounds. April 1941 she and fellow starlets Marguerite Chapman and Georgia Carroll are pictured watching homing pigeons go through paces in California's San Fernando Valley before bein…

Irene Dunne (December 20, 1898 - September 4, 1990) was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s and 1940s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939) and I Remember Mama (1948). Early life Born Irene Marie Dunn in Louisville, Kentucky to Joseph Dunn, a steamboat inspector for the United States government, and Adelaide Henry, a concert pianist/music teacher from Newport, Kentucky, Irene Dunn would later write "No triumph of either my stage or screen career has ever rivalled the excitement of trips down the Mississippi on the …

Xenia Desni (b. 19 January 1894, Kiev - d. 1954, France) was a Ukrainian actress of the silent screen era. Career Desni began her successful career at the beginning of the 1920s with the movie Sappho, followed by a number of successful productions such as Der Sprung ins Leben, Die Prinzessin Suwarin, Wilhelm Tell, Die Andere, Ein Walzertraum, Familie Schimek, and Madame wagt einen Seitensprung. Unfortunately, her acting career was ended after the film, Kriminalkommissar Eyck. Shortly before filming began on this movie, Desni was abducted by aliens. During the time spent with her extra-terrestrial abductees, Desni was made subject to numerous tests ultimately resulting i…

Mildred Hillary Davis (February 22, 1901 – August 18, 1969) was an American actress who appeared in many of Harold Lloyd's classic silent comedies and eventually became his wife. Early life and career Davis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at the "Friends School" there. After several years spent studying, she traveled to Los Angeles in the hopes of securing a role in a film. After appearing in several small roles, she caught the attention of Hal Roach, who pointed her out to comedian Harold Lloyd. Lloyd was looking for a leading lady to replace Bebe Daniels, and cast Davis in his comedy short From Hand to Mouth in 1919. It would be the first of fiftee…

Dorothy Mackaill (March 4, 1903 - August 12, 1990) was a British-born American actress, most notably of the silent film era and into the early 1930s. Born in Hull, England, Dorothy Mackaill lived with her father after her parents separated when she was eleven. As a teenager, Mackaill ran away to London to pursue a stage career as an actress. After temporarily relocating to Paris, France she met a Broadway stage choreographer who persuaded her to move to New York City where she became involved in the Ziegfeld Follies and befriended future motion picture actresses Marion Davies and Nita Naldi. By 1920, Mackaill had begun making the transition from "Follies girl" to motion…

Viola Dana (June 26, 1897 – July 3, 1987) was an American film actress who was successful during the era of silent movies. Career Born Virginia Flugrath, Dana was a child star, appearing on the stage at the age of three. She read Shakespeare and particularly identified with the teenage Juliet. She enjoyed a long run at the Hudson Theater in New York City. A particular favorite of audiences was her performance in David Belasco's Poor Little Rich Girl, when she was 16. She went into vaudeville with Dustin Farnum in The Little Rebel and played a bit part in The Model by Augustus Thomas. Dana entered films in 1910. Her first motion picture was made at a former Manhattan (…

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. In 1954, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Carmen Jones, and, in 1959, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Porgy and Bess. In 1999, she was the subject of the HBO biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She has been recognized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. …

Dolores del Río (August 3, 1905 – April 11, 1983) was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Later in life, she became an important actress in Mexican films. She was generally thought to be one of the most beautiful actresses of her era, and was the first Latin American movie star to have international appeal. In the Silent film era, Del Rio was considered a counterpart to Rudolph Valentino. With the arrival of the talkies, she became one of the principal Art Deco symbols of beauty. Del Río was one of the principal stars of Mexican films during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1…

Lieke van Lexmond is a dutch model and TV actress whose been in numerous dutch productions such as Spangen and Volle Maan. Born 2 febr 1982

Lya De Putti (January 10, 1899 – November 27, 1931) was a Hungarian film actress of the silent era, noted for her portrayal of vamp characters. Early life and career Born as Amalia de Putti in Vécse, Hungary (today Slovakia), she was one of the four children of Julius de Putti, a cavalry officer, and his wife, the former Countess Maria Katarina Hoyos. She had two brothers, Geza and Alexander, and a sister, Mitzi. She began her stage career on the Hungarian Vaudeville circuit. She soon progressed to Berlin, where after performing in the ballet, she made her screen debut in 1918. She became the premiere danseuse at the Berlin Winter Garden in 1924. Around that time Germ…

Allison Glenn "Scags" Scagliotti (born September 21, 1990) is an American actress. She had a recurring role on Drake & Josh, portraying the character Mindy Crenshaw and currently appears as Claudia Donovan on the SyFy television series, Warehouse 13. Scagliotti has had various small television roles during her career including stints on Zoey 101, One Tree Hill, and CSI although she is better recognized as Mindy Crenshaw on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh. Her first film lead role was in the independent short Redemption Maddie and appeared as the antagonist in the Disney Channel Movie Read It and Weep which premiered on July 21, 2006. Scagliotti also portray…

Lili Damita (July 10, 1904 – March 21, 1994) was a French actress who had appeared in 33 movies between 1922 and 1937. Early life and education Born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré in Blaye, France, she was educated in convents and ballet schools in several European countries, including France, Spain and Portugal. At 14, she was enrolled as a dancer at the Opera de Paris. By the age of 16 she was performing in popular music halls, eventually appearing in the Revue at the Casino de Paris. She also worked as a photographic model. Offered a role in film as a prize for winning a magazine beauty competition in 1921, she appeared in several silent films before being offered he…

Mamie Van Doren (born February 6, 1931) is an American actress and sex symbol. Early life Van Doren was born Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South Dakota, the daughter of Warner Carl Olander (March 30, 1908 – June 4, 1992) and Lucille Harriet Bennett (January 21, 1912 – August 27, 1995). She is of three-quarters Swedish ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. Her mother named her after Joan Crawford. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa. In May 1942, they moved to Los Angeles. In early 1946, Joan began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television show. She also sang with Te…

Dorothy Sebastian (April 26, 1903 – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress. Early life and career Sebastian was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. In her youth she hoped to be a dancer and later a film actress. Her family frowned on both ambitions, however, so she fled to New York at the age of 15. Upon her arrival in New York City, Sebastian's southern drawl was thick enough to "cut with a knife". She followed around theatrical agents before returning at night to a $12-a-month room, after being consistently rejected. Her first contact in Hollywood was Robert Kane, who gave her a film test at United Studios. She performed in George White's Scandals…

Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957) and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses of 1959. Her film career continued for a few years, and in 1964 she began playing the role of Morticia Addams in the television series The Addams Family, receiving a Golden Globe Award nomination for her work. Early life Jones was born in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter of Julius Alfred and Cloe Jeanette Jones. After moving to Californi…

Sofia Carmina Coppola (born May 14, 1971) is an Academy Award-winning U.S. screen-writer, film director, actress and producer. She was the third female film director to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing. Early life Coppola was born in New York City, New York, the youngest child and only daughter of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather and Apocalypse Now), grand-daughter of the late composer Carmine Coppola, sister of Roman Coppola and the late Gian-Carlo Coppola, niece of her father's siblings August Coppola and Talia Shire, and a cousin of Nicolas Cage, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Carmine. She attended Mi…

Marguerita Maria "Mady" Christians (January 19, 1892 – October 28, 1951), was an Austrian actress who achieved a successful acting career in theatre and film, in the United States until she was blacklisted during the McCarthy period. Her family went to Berlin when she was one year old, and to New York in 1912. Five years later she returned to Europe to study under Max Reinhardt. She appeared in a number of European films before getting into American films. On Broadway, she originated the title role in the 1944 play I Remember Mama. Her last movie roles were in All My Sons, based on the play by Arthur Miller, and Letter from an Unknown Woman, both released in 1948.

Marguerite Clark (February 22, 1883 – September 25, 1940) was an American stage and silent film actress. Early life and theater Born to a farming family in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Clark was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cincinnati. She finished school at age sixteen and having decided to pursue a career in the theatre she quickly showed herself to be a gifted actress. After performing for only a short time, she made her Broadway debut in 1900. The seventeen-year-old went on to star at various venues. In 1903 she was seen on Broadway opposite that hulking comedian DeWolf Hopper in Mr. Pickwick. The 6'6" Hopper dwarfed the nearly five foot tall Cla…

Sue Carol (October 30, 1906 – February 4, 1982) was an American actress and talent agent. While at a social function in Los Angeles in 1927, a director offered her a part in a film. She took it and began playing minor parts. Carol's film career lasted from the late 1920s into the 1930s, and when it ended she became a talent agent; one of her clients was Alan Ladd to whom she was married from 1942 until his death in 1964. Early life and career Carol was born Evelyn Lederer in Chicago, Illinois to Caroline, a German Jewish immigrant, and Samuel Lederer, a Jewish immigrant from Austria. One of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, she performed in motion pictures from 1927 until 1937. …

Isabelle Fuhrman (born February 25, 1997) is an American teen actress. Fuhrman is best known for playing Esther in Orphan. Life and careerIsabelle Fuhrman was born in Washington, D.C.. and raised in Atlanta. Her Soviet-born mother, Elina Fuhrman, is a journalist, and her father, Nick Fuhrman, was at one time the chairman of the Republican Party in Dane County, Wisconsin.[1] She has an older sister, Madeline Fuhrman. Fuhrman's acting career began at the age of seven, when a casting director from Cartoon Network spotted her waiting for her sister and cast her for one of the shows, “Cartoon Fridays.” Fuhrman made her big screen debut just a few years later in the 2007 drama …

December 4, 1921 Early life Born Edna Mae Durbin at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she was given the professional name Deanna at the beginning of her association with Universal Studios in 1936, when she was still 14 years old. Her parents, James and Ada Durbin, were immigrants from Lancashire, England who would become U.S. citizens after moving their family from Winnipeg to Southern California in 1923. Durbin had an older sister named Edith, who recognized Deanna's musical talents at an early age and helped Deanna to take singing lessons at Ralph Thomas Academy. This led to her discovery by MGM in 1935. In late 1936, Cesar Sturani, who was the…

Carmel Myers (April 4, 1899 – November 9, 1980) was an American actress who worked chiefly in silent movies. Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of an Australian rabbi and Austrian Jewish mother. Her father became well-connected with California's emerging film industry, and introduced her to film pioneer D. W. Griffith, who gave Carmel a small part in Intolerance (1916). Myers also got her brother Zion Myers into Hollywood as a writer/director. From this beginning, Myers left for New York, where she acted mainly on stage for the next two years. She was signed by Universal, where she emerged as a popular actress in vamp roles. Her most popular film from this pe…

Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. She starred opposite Maurice Chevalier in the early talkie musical, The Playboy of Paris (1930). She starred in the film An American Tragedy (1931) in a role later recreated by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1951 retitled remake, A Place in the Sun. Early life Dee was born Frances (some sources indicate Jean) Marion Dee in Los Angeles, California, where her Army officer father was stationed. She grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where she attended Shakespeare Grammar School and Hyde Park High School, where she went by the nickname of Frankie Dee. After graduating from Hyde Park High in 1927, of which…

Nancy Carroll (November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress. Career She was christened Ann Veronica Lahiff in New York City. Of Irish parentage, she and her sister once gave a dancing act in a local contest of amateur talent. This led her to a stage career and then to the screen. She began her acting career in Broadway musicals. She became a successful talkies actress because her musical background enabled her to play in the movie musicals of the 1930s. Her film debut was in Ladies Must Dress in 1927. In 1928 she made eight films. One of them, Easy Come, Easy Go, co-starring Richard Dix, made her a star. In 1930 she was nominated for the Academy Award f…

Claire Windsor (April 14, 1892 – October 24, 1972) was a notable American film actress of the silent screen era. Early life Windsor was born Clara Viola Cronk (nicknamed "Ola") in 1892 to George Edwin and Rosella R. Fearing Cronk in Marvin, Phillips County, Kansas of Scandinavian heritage. Her parents later moved to Cawker City, Kansas when she was a small child. She attended Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas from 1906 to 1907. An early marriage to a man named David Willis Bowes, took place on May 13, 1914 in Denver, Colorado, resulted in the birth of a son, David William Bowes, born on September 9, 1916, and the couple soon went their separate ways. Bowes officially f…