Anita Page

Anita Page
Born	Anita Evelyn Pomares August 4, 1910(1910-08-04) Flushing, Queens, New York, United States
Died	September 6, 2008(2008-09-06) (aged 98) Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1925–1936; 1963; 1996; 2000–2008
Spouse	Nacio Herb Brown (m. 1934–1935) «start: (1934)–end+1: (1936)»"Marriage: Nacio Herb Brown to Anita Page" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Page) Herschel A. House (m. 1937–1991) «start: (1937)–end+1: (1992)»"Marriage: Herschel A. House to Anita Page" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Page)
Website
http://www.anitapage.com/

Anita Evelyn Pomares (August 4, 1910 – September 6, 2008), better known as Anita Page, was a Salvadoran-American film actress who reached stardom in the last years of the silent film era. She became a highly popular young star, reportedly at one point receiving the most fan mail of anyone on the MGM lot. When Page died in 2008 at age 98, she was the last surviving "famous" film star of the silent era except for child actresses such as Baby Peggy and Baby Marie. A few silent leading ladies who did not achieve wide fame survive her. She was referred to as "a blond, blue-eyed Latin" and "the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood" in the 1920s.

Early life

Page was born in Flushing, Queens to Helen and John Pomares. She had one brother, Marino, who later worked for her as a gym instructor while her mother worked as her secretary and her father as her chauffeur. Of Salvadoran and Spanish ancestry, Page's grandfather was a consul from El Salvador.

Career

Page entered films with the help of friend, actress Betty Bronson. Page's picture was spotted by a man who handled Bronson's fan mail who was also interested in representing actors. With the encouragement of her mother, Page telephoned the man who arranged a meeting for her with a casting director at Paramount Studios. After screentesting for Paramount, Page also tested for MGM. After being offered a contract for both studios, Page decided on MGM. Page's first film for MGM was the 1928 comedy-drama Telling the World, opposite William Haines. Her performances in her second MGM film, Our Dancing Daughters (1928) opposite Joan Crawford (with whom she appeared in three films), and The Broadway Melody (1929) opposite Bessie Love were her greatest successes of the period, and her popularity allowed her to make a smooth transition into talking pictures.

She was the leading lady to Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Robert Montgomery, and Clark Gable (among others) and during the early 1930s, she was one of Hollywood's busiest actresses. She was involved briefly with Gable romantically during that time. At the height of her popularity, she was receiving more fan mail than any other female star, with the exception of Greta Garbo, and received multiple marriage proposals from Benito Mussolini in the mail.

Retirement

When her contract expired in 1933, she surprised Hollywood by announcing her retirement at the age of 23. She made one more movie, Hitch Hike to Heaven, in 1936, and then left the screen, virtually disappearing from Hollywood circles for sixty years. In a 2004 interview with author Scott Feinberg, she claimed that her refusal to meet demands for sexual favors by MGM head of production Irving Thalberg, supported by studio chief Louis B. Mayer, is what truly ended her career. She said that Mayer colluded with the other studio bosses to ban her and other uncooperative actresses from finding work.

She married composer Nacio Herb Brown in 1934, but the marriage was annulled a year later because Brown's previous divorce had not been finalized at the time they were married. She married Lieutenant Hershel A. House, a Navy pilot, in 1937 and they moved to Coronado, California and lived there until his death in 1991. They had two daughters, Linda (now Linda Sterne) and Sandra (who predeceased her mother).

Return to spotlight

Page returned to the screen in 1996 after sixty years retirement and appeared in several low budget horror films, several of which appeared to have been uncompleted or not released. Film veteran Margaret O'Brien appeared in two of them. During this period, she moved in with her co-star and occasional director, Randal Malone at his Van Nuys home.

Page relished her status as "last star of the silents" and frequently gave interviews and appeared in documentaries about the era. Although ill health prevented her from making public appearances in her final years, her reputation for answering letters from fans never diminished.

At the time of her death in September 2008, she was among the last to have acted as an adult in silent films (Barbara Kent and Miriam Seegar are among the handful of others) to live into the 21st century. She was also the last living attendee of the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.

Death

Page died on September 6, 2008 at her Los Angeles home, at the age of 98. She is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Anita Page has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6116 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1925	A Kiss for Cinderella		Uncredited
1926	Love 'Em and Leave 'Em		Uncredited
1927	Beach Nuts		Short film
1928	Telling the World	Chrystal Malone
1928	Our Dancing Daughters	Ann 'Annikins'
1928	While the City Sleeps	Myrtle
1928	West of Zanzibar	Bit role	Uncredited
1929	The Flying Fleet	Anita Hastings
1929	The Broadway Melody	Queenie Mahoney	Alternative title: The Broadway Melody of 1929
1929	Our Modern Maidens	Kentucky Strafford
1929	Speedway	Patricia
1929	Navy Blues	Alice "Allie" Brown
1930	Great Day		Incomplete
1930	Free and Easy	Elvira Plunkett	Alternative title: Easy Go
1930	Caught Short	Genevieve Jones
1930	Our Blushing Brides	Connie Blair
1930	Little Accident	Isabel
1930	War Nurse	Joy Meadows
1931	The Voice of Hollywood No. 7 (Second Series)
1931	Reducing	Vivian Truffle
1931	The Easiest Way	Peg Murdock Feliki
1931	Gentleman's Fate	Ruth Corrigan
1931	Sidewalks of New York	Margie Kelly
1931	Under 18	Sophie
1932	Are You Listening?	Sally O'Neil
1932	Night Court	Mary Thomas	Alternative title: Justice for Sale
1932	Skyscraper Souls	Jenny LeGrande
1932	Prosperity	Helen Praskins Warren
1933	Jungle Bride	Doris Evans
1933	Soldiers of the Storm	Natalie
1933	The Big Cage	Lilian Langley
1933	I Have Lived	Jean St. Clair	Alternative titles: After Midnight Love Life
1936	Hitch Hike to Heaven	Claudia Revelle	Alternative title: Footlights and Shadows
1961	The Runaway	Nun
1996	Sunset After Dark
2000	Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood	Sister Seraphina	Direct-to-DVD release
2002	The Crawling Brain	Grandma Anita Kroger	Direct-to-DVD release
2004	Socialite	Socialite
2009	Frankenstein Rising	Elizabeth Frankenstein	Released posthumously

External links

• Official Web Site
• Anita Page at the Internet Movie Database
• Anita Page Biography and Gallery
• Anita Page Photo Gallery
• Anita Page at Golden Silents
• Guardian Interview with Anita Page
• Photographs of Anita Page
• "Anita Page". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29633425. Retrieved September 14, 2010.