Actresses

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…

Evelyn Brent (October 20, 1899 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Born Mary Elizabeth Riggs in Tampa, Florida and known as Betty, she was a child of ten when her mother died, leaving her father to raise her alone. After moving to New York City as a teenager, her good looks brought modeling jobs that led to an opportunity to become involved in the still relatively new business of making motion pictures. She originally studied to be a teacher. While attending a normal school in New York she visited the World Film Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Two days later she was working there as an extra making $3 a day. Career She began her film car…

Madge Bellamy (June 30, 1899 – January 24, 1990) was an American film actress who was a popular leading lady in the 1920s and early 1930s. Her career declined in the sound era, and ended following a romantic scandal in the 1940s. Early life Madge Bellamy was born in Hillsboro, Texas in 1899 as Margaret Derden Philpott to William Bledsoe Philpott (1864-19??), a professor of English and Annie Margaret Derden (1880–1960). The family was of English and Irish heritage. Her father was an 1884 graduate of Texas A&M University. Besides teaching English, he taught history and languages, and he also edited many scholarly works. Her parents were married on June 22, 1898 in Hi…

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz and her Academy Award nominated performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live. Early life Known as Billie Burke, she toured the U.S. and Europe with a circus because her father, Billy Burke, was employed with them as a singing clown. Her family ultimately settled in London where she was fortunate to see plays in London's historic West End. She wanted to be a stage actress. In 1903, she began acting on stage, making her debut in London, eventually returnin…

Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, and later gained fame on radio and television in England. Throughout her life, Bebe Daniels made over 230 films. Early life and career Daniels was born Phyllis Virginia Daniels (Bebe was a childhood nickname) in Dallas, Texas. Her father was a theater manager and her mother a stage actress. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in her childhood and she began her acting career at the age of four in the first version of The Squaw Man. That same year she also went on tour in a stage produ…

Olive Borden (July 14, 1906 – October 1, 1947) was an American actress in silent and early talkies. Nicknamed "The Joy Girl", Borden was known for her jet-black hair and overall beauty. Early life Olive Borden was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1906. Her birth name was often reported erroneously as Sybil Tinkle until the 1990s when it was discovered that another woman with the same name had been confused with Borden. Borden's father died when she was a baby and she was raised by her mother, Sibbie, in Norfolk and Baltimore, Maryland where she also attended Catholic boarding schools. She was a distant relative of Lizzie Borden. As a teenager, she persuaded her mother to t…

Letícia Sabatella (born March 8, 1972 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil) is a Brazilian actress. Television: Desejo Proibido 2007 Páginas da Vida 2006 O Clone 2001 Porto dos Milagres 2001 Torre de Babel 1998 Irmãos Coragem 1995 Uma Onda no Ar 1994 O Dono do Mundo 1991 JK 2006 Hoje É Dia de Maria 2 2005 Hoje É Dia de Maria 2005 A Muralha Ana Cardoso 2000 Agosto 1993

Florence La Badie (April 27, 1888 – October 13, 1917) was an American actress in the early days of Hollywood, during the silent film era. Though little known today, she was a major star between 1911 and 1917, her career was at its height and climbing when she died unexpectedly due to injuries sustained during an automobile accident. Early life While her film career is well documented, her early life is somewhat clouded in mystery, from who her real parents were to what her birth name actually was. She was said to be the daughter of Joseph E. La Badie and his wife Amanda from Montreal, Quebec. However, it has also been said that she was born in Austin, Texas and adopted…

Betty Bronson (November 17, 1906 – October 19, 1971) was an American television and film actress who began her career during the silent film era. She was a famous actress in silent and sound films. Film career She was born Elizabeth Ada Bronson in Trenton, New Jersey to Frank and Nellie Smith Bronson. She began her film career began at age of sixteen with a bit part in the film Anna Ascends. At seventeen, after she had pleaded with every friend she had at Paramount Pictures, she finally got an interview with J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Barrie personally chose her to play the lead in a film of his work Peter Pan which would be released in 1924. This film role ha…

Barbara La Marr (July 28, 1896 – January 30, 1926) was an American stage and film actress, cabaret artist and screenwriter. Early life She was born Reatha Dale Watson to William Wallace and Rosana "Rose" Watson in Yakima, Washington. Her father was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother had a son, Henry, born in 1878, and a daughter, Violet, born in February 1881, from a previous marriage. The couple wed some time during 1884, and they had William Watson, Jr., born in June 1886 in Washington. He would later, in the 1920s, become a vaudeville comedian under the stage name of "Billy Devore". The Watsons lived in various locations during La Marr's formative years. By 19…

Chili Bouchier (September 12, 1909 – September 9, 1999) later known as Dorothy Bouchier was a British film actress who achieved success during the silent film era, and who made occasional film appearances with the advent of sound films, before progressing to theatre. She made her first appearance as a child dancer at a charity performance. She became a typist on leaving school and later a mannequin. Her first appearance was as a bathing belle in Shooting Stars. Bouchier won a contest run by the Daily Mail in 1927 to become a film star. She combined her film career with a great deal of stage work in the U.K. From 1950 onwards most of her appearances were on stage in drama…

Eleanor Boardman (August 19, 1898 – December 12, 1991) was an American film actress, popular during the era of silent movies. Early life and career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Boardman was originally on stage but she temporarily lost her voice so entered silent films in 1922. There followed months of fruitless effort until one day Rupert Hughes saw her riding a horse and gave her a part in a film and she quickly began to attract audiences. She was chosen by Goldwyn Pictures as their "New Face of 1922," through which she signed a contract with the company. After several successful supporting roles, she played the lead in 1923's Souls for Sale. Her growing popular…

Vilma Bánky (January 9, 1901 – March 18, 1991) was a Hungarian-born American silent film actress, although the early part of her acting career began in Budapest, spreading to France, Austria, and Germany. Early life She was born Vilma Koncsics on January 9, 1901 to János Koncsics and Katalin Ulbert in Nagydorog, Austria-Hungary. Her father was a bureau chief under Franz Joseph's Austro-Hungarian Empire. Shortly after her birth, her father was transferred to Budapest, and the family relocated. She had two siblings - an older brother, Gyula (who would later go on to work in Berlin as a writer and cinematographer), and a younger sister, Gisella. After graduation from seco…

Olga Vladimirovna Baclanova, or Baklanova, (19 August 1896 or 1900 – 6 September 1974) was a Russian-born actress, who achieved prominence during the silent film era. She was billed as the Russian Tigeress. Born in Moscow, Russia, Baclanova was the daughter of Vladimir Baklanoff and his wife Alexandra, herself an actress in early Russian films. Baclanova studied drama at the Cherniavsky Institute before being accepted into the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre in 1912. Over the next decade she appeared in Russian films, and also performed extensively on stage, touring and performing in many countries of the world. After a 1925 performance in New York she decided to follow …

Betty Compson (March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress. Born Eleanor Luicime Compson in Beaver, Utah, she had an extensive filmography. As a youth her father died and she was forced to drop out of school and earn a living for herself and her mother. She obtained employment as a violinist in a Salt Lake City, Utah, theater. Silent films Compson made 25 films in 1916 alone, although most of them are shorts. She completed The Miracle Man (1919) for George Loane Tucker. Compson's rise as a star in motion pictures began with her portrayal of Rose in this production. In 1920, she began to head her own company. She worked at the Hollywood Brunton studio and a…

Bessie Love (September 10, 1898 – April 26, 1986) was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkie eras. Petite and very pretty, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Besides being an actress, she wrote the 1919 movie A Yankee Princess. Early life Love was born Juanita Horton in Midland, Texas. She attended school in Midland until she was in the eighth grade, when her chiropractor father moved his family to Hollywood. Bessie graduated from Los Angeles High School and then received from her parents (as a graduation present) of a trip around the United States. After six months of…