Carol Dempster
Encyclopedia
Carol Dempster was an American film actress of the silent film
era.
, Dempster got her start in films as a protégé of legendary film director D.W. Griffith alongside other Griffith actresses of the mid-1910s Lillian
and Dorothy Gish
and Mae Marsh
. Griffith gave Dempster her first role at age 15 in his colossal 1916 all-star cast Intolerance
playing one of the Babylonian harem girls alongside another teenaged newcomer, Mildred Harris
. Dempster would eventually become one of Griffiths "favorites" and cast her in nearly every one of his films throughout the 1920s, allegedly to the irritation of Mae Marsh and Lillian Gish. Dempster became romantically involved with the much older Griffith during the early 1920s while Griffith was estranged from his wife, Linda Arvidson
.
Dempster's first feature role came in 1919 in the Griffith directed The Girl Who Stayed at Home opposite Robert "Bobby" Harron
. Dempster followed this with Griffith's The Love Flower (1920), Dream Street
(1921), One Exciting Night
(1922) and Isn't Life Wonderful
(1924), the latter being generally considered one of Griffith's greatest films and featuring Dempster's finest performance.
Dempster had a notable career in films throughout the 1920s and appear opposite such notable actors as John Barrymore
, Richard Barthelmess
, William Powell
, Ivor Novello
, and W.C. Fields. Other memorable films of the period are America (1924) and Sally of the Sawdust
(1925), also directed by Griffith.
In 1926 Dempster acted in her final film, another Griffith vehicle entitled The Sorrows of Satan
co-starring with Adolphe Menjou
, Ricardo Cortez
, and the Hungarian vamp Lya De Putti
. Dempster then retired from the screen to marry wealthy banker
Edwin S. Larson in 1929.
Her critical stock was never very high, as she became Griffith's leading lady after the more popular Lillian Gish had moved on. Her somewhat "ordinary" appearance and animated acting style were frequently criticized. Also, with a few exceptions, the films she appeared in were not among Griffith's more popular works. In recent years, however, viewers and critics alike have slowly begun to appreciate her performances.
Dempster died in La Jolla, California in 1991 at the age of 89 from heart failure and was laid to rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park
cemetery in Glendale, California
.
except Sherlock Holmes
, which was directed by Albert Parker
. The Hope Chest, a product of the New Art Film Company from 1918, was produced by Griffith but directed by Elmer Clifton
.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era.
Biography
Born in Duluth, MinnesotaDuluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, Dempster got her start in films as a protégé of legendary film director D.W. Griffith alongside other Griffith actresses of the mid-1910s Lillian
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
and Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American actress, and the younger sister of actress Lillian Gish.-Early life:...
and Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
. Griffith gave Dempster her first role at age 15 in his colossal 1916 all-star cast Intolerance
Intolerance (film)
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
playing one of the Babylonian harem girls alongside another teenaged newcomer, Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris was an American film actress. Harris began her career in the film industry as a popular child actress at age eleven. At the age of fifteen, she was cast as a harem girl in D. W. Griffith's Intolerance . She appeared as a leading lady through the 1920s but her career slowed with...
. Dempster would eventually become one of Griffiths "favorites" and cast her in nearly every one of his films throughout the 1920s, allegedly to the irritation of Mae Marsh and Lillian Gish. Dempster became romantically involved with the much older Griffith during the early 1920s while Griffith was estranged from his wife, Linda Arvidson
Linda Arvidson
-Biography:Linda Arvidson was the first wife of film director D.W. Griffith . She played lead roles in many of his earliest films. While acting, she was sometimes credited as Linda Griffith...
.
Dempster's first feature role came in 1919 in the Griffith directed The Girl Who Stayed at Home opposite Robert "Bobby" Harron
Robert Harron
Robert "Bobby" Harron was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in scores of films, he is possibly best remembered for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed films Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation...
. Dempster followed this with Griffith's The Love Flower (1920), Dream Street
Dream Street (film)
Dream Street is a silent movie directed by D. W. Griffith, and starring Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, and Ralph Graves in a story about a love triangle set in London, and based on two short stories by Thomas Burke, "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp"...
(1921), One Exciting Night
One Exciting Night
One Exciting Night is a 1922 American Gothic silent Mystery film directed by D. W. Griffith.The plot revolves around the murder of a bootlegger and the attempts of the cast to uncover the true murderer...
(1922) and Isn't Life Wonderful
Isn't Life Wonderful
Isn't Life Wonderful? is a film, directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the novel by Geoffrey Moss and it went under the alternative title Dawn. The title of the film was spoofed in the Charlie Chase comedy Isn't...
(1924), the latter being generally considered one of Griffith's greatest films and featuring Dempster's finest performance.
Dempster had a notable career in films throughout the 1920s and appear opposite such notable actors as John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, Richard Barthelmess
Richard Barthelmess
Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.-Early life:Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut...
, William Powell
William Powell
William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
, Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
, and W.C. Fields. Other memorable films of the period are America (1924) and Sally of the Sawdust
Poppy (1923 musical)
Poppy is a musical comedy with music by Stephen Jones and Arthur Samuels, and lyrics and book by Dorothy Donnelly, with contributions also from Howard Dietz, W. C. Fields and Irving Caesar...
(1925), also directed by Griffith.
In 1926 Dempster acted in her final film, another Griffith vehicle entitled The Sorrows of Satan
The Sorrows of Satan (film)
The Sorrows of Satan is a silent film by D. W. Griffith based on the novel The Sorrows of Satan by Marie Corelli. At this point in his career Griffith had given up his independent filmmaker status by joining Paramount Pictures....
co-starring with Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
, Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez
Jacob Krantz , known by his stage name Ricardo Cortez, was an American film actor who began his career during the silent era.-Life and career:...
, and the Hungarian vamp Lya De Putti
Lya De Putti
Lya De Putti was a Hungarian film actress of the silent era, noted for her portrayal of vamp characters.-Early life and career:...
. Dempster then retired from the screen to marry wealthy banker
Edwin S. Larson in 1929.
Her critical stock was never very high, as she became Griffith's leading lady after the more popular Lillian Gish had moved on. Her somewhat "ordinary" appearance and animated acting style were frequently criticized. Also, with a few exceptions, the films she appeared in were not among Griffith's more popular works. In recent years, however, viewers and critics alike have slowly begun to appreciate her performances.
Dempster died in La Jolla, California in 1991 at the age of 89 from heart failure and was laid to rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
Filmography
All features were directed by D. W. GriffithD. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
except Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes (1922 film)
Sherlock Holmes is an American silent film starring John Barrymore as Holmes and Roland Young as Watson. The film was titled Moriarty in the UK.-Production background:...
, which was directed by Albert Parker
Albert Parker (director)
Albert Parker was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He directed 36 films between 1917 and 1938. In the early 1930s Parker left Hollywood for England where he continued to direct films and also opened an actors' agency office...
. The Hope Chest, a product of the New Art Film Company from 1918, was produced by Griffith but directed by Elmer Clifton
Elmer Clifton
Elmer Clifton, was an American writer, director, and actor from the early silent days. A collaborator of D. W. Griffith, he appeared in The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance before giving up acting in 1919 to concentrate on work behind the camera...
.
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1916 | Intolerance Intolerance (film) Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a... |
Dancer (uncredited) |
| 1918 | Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal is a 1918 short film directed by D. W. Griffith. The film is considered to be lost. Produced to support the Liberty bond drive of 1918 the plot is very simple; Lillian wants to buy clothes but her mother suggests it would be more patriotic to invest in... |
Bit |
| The Greatest Thing in Life The Greatest Thing in Life The Greatest Thing in Life is a 1918 drama film about World War I, directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, and David Butler. The film is considered to be a lost film, as no prints are known to exist... (Lost) |
Dancer | |
| The Hope Chest | Ethel Hoyt | |
| 1919 | A Romance of Happy Valley A Romance of Happy Valley A Romance of Happy Valley is a 1919 drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. Believed lost for almost 60 years, a print was discovered in 1965 in USSR.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Jennie Timberlake* Robert Harron - John L. Logan Jr... |
Girl John Logan meets in New York |
| The Girl Who Stayed at Home | Acoline France | |
| True Heart Susie True Heart Susie True Heart Susie is an American drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the British Film Institute... |
Bettina's friend | |
| Scarlet Days | Lady Fair | |
| 1920 | The Love Flower | Stella Bevan |
| Way Down East Way Down East Way Down East is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is the best known of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker... |
Barn dancer | |
| 1921 | Dream Street Dream Street (film) Dream Street is a silent movie directed by D. W. Griffith, and starring Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, and Ralph Graves in a story about a love triangle set in London, and based on two short stories by Thomas Burke, "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp"... |
Gypsy Fair |
| 1922 | Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes (1922 film) Sherlock Holmes is an American silent film starring John Barrymore as Holmes and Roland Young as Watson. The film was titled Moriarty in the UK.-Production background:... |
Alice Faulkner |
| One Exciting Night One Exciting Night One Exciting Night is a 1922 American Gothic silent Mystery film directed by D. W. Griffith.The plot revolves around the murder of a bootlegger and the attempts of the cast to uncover the true murderer... |
Agnes Harrington | |
| 1923 | The White Rose The White Rose (1923 film) The White Rose is a silent D. W. Griffith production from 1923. The film was written, produced and directed by Griffith, and starring Mae Marsh, Ivor Novello, Carol Dempster, and Neil Hamilton.... |
Marie Carrington |
| 1924 | America | Miss Nancy Montague |
| Isn't Life Wonderful Isn't Life Wonderful Isn't Life Wonderful? is a film, directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the novel by Geoffrey Moss and it went under the alternative title Dawn. The title of the film was spoofed in the Charlie Chase comedy Isn't... |
Inga | |
| 1925 | Sally of the Sawdust Sally of the Sawdust Sally of the Sawdust is an American silent comedy film, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring W. C. Fields, and based on the 1923 stage musical Poppy.-Plot:... |
Sally |
| That Royle Girl That Royle Girl That Royle Girl is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and released by Paramount Pictures. A lost film.-Production:The film was based on the novel of the same name by Edwin Balmer... (Lost) |
Joan Daisy Royle | |
| 1926 | The Sorrows of Satan The Sorrows of Satan (film) The Sorrows of Satan is a silent film by D. W. Griffith based on the novel The Sorrows of Satan by Marie Corelli. At this point in his career Griffith had given up his independent filmmaker status by joining Paramount Pictures.... |
Mavis Claire |