Early life and career

Born Florence Lavina Quick in Danville, Kentucky

Danville, Kentucky

Danville is a city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,218 at the 2010 census.Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties....

, Carmen made her film debut in the 1912 film The Will of Destiny. She went on to appear in Daphne and the Pirate

Daphne and the Pirate

Daphne and the Pirate is a 1916 drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Lillian Gish.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Daphne La Tour* Elliott Dexter - Philip de Mornay* Walter Long - Jamie d'Arcy* Howard Gaye - Prince Henri...

(1916), opposite Lillian Gish

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 D. W. Griffith

D. 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...

's 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...

(1916).

Lawsuits against Fox

In 1917, Carmen contracted with Fox Film Corporation, but finding the deal unsatisfactory opened a new contract with the Keeney Corporation in 1918 while her first contract remained in effect. Fox sent Keeney notice of their prior contract, warning that they would hold Keeney responsible for assisting her in breaking it, promising to indemnify Keeney against legal retaliation. Carmen launched two lawsuits against Fox, one to attempt to free herself of the obligation of living up to her contract and another to seek redress for their interference with her contract with Keeney.

Key to the issues was the question of where the contracts had been made: New York or California. Fox's offices were located in New York; Carmen was a resident of California. By California law, Carmen was an adult at the time of signing the contract; by New York law, which granted majority at 21, she was not. If not an adult, she could not be legally held to the document she had signed. Though Carmen initially won the first lawsuit, having the contracts set aside and receiving damages of $43,500 from Fox, the decision was overturned on appeal because she had "unclean" hands, having herself treated Fox unfairly. However, she won her second case because Fox's interference with her employment with Keeney had been outside the law, though Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo

Benjamin N. Cardozo

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was a well-known American lawyer and associate Supreme Court Justice. Cardozo is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American common law in the 20th century, in addition to his modesty, philosophy, and vivid prose style...

 made clear that he did not approve of the legal loophole that allowed Carmen to break her contract with Fox.

Later years and death

Carmen later became known for her connection to the scandal surrounding the death of actress Thelma Todd

Thelma Todd

Thelma Alice Todd was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy...

. She was the wife of Roland West

Roland West

For the basketball player, see Roland West Roland West was a Hollywood director known for his innovative film noir movies of the 1920s and early 1930s.-Biography:...

, who had an extramarital affair with Todd and who came under suspicion following Todd's death of carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...

.

Todd died in a garage attached to the home where Carmen's parents lived, which Carmen had formerly shared with West. The death was suspicious for a number of factors, including that Todd was allegedly spotted or spoken to several times the day after her purported time of death; Carmen herself testified before the grand jury

Grand jury

A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

 that she had seen Todd somewhere with another man. After the scandal broke, Carmen's marriage to West ended, and she retired from the public eye.

Carmen died of lymphoma

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...

 on March 4, 1984 at the age of 86.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1912	The Will of Destiny	Frances	Credited as Florence La Vinci
1913	The Professor's Daughter		Credited as Evelyn Quick
	A Life in the Balance		Credited as Evelyn Quick Alternative titles: Crashing Through Potted Plays No. 7
	Professional Jealousy		Credited as Evelyn Quick
	He and Himself		Credited as Evelyn Quick
	Four Queens and a Jack	The Girl	Credited as Evelyn Quick
	Their Husbands		Credited as Evelyn Quick
1916	Daphne and the Pirate Daphne and the Pirate Daphne and the Pirate is a 1916 drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Lillian Gish.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Daphne La Tour* Elliott Dexter - Philip de Mornay* Walter Long - Jamie d'Arcy* Howard Gaye - Prince Henri...		Credited as Jewell Carman
	Sunshine Dad	Charlotte
	The Children in the House	Jane Courtenay
	Flirting with Fate	Gladys, the Girl	Alternative title: The Assassin
	The Half-Breed	Nellie	Alternative title: The Carquinez Woods
	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...	Favorite of the Harem	Uncredited
	Manhattan Madness	Girl
	American Aristocracy	Geraldine Hicks
1917	The Kingdom of Love	Violet Carson
	A Tale of Two Cities	Lucie Manette
	American Methods	Claire de Beaulieu
	To Honor and Obey	Rose Delvane
	The Conqueror	Eliza Allen
	When a Man Sees Red	Captain Sutton
	Les Misérables	Cosette at age 18
1918	The Girl with the Champagne Eyes	Nellie Proctor
	The Bride of Fear	Ann Carter
	Confession	Mary Anderson
	Fallen Angel	Jill Cummings	Alternative title: Paying the Piper
	Lawless Love	LaBelle Geraldine	Alternative title: Above the Law
1921	The Silver Lining The Silver Lining (1921 film) The Silver Lining is a silent drama film directed by Roland West.-Cast:*Coit Albertson.....George Johnson*Jewel Carmen.....The Angel*Leslie Austin.....Robert Ellington*Virginia Valli.....Evelyn Schofield*Theodore Babcock.....Eugene Narcom...	The Angel
	Nobody	Little Mrs. Smith
1923	You Can't Get Away with It
1926	The Bat The Bat (1926 film) The Bat is a silent film based on the 1920 hit Broadway play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, directed by Roland West and starring Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda...	Miss Dale Ogden

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