Gladys Leslie
Encyclopedia
Gladys Leslie was an American
actress in silent film
, active in the 1910s and 1920s. Though less-remembered than superstars like Mary Pickford
, she had a number of starring roles from 1917 to the early 1920s and was one of the young female stars of her day.
. By 1917, she was making films with the Thanhouser Company
, including The Vicar of Wakefield (1917). The New York Herald
s review of that film dubbed her the "Girl With A Million Dollar Smile," and caused studio head Edwin Thanhouser
to decide she was ready for leading roles. Soon she was starring in the lead role in 1917's An Amateur Orphan, but was quickly wooed over to Vitagraph Studios
and starred in a number of Vitagraph releases in 1918 and 1919. Leslie and another young female Vitagraph star, Bessie Love
, starred in numerous films in young girl-type roles that were popular at the time.Slide, Anthony Slide & Gevinson, Alan. The Big V: a history of the Vitagraph Company, p. 90-91 (1987)Bennett, Whitman (June 1920). The Artistic Influence of the Motion Picture, Munsey's Magazine
(photo of Leslie)Nunn, William Curtis. Marguerite Clark, America's darling of Broadway and the silent screen, p. 100 (1981)Dean, Daisy (21 December 1922). News Notes From Movieland, St Petersburg Times Leslie's similar appearance to Mary Pickford
was also often noted.
Leslie's association with Vitagraph ended by 1920 and she continued to make films with a number of different studios. Her first non-Vitagraph picture in 1920 was A Child for Sale
, directed by Ivan Abramson
, where she played a starring role.(18 January 1920). Picture Plays and People, The New York Times
("Gladys Leslie, who recently finished the term of her contract with Vitagraph, has signed up to star in a picture to be directed by Ivan Abramson.")(film was "A Child For Sale") And in 1923, she had the lead female role in Haldane of the Secret Service featuring Harry Houdini
. Nevertheless, her share of starring roles started to decline, and her last appearance was in 1925. She had always claimed, however, that she would stop making films when her bank account "has mounted high enough."
on March 5, 1899, and she died (as Gladys Leslie Moore) in Boynton Beach, Florida
on October 2, 1976 at age 77.
Along with the new trend of actors doing product endorsements in the early 1920s, Leslie appeared in ads for Tokio Beauty Cream, which was claimed to have given her "magnetic personality."
(10 April 1921) Gladys Leslie, New York Tribune (brief)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress in 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...
, active in the 1910s and 1920s. Though less-remembered than superstars like 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...
, she had a number of starring roles from 1917 to the early 1920s and was one of the young female stars of her day.
Film career
Leslie began her movie career around 1915, acting in short films produced by the Edison CompanyEdison Studios
Edison Studios was an American motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films as the Edison Manufacturing Company and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. until the studio's closing in 1918...
. By 1917, she was making films with the Thanhouser Company
Thanhouser Company
The Thanhouser Company was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser.-See also:...
, including The Vicar of Wakefield (1917). The New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
s review of that film dubbed her the "Girl With A Million Dollar Smile," and caused studio head Edwin Thanhouser
Edwin Thanhouser
Edwin Thanhouser was an actor, businessman, and film producer, most notable as a founder of the Thanhouser Company, along with his wife Gertrude Thanhouser and brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan.-Biography:...
to decide she was ready for leading roles. Soon she was starring in the lead role in 1917's An Amateur Orphan, but was quickly wooed over to Vitagraph Studios
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...
and starred in a number of Vitagraph releases in 1918 and 1919. Leslie and another young female Vitagraph star, Bessie Love
Bessie Love
Bessie Love was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies. With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her role in The Broadway Melody earned her a nomination for...
, starred in numerous films in young girl-type roles that were popular at the time.Slide, Anthony Slide & Gevinson, Alan. The Big V: a history of the Vitagraph Company, p. 90-91 (1987)Bennett, Whitman (June 1920). The Artistic Influence of the Motion Picture, Munsey's Magazine
Munsey's Magazine
Munsey's Weekly, later known as Munsey's Magazine was a thirty-six page quarto magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey in 1889. Munsey aimed at "a magazine of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout". John Kendrick Bangs was the editor. The...
(photo of Leslie)Nunn, William Curtis. Marguerite Clark, America's darling of Broadway and the silent screen, p. 100 (1981)Dean, Daisy (21 December 1922). News Notes From Movieland, St Petersburg Times Leslie's similar appearance to 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...
was also often noted.
Leslie's association with Vitagraph ended by 1920 and she continued to make films with a number of different studios. Her first non-Vitagraph picture in 1920 was A Child for Sale
A Child for Sale
A Child for Sale is a 1920 silent film directed by Ivan Abramson, starring Gladys Leslie and Creighton Hale.-Plot: Charles Stoddard is a poor artist living with his wife and two childen in Greenwich Village. Destitute after his wife dies, he is forced to sell one of his children for $1,000 to a...
, directed by Ivan Abramson
Ivan Abramson
Ivan Abramson was a director of American silent films active in the 1910s and 1920s.Abramson emigrated to the United States from Russia in the 1880s and soon became involved in Jewish newspaper field. In 1905 he founded an opera company. In 1914, he founded Ivan Film Productions to produce...
, where she played a starring role.(18 January 1920). Picture Plays and People, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
("Gladys Leslie, who recently finished the term of her contract with Vitagraph, has signed up to star in a picture to be directed by Ivan Abramson.")(film was "A Child For Sale") And in 1923, she had the lead female role in Haldane of the Secret Service featuring Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
. Nevertheless, her share of starring roles started to decline, and her last appearance was in 1925. She had always claimed, however, that she would stop making films when her bank account "has mounted high enough."
Personal
Leslie was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on March 5, 1899, and she died (as Gladys Leslie Moore) in Boynton Beach, Florida
Boynton Beach, Florida
Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 60,389 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the city had a population of 66,714 according to the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research...
on October 2, 1976 at age 77.
Along with the new trend of actors doing product endorsements in the early 1920s, Leslie appeared in ads for Tokio Beauty Cream, which was claimed to have given her "magnetic personality."
Selected Filmography
- The Vicar of Wakefield as Sophia Primrose (Thanhouser, 1917) (starring Frederick WardeFrederick WardeFrederick Barkham Warde was an English Shakesperian actor who relocated to the United States in the late 19th century.In the late 1870s he partnered with actor Maurice Barrymore and the two agreed to tour plays around the United States. Warde would have one section of the country while Barrymore...
)The Vicar of Wakefield, Thanhouser.org (full movie available online), Retrieved September 16, 2011 - An Amateur Orphan as Marcia Schuyler (Thanhouser, 1917)
- It Happened To Adele as Adele (ThanhouserThanhouser CompanyThe Thanhouser Company was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser.-See also:...
, 1917) - His Own People as Molly Conway (Vitagraph, 1917) (co-starring Harry T. MoreyHarry T. MoreyHarry Temple Morey was an American stage and motion picture actor who appeared in nearly two hundred films during his career....
)Langman, Larry. American film cycles: the silent era, p.152 (1998) (summary of plot of His Own People)Slide, Alan. The cinema and Ireland, p. 104 (1988) - The Wooing of Princess Pat as Princess Pat (Vitagraph, 1918)
- Little Miss No-Account as Patty Baring (Vitagraph, 1918)
- The Little Runaway as Ann Acushla (Vitagraph, 1918)
- The Soap Girl as Marjorie Sanford (Vitagraph, 1918)
- Wild Primrose as Primrose Standish (Vitagraph, 1918)
- Nymph of the Foothills as Emma Chaney (Vitagraph, 1918)
- The Mating as Nancy Fanne (Vitagraph, 1918)
- The Beloved Impostor as Betty (Vitagraph, 1918)
- Fortune's child (Vitagraph, 1919)
- Miss Dulcie from Dixie as Dulcie Culpepper (Vitagraph, 1919)
- A Stitch In Time as Phoebe Ann (Vitagraph, 1919, directed by Ralph InceRalph InceRalph Ince , was an American film director, actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 171 films between 1910 and 1937. He also appeared in 110 films between 1907 and 1937....
) - Too Many Crooks as Boston Fanny (Vitagraph, 1919, directed by Ralph InceRalph InceRalph Ince , was an American film director, actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 171 films between 1910 and 1937. He also appeared in 110 films between 1907 and 1937....
) - The Girl-Woman as Belinda (Vitagraph, 1919)
- The Gray Towers Mystery as June Wheeler (Vitagraph, 1919)
- A Child for SaleA Child for SaleA Child for Sale is a 1920 silent film directed by Ivan Abramson, starring Gladys Leslie and Creighton Hale.-Plot: Charles Stoddard is a poor artist living with his wife and two childen in Greenwich Village. Destitute after his wife dies, he is forced to sell one of his children for $1,000 to a...
(Graphic Films, 1920) - The Midnight Bride (Vitagraph, 1920)
- Straight is the Way (Cosmopolitan, 1921) (starring Matt MooreMatt MooreMatt Moore may refer to:* Matt Moore , Irish-born American film actor* Matt Moore , American football quarterback* Matt Moore...
) - Jim the Penman (1921) (starring Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
)
(10 April 1921) Gladys Leslie, New York Tribune (brief)
- God's County and the Law (1921)
- Timothy's Quest (1922)
- The Darling of the Rich (1922)
- Man and Wife (1923) (with Maurice CostelloMaurice CostelloMaurice Costello was a prominent vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s, who later played a principal role in early American films, as both a leading man, supporting player and a director....
) - Haldane of the Secret Service (1923) (with Harry HoudiniHarry HoudiniHarry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
) - Enemies of Youth (1925) (with Mahlon HamiltonMahlon HamiltonMahlon Preston Hamilton Jr. was an American stage and screen actor. He was the son of a bartender born in Baltimore, Maryland the eldest of three daughters and a son raised by his parents...
) - Pearl of Love (1925)(with Betty BalfourBetty BalfourBetty Balfour was an English screen actress, popular during the silent era, and known as the "British Mary Pickford" and "Britain's Queen of Happiness"...
)
External links
- The Vicar of Wakefield (1917), full movie online at Thanhouser.org