Marguerite De La Motte

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Marguerite De La Motte (June 22, 1902 – March 10, 1950) was an American film actress, most notably of the silent film era.

Career

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, De La Motte began her entertainment career studying ballet under Anna Pavlova. In 1919 she became the dance star of Sid Grauman on the stage of his theater. In 1918, at the age of 16, she made her screen debut in the Douglas Fairbanks, Sr directed romantic comedy film Arizona. That same year she lost both of her parents in an automobile accident and film producer J.L. Frothingham assumed guardianship of her and her younger sister.

De La Motte spent the 1920s appearing in numerous films, often cast by Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. to play opposite him in swashbuckling adventure films such as 1920's The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers. She developed a close friendship with Fairbanks and his wife, actress Mary Pickford. De La Motte would also appear opposite such notable actors of the "Roaring Twenties" as Bela Lugosi, Milton Sills, Conrad Nagel, Owen Moore, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert and Noah Beery, Sr.

De La Motte's career as an actress slowed dramatically at the end of the silent film era of the 1920s. She did continue acting in bit parts through the sound era and made her final appearance in the 1942 film Overland Mail opposite both Noah Beery, Sr. and Noah Beery, Jr., as well as Lon Chaney, Jr.

Personal life

De La Motte was married twice. She first wed silent film actor John Bowers in 1924, who was then a matinee idol of silver screen. The couple were separated at the time when Bowers committed suicide in 1936. De La Motte later married attorney Sidney H. Rivkin whom she later divorced after four years of marriage. Margherite cousin was Clete Roberts, American War Correspondent and Journalist, who appeared in two episodes of M*A*S*H* in the 1970s.In the 1930s when Roberts moved to Los Angeles he was Marguerite's houseguest and drove her Marmon convertible car.

Later years and death

After her film career ended, De La Motte worked as an inspector in a southern California war plant during World War II. Later she came to San Francisco, California, where she worked in the Red Cross office.

On March 10, 1950, De La Motte died of cerebral thrombosis in San Francisco in 1950, three months short of her 48th birthday.For her contribution as an actress to the motion picture industry, Marguerite De La Motte was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6902 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California.

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