Marguerite Clark

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Marguerite Clark
Born Helen Marguerite Clark
February 22, 1883(1883-02-22)
Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died September 25, 1940(1940-09-25) (aged 57)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1900–1921
Spouse Harry Palmerston Williams (1918–1936) (his death)

Marguerite Clark (February 22, 1883 – September 25, 1940) was an American stage and silent film actress.

Contents

[edit] 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 16, 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, Clark made her Broadway debut in 1900. The 17-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-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) Hopper dwarfed the nearly 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) Clark in their scenes together. Several adventure-fantasy roles followed. In 1909 Clark starred in the whimsical costume play The Beauty Spot, keeping in line with the kind of fantasy stories she would soon do in films and which would become her hallmark.[1] In 1910 Clark appeared in The Wishing Ring, a play directed by Cecil DeMille and later made into a motion picture by Maurice Tourneur. That same 1910 season had Clark appearing in Baby Mine, a popular play produced by William A. Brady. In 1912 Clark performed in a starring role with John Barrymore, Doris Keane and Gail Kane in the play The Affairs of Anatol later made into a motion picture by Clark's future movie studio Famous Players-Lasky(Paramount) and directed by Cecil DeMille. Also in 1912 Clark starred in a memorable production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This role was a definition of Clark's persona, and she would make an influential film version of the story in 1916. Clark's popularity led to her signing a contract in 1914 to make motion pictures with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.

[edit] Late starting film career

Marguerite in 1916

At age 31, it was relatively late in life for a film actress to begin a career with starring roles, but the diminutive Clark, who stood 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) tall, had a little-girl look, like Mary Pickford, that belied her years. Also, film was not developed or mature enough to showcase Clark at her youthful best at the turn of the century. These were one of the reasons established Broadway stars refused early film offers. Feature films were unheard of when Clark was in her early 20s. She made her first appearance on screen in the short film Wildflower, directed by Allan Dwan. [2]

In 1915 Clark starred as "Gretchen", in a feature-length production of The Goose Girl based on a 1909 best-selling novel by Harold MacGrath. She performed in the feature-length production The Seven Sisters (1915), directed by Sidney Olcott, and she reprised a Broadway role, starring in the first feature-length film version of Snow White (1916).

Clark and Williams' former mansion on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown New Orleans now houses the Latter branch of the New Orleans Public Library

Clark was directed in this by J. Searle Dawley, as well as in a number of films, notably when she played the characters of both "Little Eva St. Clair" and "Topsy" in the feature Uncle Tom's Cabin (1918).[2]

Clark starred in Come Out of the Kitchen (1919), which was filmed in Pass Christian, Mississippi, at Ossian Hall. The same year, she enrolled as a yeowoman in the naval reserves.

Clark made all but one of her 40 films with Famous Players-Lasky, her last with them in 1920 titled Easy to Get, in which she starred opposite silent film actor Harrison Ford.

Clark's next film, in 1921, was made by her own production company for First National Pictures distribution. As one of the most popular actresses going into the 1920s, and one of the industry's best paid, her name alone was enough to ensure reasonable box office success. As such, Scrambled Wives was made under her direction, following which she retired at age 38 to be with her husband at their country estate in New Orleans. [2]

[edit] Personal life

In 1918, Clark married New Orleans, Louisiana plantation owner and millionaire businessman Harry Palmerston Williams (1887–1936), a marriage which lasted until Harry's death in 1936. After the death of her husband in an air crash, Clark was the owner of the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation, which had built and flown air racers, along with other aviation enterprises. She subsequently spent time in New York City, where she died from pneumonia in 1940 at the age of 57. She was buried with her husband in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Marguerite Clark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6304 Hollywood Boulevard.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ Blum 1988, p. 109.
  2. ^ a b c Ballard. Mike. "Marguerite Clark, Film Fantasy Queen." greatlivesinhistory, February 22, 2010. Retrieved: January 9, 2012.
Bibliography
  • Blum, Daniel. Pictorial History of the American Theater. New York: Random House Value Publishing, First edition 1950. ISBN: 0-51753-022-8.
  • Nunn, Curtis. Marguerite Clark: America's Darling of Broadway and the Silent Screen. Fort Worth, Texas: The Texas Christian University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-912646-69-1.

[edit] External links

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