She directed Broadway plays beginning in the 1920s, and
translated French works for the American stage. She was also a licensed
pilot who flew her own plane cross-country.
Counting unofficial nominations, is the first person to receive two consecutive Academy Award acting nominations for her performances. She was nominated for Best Actress for Madame X (1929) and Sarah and Son (1930).
In 1930 she was considered for the role of Nancy in a possible MGM film version of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist," but the studio
never made the film. It would have been the first sound version of a
Dickens novel.
Upon her death, her remains were interred at Beechwoods Cemetery in New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York. Her location plot is Section 11, Lot 303, in a crypt in the Lugar Mausoleum.
Was born at 20 East 129 Street, Manhattan, New York City, to Walter and Lilian Chatterton.