Florence Lawrence
Encyclopedia
Florence Lawrence was a Canadian
inventor and silent film
actress. She is often referred to as "The First Movie Star." When she was popular, she was known as "The Biograph Girl," "The Imp Girl," and "The Girl of a Thousand Faces." Lawrence appeared in more than 270 films for various motion picture companies.
, she was the child of Charlotte A. Bridgwood, a vaudeville
actress known professionally as Lotta Lawrence, who was the leading lady and director of the Lawrence Dramatic Company. Her father was George Bridgwood (born Stafforshire, England; died 1898, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada). Florence's surname was changed at age four to her mother's stage name. After her father's death, Florence, her mother and two older brothers moved from Hamilton, Ontario
to Buffalo, New York
. Florence attended local schools and developed athletic skills, in particular horseback riding and ice-skating.
After graduating from school, Lawrence joined her mother's dramatic company. However, the company disbanded after a series of disputes made it impossible for the members to continue working together. Lawrence and her mother moved to New York City around 1906.
She was one of several Canadian pioneers in the film industry
who were attracted by the rapid growth of the fledgling motion picture business. In 1906, at age 20, she appeared in her first motion picture. The next year, she appeared in 38 movies for the Vitagraph film company
.
During the spring and summer of 1906, Lawrence auditioned for a number of Broadway
productions, with no success. However, on 27 December 1906, she was hired by the Edison Manufacturing Company to play Daniel Boone's daughter in Daniel Boone; or, Pioneer days in America. She got the part because she knew how to ride a horse. Both she and her mother received parts, and were paid five dollars a day for two weeks of outdoor filming in freezing weather.
In 1907 she went to work for the Vitagraph Company
in Brooklyn, New York acting as Moya, an Irish peasant girl in a one-reel version of Dion Boucicault
's The Shaughraun
.
She returned briefly to stage acting, playing the leading role in a road show production of Melville B. Raymond's Seminary Girls. Her mother played her last role in this production. After touring with the road show for a year, Lawrence resolved that she would 'never again lead that gypsy life.'
In the spring of 1908 she returned to Vitagraph where she played the lead role in The Dispatch Beare. Largely as a result of her equestrian skills, she received parts in eleven films in the next five months.
, who was looking for 'a young, beautiful equestrian girl' to star in a film to be produced by the Biograph Studios
under the direction of D.W. Griffith. Griffith, the head of Biograph Studios, had noticed the beautiful blonde-haired woman in one of Vitagraph's films. Because the film's actors received no mention, Griffith had to make discreet enquiries to learn she was Florence Lawrence and to arrange a meeting.
Griffith had intended to give the part to Biograph's leading lady, Florence Turner
, but Lawrence managed to convince Solter and Griffith that she was the best suited for the starring role in The Girl and the Outlaw. With the Vitagraph Company, she had been earning $20 a week, working also as a costume seamstress over and above acting. Griffith offered her a job, acting only, for $25 a week. Lawrence jumped at it.
After her success in this role, she appeared as a society belle in Betrayed by a Handprint and as an Indian in The Red Girl. In total, she had parts in most of the 60 films directed by Griffith in 1908. Toward the end of 1908 Lawrence married Harry Solter
.
Lawrence quickly gained much popularity, but because her name was never publicized, fans began writing the studio asking for it. Even when her face had gained wide recognition, particularly after starring in the highly successful Resurrection
, Biograph Studios simply labeled her as "The Biograph Girl". During cinema's formative years, silent screen actors were not named, because studio owners feared that fame might lead to demands for higher wages.
She continued to work for Biograph in 1909. Her demand to be paid by the week rather than daily was met, and she received double the normal rate. She achieved great popularity in the Jones series, film's first comedy series. She played Mrs. Jones in about twelve films. Even more popular than the Jones series were the dramatic love stories in which she co-starred with Arthur Johnson
. The two played husband and wife in The Ingrate, and the adulterous lovers in Resurrection
.
Lawrence and Solter began to look elsewhere for work, writing to the Essanay Company to offer their services as leading lady and director. Rather than accepting this offer, however, Essanay reported the offer to Biograph's head office, and they were promptly fired.
Finding themselves "at liberty," Lawrence and Solter in 1909 were able to join the Independent Moving Pictures Company of America
(IMP). The company, founded by Carl Laemmle
, the owner of a film exchange (who later absorbed IMP into Universal Pictures
, which he also founded and was president of), was looking for experienced filmmakers and actors. Needing a star, he lured Lawrence away from Biograph by promising to give her a marquee. First though, Carl Laemmle organized a publicity stunt by starting a rumor that Lawrence had been killed by a street car in New York City.
Then, after gaining much media attention, he placed ads in the newspapers that announced, "We nail a lie", and included a photo of Lawrence. The ad declared she is alive and well and making The Broken Oath, a new movie for his IMP Film Company to be directed by Solter.
Laemmle then had Lawrence make a personal appearance in St. Louis, Missouri
in March 1910 with her leading man to show her fans that she was very much alive, making her one of the first performers not already famous in another medium to be identified by name by her studio. Partially as a result of Laemmle's ingenuity, the "star system" was born and before long, Florence Lawrence became a household name. However, her fame was such that the studio executives who had concerns over wage demands soon had their fears proved correct.
Laemmle managed to lure William Ranous (William H. Ranous), one of Vitagraph's best directors, over to IMP. Ranous introduced Laemmle to Lawrence and Solter, and they began to work together. Lawrence and Solter worked for IMP for eleven months, making fifty films. After this, they went on vacation in Europe. When they returned to the United States, they joined a film company headed by Siegmund Lubin
(Siegmund "Pop" Lubin), described as the 'wisest and most democratic film producer in history.' Lawrence was once again teamed with Arthur Johnson
, and the pair made 48 films together under Lubin's direction.
At the time, the film industry was controlled by the powerful Motion Picture Patents Company
, a trust formed by the major film companies. IMP was not a member of the MPPC, and hence operated outside its distribution system. Theaters found showing IMP films lost the right to screen MPPC films. IMP, therefore, had powerful enemies in the film industry. It managed to survive, however, largely because of the popularity of Lawrence.
, Lawrence left IMP to work for Lubin Studios
, advising her fellow young Canadian
, the 18-year-old Mary Pickford
, to take her place as IMP's star.
, and paid Lawrence five hundred dollars a week as the leading lady, and Solter two hundred dollars a week as director. They established a film studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey
and made a number of films starring Lawrence and Owen Moore
before selling out to the new Universal Pictures in 1913. With this new prosperity, Florence was able to realize a 'lifelong dream,' buying a 50 acres (202,343 m²) estate in River Vale, New Jersey
. There she was able to garden and grow roses, 'her greatest joy.' In August 1912, she had a fight with her husband, in which he 'made cruel remarks about his mother-in-law.' He left and went to Europe. However, he wrote 'sad' letters to her every day, telling her of his plans to commit suicide. His letters 'softened her feelings' and they were re-united in November 1912. Lawrence announced her intention to retire.
. During one of the films, Pawns of Destiny, a staged fire got out of control. Lawrence was burned, her hair singed, and she suffered a serious fall. She went into shock for months. She returned to work, but collapsed after its completion. Blaming Solter for making her do the stunt in which she was injured, the two were divorced. To add to her problems, Universal refused to pay her medical expenses. Lawrence felt betrayed.
Although only 29 years old, she never regained her stature as a leading film star after taking time off to recover from her injuries. In 1920, her husband died. The following year she married automobile salesman Charles Byrne Woodring, but they were divorced in 1931. In 1933 she married for the third time to Henry Bolton. Bolton turned out to be abusive and beat Lawrence severely. The union lasted only five months.
In the spring of 1916, she returned to work for Universal and completed another feature film
, Elusive Isabel. However, the strain of working took its toll on her and she suffered a serious relapse. She was completely paralyzed for four months. By the time she returned to the screen in 1921, few people remembered her.
In 1921 she traveled to Hollywood to attempt a comeback. However, she had little success, and received a leading role in a minor melodrama (The Unfoldment), and then two supporting roles. All of her screen work after 1924 would be in uncredited bit parts. During the 1920s she and her husband Charles began to manufacture a line of cosmetics, which they continued in partnership after their divorce.
When Lawrence's mother died in 1929, she had an expensive bust sculpted for her mother's tomb. By then, in her mid-forties, demand for her in films had long since disappeared and the stock market
crash and the ensuing Great Depression
saw Lawrence's fortune decline.
Lawrence returned to the screen in 1936, when MGM
began giving small parts to old stars for seventy-five dollars a week.
Alone, discouraged, and suffering with chronic pain from myelofibrosis
, a rare bone marrow
disease, she was found unconscious in bed in her West Hollywood apartment on 27 December 1938 after she had ingested ant paste
. She was rushed to a hospital but died a few hours later.
Just nine years after she had paid for an expensive memorial for her mother, Lawrence was interred in an unmarked grave not far from her mother in the Hollywood Cemetery, which is now Hollywood Forever Cemetery
, in Hollywood, California.
She remained forgotten until 1991, when actor Roddy McDowall
, serving on the National Film Preservation Board
, paid for a memorial marker that reads: "The Biograph Girl/The First Movie Star."http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3522http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsjkl/lawrencebio.html
In William J. Mann
's novel The Biograph Girl (2000), Mann asks the question, "What if Lawrence didn't die in 1938 from eating ant poison, but is 106 and living in a nursing home in Buffalo, New York?" The novel faithfully covers Lawrence's life up to 1938 and takes it beyond, after her "supposed" suicide.
A biography by Kelly R. Brown, Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star, was published in 1999.
ed, and others in the rapidly expanding auto industry developed their own versions.
(1908–1913), then to Charles Woodring (May 12, 1921–1931), and lastly to Henry Bolton, whom she married in 1932 and divorced five months later.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
inventor and silent film
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...
actress. She is often referred to as "The First Movie Star." When she was popular, she was known as "The Biograph Girl," "The Imp Girl," and "The Girl of a Thousand Faces." Lawrence appeared in more than 270 films for various motion picture companies.
Early life
Born Florence Annie Bridgwood in Hamilton, OntarioHamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, she was the child of Charlotte A. Bridgwood, a vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
actress known professionally as Lotta Lawrence, who was the leading lady and director of the Lawrence Dramatic Company. Her father was George Bridgwood (born Stafforshire, England; died 1898, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada). Florence's surname was changed at age four to her mother's stage name. After her father's death, Florence, her mother and two older brothers moved from Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
to Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. Florence attended local schools and developed athletic skills, in particular horseback riding and ice-skating.
After graduating from school, Lawrence joined her mother's dramatic company. However, the company disbanded after a series of disputes made it impossible for the members to continue working together. Lawrence and her mother moved to New York City around 1906.
Early Career: Film and Broadway
Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood
Motion pictures have been a part of the culture of Canada since the beginning.-History:Around 1910, the East Coast filmmakers began to take advantage of California winters and after Nestor Studios, run by Canadian Al Christie, built the first permanent movie studio in Hollywood a number of the...
who were attracted by the rapid growth of the fledgling motion picture business. In 1906, at age 20, she appeared in her first motion picture. The next year, she appeared in 38 movies for the Vitagraph film company
Vitagraph Studios
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
.
During the spring and summer of 1906, Lawrence auditioned for a number of Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions, with no success. However, on 27 December 1906, she was hired by the Edison Manufacturing Company to play Daniel Boone's daughter in Daniel Boone; or, Pioneer days in America. She got the part because she knew how to ride a horse. Both she and her mother received parts, and were paid five dollars a day for two weeks of outdoor filming in freezing weather.
In 1907 she went to work for the Vitagraph Company
Vitagraph Studios
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
in Brooklyn, New York acting as Moya, an Irish peasant girl in a one-reel version of Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
's The Shaughraun
The Shaughraun
The Shaughraun is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Wallack's Theatre, New York, on 14 November 1874. Boucicault played Con in the original production...
.
She returned briefly to stage acting, playing the leading role in a road show production of Melville B. Raymond's Seminary Girls. Her mother played her last role in this production. After touring with the road show for a year, Lawrence resolved that she would 'never again lead that gypsy life.'
In the spring of 1908 she returned to Vitagraph where she played the lead role in The Dispatch Beare. Largely as a result of her equestrian skills, she received parts in eleven films in the next five months.
Biograph Studios
Also at Vitagraph was a young actor, Harry SolterHarry Solter
Henry Lewis "Harry" Solter was an American silent film actor, screenwriter and director.-Career:Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florence Lawrence while making the film Romeo and Juliet for Vitagraph Studios and married on August 30...
, who was looking for 'a young, beautiful equestrian girl' to star in a film to be produced by the Biograph Studios
Biograph Studios
Biograph Studios was a studio facility and film laboratory complex built in 1912 by the Biograph Company, formerly American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, at 807 E. 175th Street, in the Bronx, New York....
under the direction of D.W. Griffith. Griffith, the head of Biograph Studios, had noticed the beautiful blonde-haired woman in one of Vitagraph's films. Because the film's actors received no mention, Griffith had to make discreet enquiries to learn she was Florence Lawrence and to arrange a meeting.
Griffith had intended to give the part to Biograph's leading lady, Florence Turner
Florence Turner
Florence Turner was an American actress, who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films.Born in New York City, she was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by her ambitious mother...
, but Lawrence managed to convince Solter and Griffith that she was the best suited for the starring role in The Girl and the Outlaw. With the Vitagraph Company, she had been earning $20 a week, working also as a costume seamstress over and above acting. Griffith offered her a job, acting only, for $25 a week. Lawrence jumped at it.
After her success in this role, she appeared as a society belle in Betrayed by a Handprint and as an Indian in The Red Girl. In total, she had parts in most of the 60 films directed by Griffith in 1908. Toward the end of 1908 Lawrence married Harry Solter
Harry Solter
Henry Lewis "Harry" Solter was an American silent film actor, screenwriter and director.-Career:Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florence Lawrence while making the film Romeo and Juliet for Vitagraph Studios and married on August 30...
.
Lawrence quickly gained much popularity, but because her name was never publicized, fans began writing the studio asking for it. Even when her face had gained wide recognition, particularly after starring in the highly successful Resurrection
Resurrection (1909 film)
Resurrection is a 1909 silent short film made by Biograph Studios. It is based on the Leo Tolstoy novel Resurrection. Adapted for the screen by Frank E. Woods, it was directed by D. W. Griffith and starred several pioneering legends of American cinema such as Arthur V. Johnson, Florence Lawrence,...
, Biograph Studios simply labeled her as "The Biograph Girl". During cinema's formative years, silent screen actors were not named, because studio owners feared that fame might lead to demands for higher wages.
She continued to work for Biograph in 1909. Her demand to be paid by the week rather than daily was met, and she received double the normal rate. She achieved great popularity in the Jones series, film's first comedy series. She played Mrs. Jones in about twelve films. Even more popular than the Jones series were the dramatic love stories in which she co-starred with Arthur Johnson
Arthur Johnson
Arthur Johnson may refer to:*Arthur V. Johnson, actor and director in American silent films*Arthur Johnson , English football manager*Arthur Johnson , U.S...
. The two played husband and wife in The Ingrate, and the adulterous lovers in Resurrection
Resurrection (1909 film)
Resurrection is a 1909 silent short film made by Biograph Studios. It is based on the Leo Tolstoy novel Resurrection. Adapted for the screen by Frank E. Woods, it was directed by D. W. Griffith and starred several pioneering legends of American cinema such as Arthur V. Johnson, Florence Lawrence,...
.
Lawrence and Solter began to look elsewhere for work, writing to the Essanay Company to offer their services as leading lady and director. Rather than accepting this offer, however, Essanay reported the offer to Biograph's head office, and they were promptly fired.
Independent Moving Pictures Company
Independent Moving Pictures
The Independent Moving Pictures Company was a movie studio/production company founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle, and was located at Eleventh Avenue and 53rd Street New York City, and in Fort Lee, New Jersey....
(IMP). The company, founded by Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle , born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios - Universal...
, the owner of a film exchange (who later absorbed IMP into Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, which he also founded and was president of), was looking for experienced filmmakers and actors. Needing a star, he lured Lawrence away from Biograph by promising to give her a marquee. First though, Carl Laemmle organized a publicity stunt by starting a rumor that Lawrence had been killed by a street car in New York City.
Then, after gaining much media attention, he placed ads in the newspapers that announced, "We nail a lie", and included a photo of Lawrence. The ad declared she is alive and well and making The Broken Oath, a new movie for his IMP Film Company to be directed by Solter.
Laemmle then had Lawrence make a personal appearance in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
in March 1910 with her leading man to show her fans that she was very much alive, making her one of the first performers not already famous in another medium to be identified by name by her studio. Partially as a result of Laemmle's ingenuity, the "star system" was born and before long, Florence Lawrence became a household name. However, her fame was such that the studio executives who had concerns over wage demands soon had their fears proved correct.
Laemmle managed to lure William Ranous (William H. Ranous), one of Vitagraph's best directors, over to IMP. Ranous introduced Laemmle to Lawrence and Solter, and they began to work together. Lawrence and Solter worked for IMP for eleven months, making fifty films. After this, they went on vacation in Europe. When they returned to the United States, they joined a film company headed by Siegmund Lubin
Siegmund Lubin
Siegmund Lubin was a Polish-American motion picture pioneer.-Biography:He was born as Siegmund Lubszynski in Breslau, Silesia, Germany on April 20, 1851, to a German Jewish family...
(Siegmund "Pop" Lubin), described as the 'wisest and most democratic film producer in history.' Lawrence was once again teamed with Arthur Johnson
Arthur Johnson
Arthur Johnson may refer to:*Arthur V. Johnson, actor and director in American silent films*Arthur Johnson , English football manager*Arthur Johnson , U.S...
, and the pair made 48 films together under Lubin's direction.
At the time, the film industry was controlled by the powerful Motion Picture Patents Company
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company , founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major American film companies , the leading film distributor and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak...
, a trust formed by the major film companies. IMP was not a member of the MPPC, and hence operated outside its distribution system. Theaters found showing IMP films lost the right to screen MPPC films. IMP, therefore, had powerful enemies in the film industry. It managed to survive, however, largely because of the popularity of Lawrence.
Lubin Studios
By late 19101910 in film
The year 1910 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The newsreel footage of the funeral of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom is shot in Kinemacolor, making it the first color newsreel....
, Lawrence left IMP to work for Lubin Studios
Lubin Studios
The Lubin Manufacturing Company, was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1902 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.-History:...
, advising her fellow young Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the 18-year-old Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, to take her place as IMP's star.
Victor Film Company
In 1912, Lawrence and Solter made a deal with Carl Laemmle, forming their own company. Laemmle gave them complete artistic freedom in the company, called Victor Film CompanyVictor Studios
The Victor Film Company was a motion picture company formed in 1912 by movie star Florence Lawrence and her husband, Harry Solter. The company established Victor Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, when early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based there at the beginning of...
, and paid Lawrence five hundred dollars a week as the leading lady, and Solter two hundred dollars a week as director. They established a film studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
and made a number of films starring Lawrence and Owen Moore
Owen Moore
Owen Moore was an Irish-born actor in American films, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.-Life and career:...
before selling out to the new Universal Pictures in 1913. With this new prosperity, Florence was able to realize a 'lifelong dream,' buying a 50 acres (202,343 m²) estate in River Vale, New Jersey
River Vale, New Jersey
River Vale is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 9,659. The community was ranked #29 on the 100 Best Places to Live 2007 survey published by CNN/Money magazine....
. There she was able to garden and grow roses, 'her greatest joy.' In August 1912, she had a fight with her husband, in which he 'made cruel remarks about his mother-in-law.' He left and went to Europe. However, he wrote 'sad' letters to her every day, telling her of his plans to commit suicide. His letters 'softened her feelings' and they were re-united in November 1912. Lawrence announced her intention to retire.
Injury, crash of '29, and suicide
Despite her mooted retirement, Lawrence was induced to return to work in 1914 for her company (Victor Film Company), which was later acquired by Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. During one of the films, Pawns of Destiny, a staged fire got out of control. Lawrence was burned, her hair singed, and she suffered a serious fall. She went into shock for months. She returned to work, but collapsed after its completion. Blaming Solter for making her do the stunt in which she was injured, the two were divorced. To add to her problems, Universal refused to pay her medical expenses. Lawrence felt betrayed.
Although only 29 years old, she never regained her stature as a leading film star after taking time off to recover from her injuries. In 1920, her husband died. The following year she married automobile salesman Charles Byrne Woodring, but they were divorced in 1931. In 1933 she married for the third time to Henry Bolton. Bolton turned out to be abusive and beat Lawrence severely. The union lasted only five months.
In the spring of 1916, she returned to work for Universal and completed another feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, Elusive Isabel. However, the strain of working took its toll on her and she suffered a serious relapse. She was completely paralyzed for four months. By the time she returned to the screen in 1921, few people remembered her.
In 1921 she traveled to Hollywood to attempt a comeback. However, she had little success, and received a leading role in a minor melodrama (The Unfoldment), and then two supporting roles. All of her screen work after 1924 would be in uncredited bit parts. During the 1920s she and her husband Charles began to manufacture a line of cosmetics, which they continued in partnership after their divorce.
When Lawrence's mother died in 1929, she had an expensive bust sculpted for her mother's tomb. By then, in her mid-forties, demand for her in films had long since disappeared and the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
crash and the ensuing Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
saw Lawrence's fortune decline.
Lawrence returned to the screen in 1936, when MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
began giving small parts to old stars for seventy-five dollars a week.
Alone, discouraged, and suffering with chronic pain from myelofibrosis
Myelofibrosis
Myelofibrosis, also known as myeloid metaplasia, chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis, osteomyelofibrosis and primary myelofibrosis is a disorder of the bone marrow...
, a rare bone marrow
Bone marrow
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
disease, she was found unconscious in bed in her West Hollywood apartment on 27 December 1938 after she had ingested ant paste
Insecticide
An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...
. She was rushed to a hospital but died a few hours later.
Just nine years after she had paid for an expensive memorial for her mother, Lawrence was interred in an unmarked grave not far from her mother in the Hollywood Cemetery, which is now Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
, in Hollywood, California.
She remained forgotten until 1991, when actor Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
, serving on the National Film Preservation Board
National Film Preservation Board
The United States National Film Preservation Board is the board selecting films for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. It was established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988...
, paid for a memorial marker that reads: "The Biograph Girl/The First Movie Star."http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3522http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsjkl/lawrencebio.html
In William J. Mann
William J. Mann
William J. Mann is an American novelist, biographer, and Hollywood historian best known for his 2006 biography of Katharine Hepburn, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn...
's novel The Biograph Girl (2000), Mann asks the question, "What if Lawrence didn't die in 1938 from eating ant poison, but is 106 and living in a nursing home in Buffalo, New York?" The novel faithfully covers Lawrence's life up to 1938 and takes it beyond, after her "supposed" suicide.
A biography by Kelly R. Brown, Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star, was published in 1999.
Inventions
Lawrence invented the first turn signal, a device attached to a motor vehicle's rear fender. Dubbed as the "auto signaling arm", when a driver pressed a button, an arm raised or lowered, with a sign attached indicating the direction of the intended turn. Following this, she developed a brake signal based on the same concept where an arm with a sign reading "STOP" was raised whenever the driver stepped on the brake pedal. However, Lawrence's inventions were not patentPatent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed, and others in the rapidly expanding auto industry developed their own versions.
Personal life
She was married three times. First to Harry SolterHarry Solter
Henry Lewis "Harry" Solter was an American silent film actor, screenwriter and director.-Career:Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florence Lawrence while making the film Romeo and Juliet for Vitagraph Studios and married on August 30...
(1908–1913), then to Charles Woodring (May 12, 1921–1931), and lastly to Henry Bolton, whom she married in 1932 and divorced five months later.
Filmography
- The Automobile Thieves (1906)
- Athletic American Girls (1907)
- Bargain Fiend; or, Shopping à la Mode (1907)
- Daniel Boone (1907)
- The Boy, the Bust and the Bath (1907)
- The Despatch Bearer; or, Through the Enemy's Lines (1907)
- The Dispatch Bearer (1907)
- The Mill Girl (1907)
- The ShaughraunThe ShaughraunThe Shaughraun is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Wallack's Theatre, New York, on 14 November 1874. Boucicault played Con in the original production...
(1907) - A Calamitous Elopement (1908)
- A Smoked Husband (1908)
- A Woman's Way (1908)
- After Many YearsAfter Many YearsAfter Many Years is a 1908 silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. Prints of the film exist in the Library of Congress film archive.-Cast:* Charles Inslee - John Davis* Florence Lawrence - Mrs. John Davis* Harry Solter - Tom Foster...
(1908) - An Awful Moment (1908)
- Antony and CleopatraAntony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
(1908) - Behind the Scenes (1908)
- Betrayed by a Handprint (1908)
- Concealing a Burglar (1908)
- Cupid's Realm; or, A Game of Hearts (1908)
- Father Gets in the Game (1908)
- Ingomar, the Barbarian (1908)
- Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
(1908) - Lady Jane's Flight (1908)
- Love Laughs at Locksmiths; an 18th Century Romance (1908)
- MacbethMacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(1908) - Money Mad (1908)
- Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908)
- Mrs. Jones Entertains (1908)
- Richard III (1908)
- Romance of a JewessRomance of a JewessRomance of a Jewess is a 1908 silent short drama film written and directed by D.W. Griffith.-Cast:* Florence Lawrence as Ruth Simonson* George Gebhardt as Simon Bimberg* Gladys Egan as The Daughter* John R. Cumpson as Customer* Guy Hedlund* Arthur V...
(1908) - Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(1908) - Salome (1908)
- The Bandit's Waterloo (1908)
- The Call of the WildThe Call of the Wild (1908 film)The Call of the Wild is a 1908 American short adventure film directed by D.W. Griffith. An adaption of Jack London's novel The Call of the Wild, it starred Charles Inslee, Harry Solter and Florence Lawrence...
(1908) - The Christmas Burglars (1908)
- The Clubman and the Tramp (1908)
- The Dancer and the King: A Romantic Story of Spain (1908)
- The Devil (1908)
- The Feud and the Turkey (1908)
- The Girl and the Outlaw (1908)
- The Heart of O'Yama (1908)
- The Helping Hand (1908)
- The Ingrate (1908)
- The Pirate's Gold (1908)
- The Planter's WifeThe Planter's WifeThe Planter's Wife is a 1952 British drama film directed by Ken Annakin, and starring Claudette Colbert, Jack Hawkins and Anthony Steel. It is set against the backdrop of the Malayan Emergency and focuses on a rubber planter and his neighbours who are fending off a campaign of sustained attacks by...
(1908) - The Reckoning (1908)
- The Red Girl (1908)
- The Reg Girl (1908)
- The Song of the Shirt (1908)
- The Stolen Jewels (1908)
- The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew (1908 film)The Taming of the Shrew is a 1908 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was based on Shakespeare's play of the same name.- Cast :*Florence Lawrence ... Katharina*Arthur V. Johnson ... Petruchio*Linda Arvidson ... Bianca...
(1908) - The Test of Friendship (1908)
- The Valet's Wife (1908)
- The Vaquero's Vow (1908)
- The Viking's Daughter: The Story of the Ancient Norsemen (1908)
- The Zulu's Heart (1908)
- Where the Breakers Roar (1908)
- A Baby's Shoe (1909)
- A Drunkard's Reformation (1909)
- A Fool's Revenge (1909)
- A Sound Sleeper (1909)
- A Troublesome Satchel (1909)
- A Wreath in Time (1909)
- And a Little Child Shall Lead Them (1909)
- At the Altar (1909)
- Confidence (1909)
- Eloping with Auntie (1909)
- Eradicating Auntie (1909)
- Eradicating Aunty (1909)
- Her First Biscuits (1909)
- Her Generous Way (1909)
- His Ward's Love (1909)
- His Wife's Mother (1909)
- I Did It (1909)
- Jealousy and the Man (1909)
- Jones and His New Neighbors (1909)
- Jones and the Lady Book Agent (1909)
- Lady Helen's Escapade (1909)
- Lest We Forget (1909)
- Lines of White on a Sullen Sea (1909)
- Love's Stratagem (1909)
- Lucky Jim (1909)
- Mr. Jones' Burglar (1909)
- Mr. Jones Has a Card Party (1909)
- Mrs. Jones Entertains (1909)
- Mrs. Jones' Lover (1909)
- Nursing a Viper (1909)
- One Busy Hour (1909)
- One Touch of Nature (1909)
- ResurrectionResurrection (1909 film)Resurrection is a 1909 silent short film made by Biograph Studios. It is based on the Leo Tolstoy novel Resurrection. Adapted for the screen by Frank E. Woods, it was directed by D. W. Griffith and starred several pioneering legends of American cinema such as Arthur V. Johnson, Florence Lawrence,...
(1909) - Saul and David (1909)
- Schneider's Anti-Noise Crusade (1909)
- Sweet and Twenty (1909)
- Tender Hearts (1909)
- The Awakening (1909)
- The Awakening of Bess (1909)
- The Brahma Diamond (1909)
- The Cardinal's Conspiracy (1909)
- The Cord of Life (1909)
- The Country DoctorThe Country Doctor (film)The Country Doctor is a 1909 drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. Prints of the film exist in the film archives of the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.-Cast:* Kate Bruce as Poor Mother...
(1909) - The Criminal Hypnotist (1909)
- The Curtain PoleThe Curtain PoleThe Curtain Pole is a 1909 comedy film directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film still exists.The film was made by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the...
(1909) - The Deception (1909)
- The Drive for a Life (1909)
- The Drive for Life (1909)
- The Eavesdropper (1909)
- The Fascinating Mrs. Francis (1909)
- The Forest Ranger's Daughter (1909)
- The French Duel (1909)
- The Girls and Daddy (1909)
- The Golden Louis (1909)
- The Hessian RenegadesThe Hessian RenegadesThe Hessian Renegades is a 1909 silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith.-Cast:* Owen Moore - American Soldier* Linda Arvidson - Farmer* Kate Bruce - Soldier's Family* William J. Butler - Farmer* Verner Clarges - Farmer* D.W. Griffith...
(1909) - The Honor of Thieves (1909)
- The Jilt (1909)
- The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals (1909)
- The Judgment of Solomon (1909)
- The Lonely VillaThe Lonely VillaThe Lonely Villa is a 1909 drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was produced by the Biograph Company when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the 20th century. A print of the film survives.-...
(1909) - The Lure of the Gown (1909)
- The Medicine Bottle (1909)
- The Mended Lute (1909)
- The Necklace (1909)
- The Note in the Shoe (1909)
- The Peachbasket Hat (1909)
- The Politician's Love Story (1909)
- The Prussian Spy (1909)
- The Road to the Heart (1909)
- The Roue's Heart (1909)
- The Sacrifice (1909)
- The Salvation Army Lass (1909)
- The Slave (1909)
- The Way of Man (1909)
- The Winning Coat (1909)
- The Wooden Leg (1909)
- Those Awful HatsThose Awful HatsThose Awful Hats is a 1909 short comedy film directed by D.W. Griffith. It takes place in a small, crowded movie theatre, where the patrons are perpetually distracted by people - primarily women - wearing large, ostentatious hats that obstruct everyone else's views of the screen...
(1909) - Those Boys! (1909)
- Tis an Ill Wind that Blows No Good (1909)
- Tragic Love (1909)
- Trying to Get Arrested (1909)
- Two Memories (1909)
- What Drink Did (1909)
- A Discontented Woman (1910)
- A Game for Two (1910)
- A Reno Romance (1910)
- A Self-Made Hero (1910)
- All the World's a Stage (1910)
- Among the Roses (1910)
- Bear Ye One Another's Burdens (1910)
- Debt (1910)
- His Second Wife (1910)
- His Sick Friend (1910)
- Jane and the Stranger (1910)
- Justice in the Far North (1910)
- Mother Love (1910)
- Never Again (1910)
- Old Heads and Young Hearts (1910)
- Once Upon a Time (1910)
- Pressed Roses (1910)
- The Angel of the Studio (1910)
- The Blind Man's Tact (1910)
- The Broken Oath (1910)
- The Call (1910)
- The Call of the Circus (1910)
- The Coquette's Suitors (1910)
- The Count of Montebello (1910)
- The Doctor's Perfidy (1910)
- The Eternal Triangle (1910)
- The Forest Ranger's Daughter (1910)
- The Governor's Pardon (1910)
- The Irony of Fate (1910)
- The Maelstrom (1910)
- The Miser's Daughter (1910)
- The Mistake (1910)
- The New Minister (1910)
- The New Shawl (1910)
- The Nichols on Vacation (1910)
- The Right Girl (1910)
- The Right of Love (1910)
- The Rosary (1910)
- The Senator's Double (1910)
- The Stage Note (1910)
- The Taming of Jane (1910)
- The Tide of Fortune (1910)
- The Time-Lock Safe (1910)
- The Widow (1910)
- The Winning Punch (1910)
- Transfusion (1910)
- Two Men (1910)
- A Blind Deception (1911)
- A Fascinating Bachelor (1911)
- A Game of Deception (1911)
- A Girlish Impulse (1911)
- A Good Turn (1911)
- A Head for Business (1911)
- A Rebellious Blossom (1911)
- A Rural Conqueror (1911)
- A Show Girl's Stratagem (1911)
- Age Versus Youth (1911)
- Always a Way (1911)
- Art Versus Music (1911)
- Aunt Jane's Legacy (1911)
- Duke De Ribbon Counter (1911)
- During Cherry Time (1911)
- Flo's Discipline (1911)
- Her Artistic Temperament (1911)
- Her Child's Honor (1911)
- Her Humble Ministry (1911)
- Her Two Sons (1911)
- Higgenses Versus Judsons (1911)
- His Bogus Uncle (1911)
- His Chorus Girl Wife (1911)
- His Friend, the Burglar (1911)
- Nan's Diplomacy (1911)
- One on Reno (1911)
- Opportunity and the Man (1911)
- Romance of Pond Cove (1911)
- That Awful Brother (1911)
- The Actress and the Singer (1911)
- The American Girl (1911)
- The Gypsy (1911)
- The Hoyden (1911)
- The Life Saver (1911)
- The Little Rebel (1911)
- The Maniac (1911)
- The Matchmaker (1911)
- The Professor's Ward (1911)
- The Secret (1911)
- The Sheriff and the Man (1911)
- The Slavey's Affinity (1911)
- The Snare of Society (1911)
- The State Line (1911)
- The Story of Rosie's Rose (1911)
- The Test (1911)
- The Two Fathers (1911)
- The Wife's Awakening (1911)
- Through Jealous Eyes (1911)
- Vanity and Its Cure (1911)
- A Surgeon's Heroism (1912)
- A Village Romance (1912)
- After All (1912)
- All for Love (1912)
- Betty's Nightmare (1912)
- Flo's Discipline (1912)
- Her Cousin Fred (1912)
- In Swift Waters (1912)
- Not Like Other Girls (1912)
- Sisters (1912)
- Taking a Chance (1912)
- Tangled Relations (1912)
- The Advent of Jane (1912)
- The Angel of the Studio (1912)
- The Chance Shot (1912)
- The Cross-Roads (1912)
- The Lady Leone (1912)
- The Mill Buyers (1912)
- The Players (1912)
- The Redemption of Riverton (1912)
- The Winning Punch (1912)
- A Girl and Her Money (1913)
- His Wife's Child (1913)
- Suffragette's Parade in Washington (1913)
- The Closed Door (1913)
- The Counterfeiter (1913)
- The Girl o'the Woods (1913)
- The Influence of Sympathy (1913)
- The Spender (1913)
- Unto the Third Generation (1913)
- A Disenchantment (1914)
- A Mysterious Mystery (1914)
- A Singular Cynic (1914)
- A Singular Sinner (1914)
- Counterfeiters (1914)
- Diplomatic Flo (1914)
- Her Ragged Knight (1914)
- The Bribe (1914)
- The Coryphee (1914)
- The Doctor's Testimony (1914)
- The False Bride (1914)
- The Great Universal Mystery (1914)
- The Honeymooners (1914)
- The Honor of the Humble (1914)
- The Law's Decree (1914)
- The Little Mail Carrier (1914)
- The Mad Man's Ward (1914)
- The Pawns of Destiny (1914)
- The Romance of a Photograph (1914)
- The Stepmother (1914)
- The Woman Who Won (1914)
- Elusive Isabel (1916)
- Face on the Screen (1917)
- The Love Craze (1918)
- The Unfoldment (1922)
- Lucretia Lombard (1923)
- The Satin Girl (1923)
- Gambling Wives (1924)
- The Greater Glory (1926)
- The Johnstown FloodThe Johnstown Flood (1926 film)The Johnstown Flood is an American silent epic film drama directed by Irving Cummings. The film stars George O'Brien, Florence Gilbert and Janet Gaynor. This is a surviving film with a print held at George Eastman House, Rochester.-Cast:...
(1926) - Sweeping Against the Winds (1930)
- Homicide Squad (1931)
- The Hard Hombre (1931)
- Sinners in the Sun (1932)
- Secrets (1933)
- The Old Fashioned Way (1934) (unverified)
- Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935) (unverified)
- Hollywood BoulevardHollywood Boulevard (1936 film)-Plot:With a full Hollywood background and settings but more an expose of scandal-and-gossip magazines of the era,has-been actor John Blakeford agrees to write his memoirs for magazine-publisher Jordan Winston. When Blakeford's daughter,...
(1936) (role deleted) - One Rainy Afternoon (1936)
See also
- Other Canadian pioneers in early HollywoodCanadian pioneers in early HollywoodMotion pictures have been a part of the culture of Canada since the beginning.-History:Around 1910, the East Coast filmmakers began to take advantage of California winters and after Nestor Studios, run by Canadian Al Christie, built the first permanent movie studio in Hollywood a number of the...