- in Progress - They Touched My Heart 1000 Actresses Through the Years born 1883- 1998
by reynoldslynne-59567 | created - 3 months ago | updated - 7 hours ago | PublicEach generation represented by 50 actresses - includes career length & birthplace [global]
1. Lillian Gish
Actress | The Night of the Hunter
Lillian Diana Gish was born on October 14, 1893, in Springfield, Ohio. Her father, James Lee Gish, was an alcoholic who caroused, was rarely at home, and left the family to, more or less, fend for themselves. To help make ends meet, Lillian, her sister Dorothy Gish, and their mother, Mary Gish, ...
films 1912-1987 inc The White Sister 1923 Duel in the Sun 1947- List ONE of 20
2. Mary Pickford
Actress | Coquette
Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Elsie Charlotte (Hennessy) and John Charles Smith. She was of English and Irish descent. Pickford began in the theater at age seven. Then known as "Baby Gladys Smith", she toured with her family in a number of theater ...
films 1909-1934 inc Stella Maris 1918 Sparrows 1926 - Canada
3. Hattie McDaniel
Actress | Gone with the Wind
After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in The Golden West (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in Judge Priest (1934) and becoming pronounced in Alice Adams (1935). In this one, directed by George ...
films 1930-1952 inc Saratoga 1937 In This Our Life 1942
4. Edna May Oliver
Actress | Penguin Pool Murder
She was born Edna May Nutter, a child of solid New England stock, on 9th November 1883 in Malden, Massachusetts. The daughter of Ida May and Charles Edward Nutter, Edna was a descendant of the 2nd American president John Adams and his son, the 6th American president John Quincy Adams. In addition, ...
films 1923-1941 inc David Copperfield 1935 Drums Along the Mohawk 1940
5. Olga Baclanova
Actress | Freaks
Born Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova, one of six children of Vladimir Baklanoff and his wife Alexandra, later billed as the Russian Tigress in her early talking films, was born August 19, 1893. She graduated from the Cherniavsky Institute in Moscow prior to her selection in 1912 at age 19 to apprentice...
films 1914-1953 inc The Docks of New York 1928 - Russia
6. Billie Burke
Actress | The Wizard of Oz
Billie Burke was born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke on August 7, 1885 in Washington, D.C. Her father was a circus clown, and as a child she toured the United States and Europe with the circus (before motion pictures and after the stage, circuses were the biggest form of entertainment in the...
films 1916-1960 inc A Bill of Divorcement 1937 Topper 1937
7. Beulah Bondi
Actress | It's a Wonderful Life
Character actress Beulah Bondi was a favorite of directors and audiences and is one of the reasons so many films from the 1930s and 1940s remain so enjoyable, as she was an integral part of many of the ensemble casts (a hallmark of the studio system) of major and/or great films, including The Trail...
films 1931-1974 inc Make Way for Tomorrow 1937 Of Human Hearts 1939
8. Chieko Higashiyama
Actress | Tôkyô monogatari
Chieko Higashiyama was born on September 30, 1890 in Chiba, Japan. She was an actress, known for Tokyo Story (1953), Sen-hime (1954) and The Idiot (1951). She died on May 8, 1980.
films 1936-1971 inc The Portrait 1945 Sincere Hearts 1953 - Japan (This listing needs a head shot)
9. Spring Byington
Actress | You Can't Take It with You
The possessor of one of Hollywood's gentlest faces and warmest voices, and about as sweet as Tupelo honey both on-and-off camera, character actress Spring Byington was seldom called upon to play callous or unsympathetic (she did once play a half-crazed housekeeper in Dragonwyck (1946)). Although ...
films 1938-1964 inc Ah Wilderness 1936 The Devil & Miss Jones 1941
10. Gladys Cooper
Actress | My Fair Lady
Gladys Cooper was the daughter of journalist William Frederick Cooper and his wife Mabel Barnett. As a child she was very striking and was used as a photographic model beginning at six years old. She wanted to become an actress and started on that road in 1905 after being discovered by Seymour ...
films 1913-1969 inc Now Voyageur 1943 The Song of Bernadette 1944 - British
11. Fay Bainter
Actress | Jezebel
Fay Bainter's career began as a child performer in 1898. For some time, she was a member of the traveling cast of the Morosco Stock Company in Los Angeles. In 1912, she made her Broadway debut in 'The Rose of Panama', but this and her subsequent play 'The Bridal Path' (1913), were conspicuous ...
films 1934-1961 inc State Fair 1945 The Children's Hour 1961
12. Margaret Rutherford
Actress | The V.I.P.s
Rare is the reference to Margaret Rutherford that doesn't characterize her as either jut-chinned, eccentric, or both. The combination of those most mundane of attributes has led some to suggest that she was made for the role of Agatha Christie's indomitable sleuth, Jane Marple, whom Rutherford ...
films 1936-1970 inc Blithe Spirit 1945 Murder She Said 1961 - England
13. Anna Q. Nilsson
Actress | The Greater Glory
Anna Quirentia Nilsson, popularly known as "Anna Q", who was born on March 30th, 1888, in Ystad, Sweden, emigrated to the United States in 1905. The 5'7" Nilsson used her blonde beauty to become a famous model for well-known fashion photographers and fine artists. In 1907 she was chosen the most ...
films 1911-1954 inc The Rustle of Silk 1924 -later career as a bit player - Sweden
14. Sara García
Actress | La tercera palabra
The legendary "granny of Mexican cinema" began her movie career when she was a 22-year-old teacher in a nun's school for girls. One day, young Sara's attention was attracted to a small building in downtown Mexico City. Inside it was Azteca Films, one of the very first Mexican film production ...
films 1917-1988 inc La Abuelita 1942 Los Tres Garcia 1947 - Mexico
15. Alice Brady
Actress | My Man Godfrey
Alice Brady was born in New York City on November 2, 1892. She was interested in the stage from childhood, as her father was famed Broadway producer William A. Brady. After a few stage productions, Alice was discovered by movie producers in New York, since this was the film capital at the time. Her...
films 1914-1939 inc At the Mercy of Men 1918 My Man Godfrey 1936
16. Marjorie Main
Actress | The Egg and I
Her father was a minister, and when she joined a local stock company as a youngster she changed her name to avoid embarrassing her family. She worked in vaudeville and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her film debut was in A House Divided (1931). She repeated her stage role in Dead End (1937) as Baby ...
films 1931-1957 inc Dead End 1937 Summer Stock 1951
17. Theda Bara
Actress | A Fool There Was
Theda Bara was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Theodosia Goodman, on July 29, 1885. She was the daughter of a local tailor and his wife. As a teenager Theda was interested in the theatrical arts and once she finished high school, she dyed her blond hair black and went in pursuit of her dream. By 1908 ...
silent films 1914-1926 inc The Devils' Daughter 1915
18. Zara Cully
Actress | The Jeffersons
Zara Cully was born on January 26, 1892 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for The Jeffersons (1975), All in the Family (1971) and Sugar Hill (1974). She was married to James M. Brown. She died on February 28, 1978 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
films 1970-1975 inc Brother John 1971 best known for 85 episodes of the Jeffersons 1975-78 tv series
19. Peggy Wood
Actress | The Sound of Music
Above all else, singer/actress Peggy Wood has endeared herself to both TV and film audiences with one single role in each medium. She made warm, lasting impressions as the benevolent, strong-willed Scandinanvian matriarch Marta Hansen in the series drama Mama (1949), and as the knowing Mother ...
films 1919-1965 inc. Jalna 1935 best known for 300+ episodes of Mama 1949-57 tv series
20. Estelle Winwood
Actress | The Producers
When Estelle saw the girl on a white horse at the circus, she then decided that she wanted to be an actress. And she was from the age of 5, to the disapproval of her father. Her mother had her train with the Liverpool Repertory Company, and Estelle performed in many plays and many roles in the West...
films 1931-1976 inc Quality Street 1934 The Notorious Landlady 1962 - England
21. Gertrude Astor
Actress | Stage Struck
The first actress to sign a contract with Universal in 1915, Gertrude Astor (born in Ohio as Gertrude Irene Astor) began her career playing trombone and saxophone on a riverboat. Towering over most of her leading men at 5'11", she often played golddiggers, rich socialites or a leading lady's best ...
films 1915-1966 inc Ginsberg the Great 1927 -later prolific career as a bit player
22. Verna Felton
Actress | Sleeping Beauty
Verna Felton had extensive experience on the stage and in radio before she broke into film and television. Her trademarks was her distinctive husky voice and her no-nonsense attitude. She was quite in demand for voiceover work, as evidenced by her roles in Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (...
films 1939-1947 inc The Gunfighter 1950 - best known for 156 episodes for December Bride 1954-59
23. Mabel Normand
Actress | Mickey
Mabel Normand was one of the comedy greats of early film. In an era when women are deemed 'not funny enough' it seems film history has forgotten her contributions. Her films debuted the Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin's tramp and the pie in the face gag. She co-starred with both Chaplin and Roscoe "...
silent films 1910-1927 inc Dodging a Million 1918 The Extra Girl 1923
24. Blanche Yurka
Actress | A Tale of Two Cities
This imposing-looking stage star of early 20th century Broadway was born Blanche Jurka to Bohemian immigrants on June 18, 1887 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Some references claim that she was brought to the United States as an infant and then raised in St. Paul. Her Czech parents saw a blossoming singing...
films 1919-1966 inc Cry of the Werewolf 1944 - Czech
25. Kathleen Harrison
Actress | Scrooge
Although British actress Kathleen Harrison was born in 1892 in the Lancashire town of Blackburn, she was fondly known for her cockney characters throughout her career. Trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art she first married and lived overseas in Argentina for nearly eight years...
films 1931-1979 inc Night Must Fall 1937 Cast a Dark Shadow 1955 - England
26. Betty Blythe
Actress | She
Brunette, buxom matinee idol Betty Blythe capitalised on the 'roaring 20's' infatuation with exotic screen sirens to achieve a brief period of stardom. She was, notoriously, one of the first actresses to ever appear nude (or in various stages of undress) on screen. It wasn't that Betty couldn't act...
films 1916-1964 inc Queen of Sheba 1921 Pilgrimage 1933 - later films as a bit player
27. Edith Evans
Actress | The Whisperers
Edith Evans was the greatest actress on the English stage in the 20th century, treading the boards for over half-a-century. She made her professional stage debut in 1912 and excelled in both classic and modern roles in the West End of London and on Broadway, as well as the Shakespeare Memorial ...
films 1947-1977 inc Woman of Dolwyn 1944 Tom Jones 1964 - England
28. Etta McDaniel
Actress | The Great Man's Lady
Etta McDaniel was born on December 1, 1890 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for The Great Man's Lady (1941), What a Man! (1944) and The Pittsburgh Kid (1941). She died on January 13, 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
films 1933-1945 inc The Lawless 90's 1937 The Pittsburgh Kid 1941
29. Charlotte Greenwood
Actress | Oklahoma!
Charlotte Greenwood was born Frances Charlotte Greenwood on June 25, 1890, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a sickly child and her father left the family when she was very young. Charlotte grew into a healthy, six foot tall woman. She started her career dancing in vaudeville where she became ...
films 1915-1956 inc So Long Letty 1929 Moon Over Miami 1941
30. Almira Sessions
Actress | Sullivan's Travels
A member of a very socially prominent Washington family, Sessions played vaudeville, radio, television and film for sixty years. Sessions made her debut in 1909 in a comic opera. She has appeared over 500 times in movies and on television. Session sang comic songs in cabarets before going to New ...
films 1932-1971 inc 3 Girls About Town 1941 Fear 1946
31. Florence Bates
Actress | Rebecca
The American character actress, Florence Rabe, was the daughter of an antique store owner. She gained a degree in Mathematics from the University of Texas in 1906 and went on to a career in teaching and social work. She changed course after being persuaded by a friend to study law, and, passing her...
films 1937-1953 inc The Moon & Sixpence 1942 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
32. Ruth Chatterton
Actress | Dodsworth
Beginning as a chorus girl at age 14, Ruth Chatterton became a Broadway star with "Daddy Long Legs" in 1914. She appeared in such shows as "Mary Rose" and "Come Out of the Kitchen" before moving to Hollywood in 1925. As her film career faded in the late 1930s, she returned to the stage in revivals,...
films -1932-1938 inc Sarah & Son - 6 roles in 1950's television theater
33. Rafaela Ottiano
Actress | Curly Top
Rafaela Ottiano was born on March 4, 1888 in Venice, Italy. She was an actress, known for Curly Top (1935), Grand Hotel (1932) and The Adventures of Martin Eden (1942). She died on August 15, 1942 in East Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
films 1924-1942 inc She Done Him Wrong 1933 The Devil Doll 1936 - Italy
34. Cathleen Nesbitt
Actress | An Affair to Remember
Genteel Cathleen Nesbitt was a grand dame of the theatre on both sides of the Atlantic in a career spanning seven decades. Among almost 300 roles on stage, she excelled at comic portrayals of sophisticated socialites and elegant mothers. Hollywood used her, whenever a gentler, sweeter version of ...
films 1919-1980 Jassy 1947 The Parent Trap 1961 England
35. Madge Kennedy
Actress | Marathon Man
In 1906, Madge went to New York City to study at the Art Students League where she hoped to become an illustrator. This lasted until she appeared in a student musical, which led to a full time job in a traveling stock company. By 1912, Madge was a Broadway Star with the bedroom farce "Little Miss ...
films 1917-1976 inc The Fair Pretender 1918 The Rains of Ranchipur 1955
36. Marjorie Rambeau
Actress | Primrose Path
Born July 15, 1889 in San Francisco, unappreciated character player Marjorie Rambeau worked on the stage from the age of 12. In the 1910s and 1920s, she became a prominent Broadway lead, noted for her serene beauty, elegant poise and touching theatrics. Around the same time she made a few silent ...
films 1917-1957 in Her Man 1920 Torch Song 1954
37. Tsuru Aoki
Actress | The Dragon Painter
Born Tsuru Kawakami, Tsuru emigrated to the U.S. in 1903 with her aunt and uncle, who were in the theater business. She found work on stage before moving to film. She worked in L.A., then moved to San Francisco and New York before returning to California. At a time when even in her home country ...
films 1913 -1960 inc Black Roses 1926 Hell to Eternity 1960 Japan
38. Esther Howard
Actress | Sullivan's Travels
Switching from Broadway to Hollywood in 1931, actress Esther Howard was an expert at portraying frumpy old crones, man-hungry spinsters and oversexed dowagers. Utilizing her wide, expressive eyes and versatile voice for both broad comedy and tense drama, Howard was equally at home portraying ...
films 1930-1952 Merrily We Go to Hell 1932 Born to Kill 1947
39. Lil Dagover
Actress | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
A prominent German film actress born on 30 September 1887 at Madiven, Java, the daughter of a forest ranger in the service of the Dutch authorities. Sent at the age of ten to Baden-Baden to study, she later entered the cinema thanks to her marriage in 1917 to the actor Fritz Dagover who was 25 ...
films 1917-1979 inc Destiny 1921 Tales from the Vienna Woods 1980 Germany
40. Irene Rich
Actress | Everybody's Hobby
Born Irene Luther on October 13, 1891, silent-screen femme Irene Rich came from a once well-to-do family in Buffalo, New York. Her father had a reversal of fortune while she was quite young and the family subsequently had to move to California. Following her education, Irene pursued a career as a ...
films 1918-1948 inc Being Respectable 1924 Angel & the Badman 1947
41. Florence Lawrence
Actress | Not Like Other Girls
Florence Lawrence was the first film player whose name was used to promote her films and the studio (Independent Moving Pictures Company [IMP]) for which she worked. Before her, actors and actresses worked anonymously, partly out of fear that stage managers would refuse to hire them if they were ...
films 1906-1937 inc Elusive Isabel 1916 Pleasure 1931 received 1st screen credit followed by 298 more
42. Elisabeth Risdon
Actress | Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Elisabeth Risdon was born on April 26, 1888 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), High Sierra (1940) and Mexican Spitfire (1939). She was married to Brandon Evans and George Loane Tucker. She died on December 20, 1958 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
films 1913-1952 inc The Mother of Dartmoor 1917 Scaramouche 1952 England
43. Athene Seyler
Actress | Drake of England
Athene Seyler was born on May 31, 1889 in Hackney, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Drake the Pirate (1935), Curse of the Demon (1957) and The Franchise Affair (1951). She was married to Nicholas Hannen and James Bury Sterndale-Bennett. She died on September 12, 1990 in ...
films 1921-1963 inc April Blossoms 1934 Make Mine Mink 1960 England
44. Estelle Hemsley
Actress | The Leech Woman
Estelle Hemsley was born on May 5, 1887 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for The Leech Woman (1960), Take a Giant Step (1959) and Green Mansions (1959). She died on November 5, 1968 in Hollywood, California, USA.
films 1948-1965 inc Take a Giant Step 1959 - made a few significant film appearances.
45. Françoise Rosay
Actress | La kermesse héroïque
Françoise Rosay was born on April 19, 1891 in Paris, France. She was an actress and writer, known for Carnival in Flanders (1935), The Halfway House (1944) and Le petit café (1931). She was married to Jacques Feyder. She died on March 28, 1974 in Montgeron, Essonne, France.
films 1911 -1973 inc Carnival in Flanders 1935 Johnny Frenchman 1945
46. Mae Murray
Actress | The Merry Widow
Dubbed "The Girl with the Bee Stung Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen," silent screen star Mae Murray was born in New York City as Marie Adrienne Koenig on May 10, 1885. The middle of three children born to French and German émigrés, she began studying dance at a young age.
Mae's professional ...
films 1916-1931 inc To Have & Hold 1916 Jazzmania 1923
47. Esther Dale
Actress | Ten Gentlemen from West Point
Esther Dale was born on November 10, 1885 in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townsend, Vermont, then studied music in Berlin, Germany and had a successful career as a lieder singer. Later, she became an actress in summer stock. She had the title role on Broadway ...
films 1934-1960 inc Timothy's Quest 1936 Laddie 1940
48. Mae Busch
Actress | The Unholy Three
Mae Busch can certainly claim career versatility, having successfully played Erich von Stroheim's mistress, Lon Chaney's girlfriend, Charley Chase's sister, James Finlayson's ex-wife and Oliver Hardy's wife! She was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1891; her parents were in the theater and when she...
films 1915-1947 inc the Christian 1923 A Man's Man 1929 Australia
49. Mady Christians
Actress | Heidi
Mady Christians was born in Vienna, Austria. Destined to be in films in both Germany and the US, she started out as a stage actress but soon found new challenges in the world of cinema. Her first film was at the age of 24 when she appeared in Audrey (1916). She remained in German films for the next...
films 1916-1950 inc The Runaway Princess 1929 Tender Comrade 1943 Austria
50. Red Wing
Actress | The Squaw Man
Red Wing was born on February 13, 1884 on the Winnebago Reservation, Nebraska, USA as Lillian St. Cyr. Her parents were Julia De Cora (Winnebago) and Mitchell St. Cyr (French Canadian and Sauk). She was graduated in 1902 from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Red Wing was an ...
films 1908-1916 inc In the Days of the Thundering Herd 1918 + 58 short Western silent films. - Winnebago [End of list One]
51. Irene Dunne
Actress | The Awful Truth
Irene Marie Dunne was born on December 20, 1898, in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Joseph Dunne, who inspected steamships, and Adelaide Henry, a musician who prompted Irene in the arts. Her first production was in Louisville when she appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the age...
films 1930-1952 in Cimarron 1931 I Remember Mama 1949 List TWO of 20
52. Agnes Moorehead
Actress | The Magnificent Ambersons
Agnes was born of Anglo-Irish ancestry near Boston, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister (her mother was a mezzo-soprano) who encouraged her to perform in church pageants. Aged three, she sang 'The Lord is my Shepherd' on a public stage and seven years later joined the St. Louis Municipal Opera ...
films 1941-1973 in Mrs Parkington 1945 Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1965
53. Ethel Waters
Actress | Cabin in the Sky
The child of a teenage rape victim, Ethel Waters grew up in the slums of Philadelphia and neighboring cities, seldom living anywhere for more than a few weeks at a time. "No one raised me, " she recollected, "I just ran wild." She excelled not only at looking after herself, but also at singing and ...
films inc Tales of Manhattan 1942 Pinky 1949
54. Jean Arthur
Actress | You Can't Take It with You
This marvelous screen comedienne's best asset was only muffled during her seven years' stint in silent films. That asset? It was, of course, her squeaky, frog-like voice, which silent-era cinema audiences had simply no way of perceiving, much less appreciating. Jean Arthur, born Gladys Georgianna ...
films 1923-1953 in Mr Smith Goes to Washington 1939 The More the Merrier 1944
55. Marlene Dietrich
Soundtrack | Witness for the Prosecution
Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator ...
films 1919-1978 inc Morocco 1931 Judgment at Nuremberg 1959 Germany
56. Gloria Swanson
Actress | Sunset Blvd.
Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Svensson in Chicago, Illinois. She was destined to be perhaps one of the biggest stars of the silent movie era. Her personality and antics in private definitely made her a favorite with America's movie-going public. Gloria certainly didn't intend on ...
films 1914-1974 inc Society for Sale 1918 Sadie Thompson 1929
57. Ruth Gordon
Actress | Rosemary's Baby
When Ruth Gordon convinced her father, a sea captain, to let her pursue acting she came to New York and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She acted in a few silents made at Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 1915. She made her Broadway debut in "Peter Pan" as Nibs the same year. The next 20 ...
films 1940-1987 inc Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1940 inside Daisy Clover 1965
58. Helen Hayes
Actress | Airport
Known as "The First lady of the American Theater", Helen Hayes had a legendary career on stage and in films and television that spanned over eighty years. Hayes was born in Washington, D.C., to Catherine Estelle "Essie" Hayes, an actress who worked in touring companies, and Francis van Arnum Brown,...
films 1917-1985 inc The Sin of Madelon Claudet 1932 Anastasia 1956
59. Paola Borboni
Actress | Roman Holiday
Paola Borboni was born on January 1, 1900 in Golese di Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She was an actress, known for Roman Holiday (1953), The Bullocks (1953) and I Have Lost My Husband (1937). She was married to Bruno Vilar. She died on April 9, 1995 in Bodio Lomnago, Lombardy, Italy.
films 1918-1990 inc Lo Smemorato 1936 Between Miracles 1972 Italy
60. Shirley Booth
Actress | Come Back, Little Sheba
Character actress Shirley Booth could play everything in all facets of show business, whether it was Miss Duffy the Tavern Owner's Man Crazy Daughter on "Duffy's Tavern", the sassy maid on TV's Hazel (1961) or the pathetic woman in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952). For those who only know her through...
films inc About Mrs. Leslie 1955 also 154 ep of Hazel 1961-1966 television series
61. Judith Anderson
Actress | Rebecca
Dame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatrical actresses and was a major star on Broadway ...
films 1933-1986 inc The Furies 1950 A Man Called Horse 1971 Australia
62. Arletty
Actress | Les enfants du paradis
Before Arlette-Leonie Bathiat went to the movies she was a secretary and had posed several times as a model for different painters and photographers. In 1920 she debuted on stage at a theatre. She only began to work in movies after 1930. After World War II she was condemned to prison for having ...
films 1930-1968 Hotel du Nord 1938 Maxime 1958 France
63. Zasu Pitts
Actress | Greed
Classic comedienne Zasu Pitts, of the timid, forlorn blue eyes and trademark woebegone vocal pattern and fidgety hands, was born to Rulandus and Nellie (Shay) Pitts, the third of four children on January 3, 1894. Her aged New York-native father, who lost a leg back in the Civil War era, had settled...
films 1917-1963 inc Ruggles of Red Gap 1935 Let's Face It 1943
64. Lillian Randolph
Actress | It's a Wonderful Life
Lillian Randolph was born on December 14, 1898 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) and Magic (1978). She was married to Garcia Delano "Gossie" McKee and James Lott . She died on September 12, 1980 in Los Angeles, ...
films 1934-1979 The Great Gildersleeve 1942 Miles to Go Before I Sleep 1975
65. Mabel Albertson
Actress | What's Up, Doc?
When, at 50, Mabel Albertson was given the supporting role of Mrs. Carter, young actress Aileen Stanley Jr.'s mother in a Warner Bros. Technicolor musical romance, little did she know that she was starting out a movie and TV career in which she would shine as "the ultimate haughty judgmental (often...
films 1939-1975 inc Ransom 1956 Barefoot in the Park 1967
66. Marion Davies
Actress | Little Old New York
Marion Davies was one of the great comedic actresses of the silent era and into the 1930s.
Marion Cecelia Douras was born in the borough of Brooklyn, New York on January 3, 1897, the daughter of Rose (Reilly) and Bernard J. Douras, a lawyer and judge. Her parents were both of Irish descent. Marion ...
films 1917-1937 inc Belle of New York 1919 Zander the Great 1923
67. Hermione Gingold
Actress | Gigi
One of stage, screen, radio and TV's most inimitable, irrepressible entertainers, Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold was born in London on December 9, 1897, the daughter of an upscale Austrian-Jewish financier and English homemaker. The blue-eyed blonde loved to perform in school plays and made her ...
films inc 1931-1984 Belle Book & Candle 1958 The Music Man 1963 - England
68. Connie Gilchrist
Actress | Auntie Mame
With more than two decades of stage experience in France, England and on Broadway behind her, this moon-faced, heavy-set character actress first entered films in 1940. But no matter a film's genre - contemporary drama, historical costumer or shoot 'em up western - her Brooklyn roots always sounded ...
Films inc 1940-1969 Presenting Lily Mars 1943 A Letter to 3 Wives 1949
69. Gale Sondergaard
Actress | The Mark of Zorro
Sly, manipulative, dangerously cunning and sinister were the key words that best described the roles that Gale Sondergaard played in motion pictures, making her one of the most talented character actresses ever seen on the screen. She was educated at the University of Minnesota and later married ...
films 1936-1982 inc Anthony Adverse 1937 The Spider Woman 1943
70. Chôko Iida
Actress | Nagaya shinshiroku
Chouko Iida was born in 1897, in the old downtown of Tokyo, Asakusa.After dropping out of high school and working as a clerk at the Matsuzakaya Department Store, she joined the Nakamura Matsugoro Acting Company. In 1922, Iida entered Shochiku Kamata Productions. Her acting was soon recognized by a ...
films 1923-1971 inc The Only Son 1936 Record of a Tenement Generation 1947 - Japan
71. Aline MacMahon
Actress | Kind Lady
Aline MacMahon was born of Scottish-Irish and Russian-Jewish ancestry on May 3,1899, the daughter of William Marcus MacMahon and Jennie Simon MacMahon. Her father became editor-in-chief of Munsey's Magazine, while her mother pursued a theatrical acting career from middle-age and lived to age107. ...
films 1931-1975 inc One Way Passage 1932 Dragon Seed 1932
72. Lilia Skala
Actress | Flashdance
Lilia Sofer was born on November 28, 1896, to Catholic Katharina Skala and Jewish Julius Sofer , in Vienna, Austria. Julius Sofer worked as a manufacturer's representative for the Waldes Kohinoor Company. Lilia had two sisters: Lisl (later known as renowned dance-therapy pioneer Elizabeth Polk); ...
films 1931-1990 inc Lilies of the Field 1964 Roseland 1978 - Austria
73. Gladys George
Actress | The Roaring Twenties
One of the finest, if relatively short-lived, character actresses of Hollywood, during the 1930s and 1940, Gladys George was born into an acting family who were literally on the road at the time of her birth.
Her parents were actually English and touring with a Shakespearean theater company in ...
films 1919-1954 inc Valiant is the Word for Carrie
74. Dolores Camarillo
Actress | Ahí está el detalle
Dolores Camarillo was born on March 31, 1910 in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. She was an actress, known for You're Missing the Point (1940), Santo contra Blue Demon en la Atlántida (1970) and La reina de la opereta (1946). She was married to Antonio R. Frausto and Francisco ...
films 1933-1986 inc La reina de la operatu 1946 Jalisco nunca pierde 1974 - Mexico
75. Gracie Allen
Actress | A Damsel in Distress
Gracie Allen was born on July 26, 1895 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for A Damsel in Distress (1937), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) and The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). She was married to George Burns. She died on August 27, 1964 in ...
films 1929-1944 inc Honolulu 1939 alos 292 episodes of The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show television series 1950-1958
76. Marjorie Bennett
Actress | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Marjorie Bennett was an Australian actress, who spend most of her career working in the United Kingdom and the United States. She was born in York, Western Australia, a town that was an important stop for miners and travelers during the Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century. York is ...
films 1917-1979 inc Limelight 1952 Home Before Dark 1957 Australia
77. Ruth Donnelly
Actress | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Feisty, ebullient character comedienne who, for three decades, enlivened Hollywood films with her drollery and quick-fire repartee. The daughter of a newspaper editor and music critic, Ruth made her stage debut in the chorus of the touring production 'The Quaker Girl' in 1913. Four years later, she...
films 1914-1965 inc A Slight Case of Murder 1938 Little Miss Broadway 1947
78. Celia Lovsky
Actress | Soylent Green
The daughter of Bretislav Lvovsky, a.k.a. Emil Pick (1857-1910), a minor Czech opera composer, Lovsky was born in Vienna, where she trained at the Royal Academy of Arts and Music. She was a rising stage star in Vienna and Berlin in 1929, when she met future husband Peter Lorre. Celia accompanied ...
films 1930-1973 inc Night Into Morning 1951 Death of a Scoundrel 1956 Austria
79. Mae Marsh
Actress | The Birth of a Nation
Mae Marsh's father was an auditor for the railroad who died when she was four. Her family moved to San Francisco, where her stepfather was killed in the 1906 earthquake. Her great-aunt then took Mae and her sister to Los Angeles. With her show business background, Mae's aunt took them to the ...
films 1910-1973 inc The White Rose 1923 3 Godfathers 1948
80. Eiko Miyoshi
Actress | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
Eiko Miyoshi was born on April 8, 1894 in Tokyo, Japan. She was an actress, known for The Hidden Fortress (1958), No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) and Ikiru (1952). She died on July 28, 1963.
films 1941-1956 inc No Regrets for Our Youth 1946 The Hidden Fortress 1958 Japan
81. Natalie Schafer
Actress | Gilligan's Island
Natalie Schafer got her start doing Broadway plays then making the move to the big screen. Even before Gilligan's Island (1964), she was typecast in roles as society women, or elegant, fashionable ladies. It was her role as "Eunice 'Lovey' Wentworth Howell" wife of multi-millionaire Thurston Howell...
films 1941-1990 inc Female on the Beach 1955 40 Carats 1973
82. Dorothy Adams
Actress | The Best Years of Our Lives
Dorothy Adams was born on January 8, 1900 in Hannah, North Dakota, USA. She was an actress, known for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Killing (1956) and The Ten Commandments (1956). She was married to Byron Foulger. She died on March 16, 1988 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
films 1931-1975 inc Laura 1944 Carrie 1952
83. Martita Hunt
Actress | Great Expectations
Popular British character actress known for her rich cluster of queens, dowagers, shrews and evildoers, Martita Hunt was born on a ranch in Argentina to British parents, but moved with her family to England at age 10 for her formal education. On stage at age 21 with the Liverpool Repertory Theatre,...
films 1932-1969 inc The Admirable Crichton 1957 The Unsinkable Molly Brown 1964 - England
84. Pola Negri
Actress | Bella Donna
Pola Negri was born in Lipno, Poland, and moved to Warsaw as a child. Living in poverty with her mother, a teenage Pola auditioned and was accepted to the Imperial Ballet. Due to an illness that ended her dancing career, she soon switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became ...
films 1914-1964 inc Forbidden Paradise 1924 Hi Diddle Diddle 1943 - Poland
85. Mildred Dunnock
Actress | The Trouble with Harry
Petite American character actress who was celebrated for her definitive portrayal of long-suffering Linda Loman in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", a part she played opposite Lee J. Cobb at the Morosco Theatre for 742 consecutive performances between 1949 and 1950. Mildred recreated her role ...
films 1945-1987 inc Death of a Salesman 1951 Baby Doll 1956
86. Lee Patrick
Actress | The Maltese Falcon
The highly versatile character actress Lee Patrick could readily play a tough, scrapping, hard-bitten dame as she did in the gritty women's prison drama Caged (1950), or a meek and twittery wife as exemplified by her uppity socialite Doris Upson in the freewheeling farce Auntie Mame (1958). She ...
films 1929-1975 inc Saturday's Children 1940 The Black Black 1975
87. Bessie Love
Actress | The Broadway Melody
Bessie Love was born in Texas. Her cowboy father moved the family to Hollywood, where he became a chiropractor. As the family needed money, Bessie's mother sent her to Biograph Studios, hoping she would become an actress. D.W. Griffith saw she was pretty and had some acting talent, and put her in ...
films 1915-1983 inc Human Wreckage 1923 the Last World 1925 small roles in films after 1935
88. Doris Lloyd
Actress | The Time Machine
Doris Lloyd was an English actress with a lengthy film career. She appeared in over 150 films between 1920 and 1960. She spent most of her life abroad in the United States.
In 1891, Lloyd was born in Walton, Liverpool. Her parents were Edward Franklin Lloyd and Hessy Jane McCappin. One of her ...
films 1920-1967 inc Waterloo Bridge 1931 Kind Lady 1951 England
89. Renée Adorée
Actress | The Big Parade
Renee Adoree was born Jeanne de la Fontein in Lille in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, on September 30, 1898. She had what one could call a normal childhood. Her background is, perhaps, one of the most difficult to find information on any actress in existence. What we do know that her interest in ...
films 1918-1930 inc The Blackbird 1926 The Show 1927 - France
90. Hope Emerson
Actress | Caged
Although there may have been "bigger" actresses in Hollywood's history, there were few larger than Hope Emerson. She notably appeared as a witness for the defense in "Adam's Rib". At 6' 2" and 230 pounds, she towered over many of her male co-stars, and her size, brusque voice and stern demeanor ...
films 1934-1958 inc House of Strangers 1949 A perious Journey 1953
91. Minerva Urecal
Actress | The Ape Man
A stage actress, Urecal made her screen debut in 1933. For the remainder of her career and two hundred plus movies, she played cleaning women, landladies, shopkeepers and the like. She was known as a Marjorie Main type actress and later went on to a career in television playing in such shows as "...
films 1933-1965 inc Her Husband's Secretary 1937 Murder by Invitation 1941
92. Norma Talmadge
Actress | Camille
Norma Talmadge was born on May 26, 1895, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The daughter of an unemployed alcoholic and his wife, Norma did not have the idyllic childhood that most of us yearn for. Her father left the family on Christmas Day and his wife and three daughters had to fend for themselves. Her...
films 1910-1933 inc The Devil's Needle 1916 Secrets 1924
93. Irene Handl
Actress | The Italian Job
English character actress best known for her many portrayals of feisty cockney types, ranging from barmaids to landladies, charwomen to cooks. Unlike her working class screen personae, Irene's parentage was quite cosmopolitan, her father (Frederick) a Viennese banker, her mother (Maria) a French ...
films 1937-1968 inc Uncensored 1942 Call Me Genius 1961 - England
94. Elisabeth Bergner
Actress | The Rise of Catherine the Great
Elisabeth Bergner was the daughter of the merchant Emil Ettel and his wife Anna Rosa Wagner. She grew up in Vienna, and she made her theatre debut in Innsbruck in 1915. In 1916 she obtained a contract in Zürich, where she played Ophelia next to the famous Alexander Moissi, who fell in love with her...
films 1924-1968 Escape Me Never 1936 Die glucklichen Jahre de Thorwalds 1963 - Austria
95. Betty Compson
Actress | Street Girl
A mining engineer's daughter, blond, blue-eyed Betty Compson began in show business playing the violin in a Salt Lake City vaudeville establishment for $15 a week. Following that, she went on tour, accompanied by her mother, with an act called 'The Vagabond Violinist'. Aged eighteen, she appeared ...
films 1916-1948 inc The Rustle of Silk 1923 The Spoilers 1930
96. Louise Fazenda
Actress | The Bat
When top "working girl" silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand would gripe to Mack Sennett about making classier films, Sennett's quippy retort would always be, "I'll send for Fazenda." This pretty, oval-faced, highly popular Keystone comedy cut-up put in her time first in comic two-reelers from ...
films 1913-1931 inc Down on the Farm 1920 The Widow from Monte Carlo 1935
97. Agnes Ayres
Actress | The Sheik
Extremely popular silent star of the 1920s. Her popularity was enhanced when she co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926). She made her screen debut at Essanay Studios in 1915. While she was popular in the 1920s (thanks to the patronage of her lover, ...
films 1914-1937 inc Clarence 1922 Son of the Sheik 1926
98. Constance Talmadge
Actress | Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Constance was blonde; star sister Norma Talmadge was brunette. She was buoyant and a comedienne; Norma was introspective and a tragedienne. Nicknamed "Dutch" by her stage mother Peg as she looked like a cherubic Little Dutch Boy, silver screen star Constance Talmadge was one of silent pictures' ...
films 1914-1929 inc A Girl of the Timber 1917 Her Sister from Paris 1925
99. Sara Haden
Actress | The Shop Around the Corner
Sara Haden was the daughter of silent screen star Charlotte Walker who was also a celebrated beauty in her day. Alas, Sara did not inherit her mother's good looks. She was actually born Catherine Haden in Center Point, Texas, on November 17 1898. There was nothing particularly outstanding about her...
films 1934-1965 inc Captain January 1936 Andy Hardy Comes Home 1958
100. Bedia Muvahhit
Actress | Kötü Tohum
Bedia Muvahhit was born on January 16, 1897 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. She was an actress, known for Kötü Tohum (1963), Çalikusu (1966) and Sevinç Gözyaslari (1965). She was married to Ferdi Statzer and Ahmet Muvahhit. She died on January ...
films 1923-1969 inc Beklenen 1953 Sevinc Gozyaslari 1965 Turkey end of list two
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