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 (…

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…

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…

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…

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. …

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…

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…

Constance Talmadge (April 19, 1897 - November 23, 1973) was a silent movie star born in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and was the sister of fellow actresses Norma Talmadge and Natalie Talmadge. Early life Talmadge was born into a poor family. Her father, Fred, was an alcoholic, and left them when she was still very young. Her mother, Peg, made a living by doing laundry. When a friend recommended that Peg use Norma as a model for title slides in flickers, which were shown in early nickelodeons, Peg decided to try it. This led all three sisters into an acting career. Career She began making films in 1914, in a Vitagraph comedy short, In Bridal Attire (1914). Her first major …

Clara Kimball Young (September 6, 1890 - October 15, 1960) was an American film actress, who was highly regarded and publicly popular of the early silent film era. Early life Clarisa Kimball was born in Chicago; her parents Edward M. Kimball and Pauline Maddern were travelling stock actors. She made her stage debut at the age of three, and throughout her early childhood travelled with her parents and acted with their theater company. She attended St. Francis Xavier's Academy in Chicago and then was afterwards hired into a stock company and resumed her stage career, travelling extensively through the United States and playing various small town theaters. Early in her c…

Colleen Moore (August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress, and one of the most fashionable stars of the silent film era. Early life Born Kathleen Morrison on August 19, 1899 (some sources state 1902) in Port Huron, Michigan, Miss Moore was the eldest child of Charles R. and Agnes Morrison. The family remained in Port Huron during the early years of Moore's life, at first living with her grandmother Mary Kelly (often spelled Kelley) and then with at least one of Moore's aunts. By 1905 the family had moved to Hillsdale, Michigan where they remained for over two years. They had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia by 1908. They are listed at three differen…

Camilla Horn (25 April 1903, Frankfurt am Main - 14 August 1996) was a former German dancer and a film star of the silent and sound era. She starred in several Hollywood films of the late 1920s and in a few British and Italian productions. Biography The daughter of a civil servant, Horn was educated as a dressmaker and worked at Erfurt. In 1925, together with Marlene Dietrich, she worked as an extra in the German film Madame Doesn't Want Any Children, and later she was seen in a musical review by director Alexander Korda. She made her great breakthrough in 1926, when she replaced the popular American actress Lillian Gish, for the part of Gretchen in F. W. Murnau's lavi…

Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen". She was the mother of John Drew Barrymore, and is grandmother of Drew Barrymore. Early years Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello. She was of Irish descent through her father. Dolores and her younger sister Helene made their first film appearances in the years 1909 – 1915 as child actresses for the Vitagraph Film Company. They played supporting roles in several films starring their father, who was a popu…

Virginia Lee Corbin (December 5, 1910 - June 5, 1942) was an American silent film actress. Corbin began her career as a child actress in 1916, and went on to become a youthful flapper in the 1920s. Unfortunately she was one of the many silent stars that would not make it in the sound era, and was put to retirement in the early 1930s. She married Chicago stockbroker Theodore Krol in 1929 and they had two children, Phillip and Robert. They divorced in 1937 and shortly after she married another Chicago stockbroker, Charles Jacobson. She died suddenly at age 31 from tuberculosis.

Jewel Carmen (July 13, 1897 – March 4, 1984) was an American silent film actress. Early life and career Born Florence Lavina Quick in Danville, Kentucky, Carmen made her film debut in the 1912 film The Will of Destiny. She went on to appear in Daphne and the Pirate (1916), opposite Lillian Gish and D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). Lawsuits against Fox In 1917, Carmen contracted with Fox Film Corporation, but finding the deal unsatisfactory opened a new contract with the Keeney Corporation in 1918 while her first contract remained in effect. Fox sent Keeney notice of their prior contract, warning that they would hold Keeney responsible for assisting her in breakin…

Christine Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and film director. Early life Lahti was born in Birmingham, Michigan, the daughter of Elizabeth Margaret, a painter, homemaker and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti, a surgeon. Lahti has Finnish ancestry. Her surname means "a gulf", "a bay" or "a cove" in Finnish and Lahti is also a city in Finland. Lahti studied fine arts at Florida State University and received her bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Michigan, where she joined Delta Gamma sorority. She then toured Europe as part of a pantomime acting troupe. Career After college, Lahti headed to New York City, where she worked as a waitress and …

Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen (January 8, 1911 - December 22, 1995) was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen appeared as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's maid in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind Born Thelma McQueen January 7, 1911 Tampa, Florida, U.S. Died December 22, 1995 (aged 84) Augusta, Georgia, U.S. Occupation Actress Years active 1939-1989 Early life Born Thelma McQueen in Tampa, Florida, she had planned to become a nurse until a high school teacher suggested that she try acting. McQueen initially studied with Janet Collins and went on to dance with the Venezuela Jones Negro Youth Group. Around this time she acquired the nickname "Butterfly"—a trib…

Sarah Bernhardt (born circa October 23, 1844 – March 26, 1923) was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname "The Divine Sarah." Early life Bernhardt was born in Paris as Rosine Bernardt, the illegitimate daughter of Julie Bernardt (1821, Amsterdam – 1876, Paris) and an unknown father. Julie was one of six children of a widely traveling Jewish spectacle merchant, "vision specialist" and petty criminal, Mo…