Norma Talmadge
Encyclopedia
Norma Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent
era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.
Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through
(1922), but she also scored artistic triumphs teamed with director Frank Borzage
in Secrets
(1924) and The Lady
(1925). Her younger sisters Constance Talmadge
and Natalie Talmadge
were also movie stars. Talmadge married millionaire and film producer Joseph Schenck
and they successfully created their own production company. After reaching fame in the film studios on the East Coast, she moved to Hollywood in 1922.
A specialist in melodrama
, Talmadge was one of the most elegant and glamorous film stars of the roaring twenties
. By the end of the silent film period her popularity with audiences had waned. After her two talkies proved disappointing at the box office, she retired a very wealthy woman. She is little remembered, yet in her day she was hugely popular and the epitome of stardom.
, although it has been widely believed she was born in Niagara Falls
, New York
. After achieving stardom, she admitted that she and her mother provided the more scenic setting of Niagara Falls to fan magazines to be more romantic. Talmadge was the eldest daughter of Fred Talmadge, a chronic unemployed alcoholic, and Margaret "Peg" Talmadge, a witty and indomitable woman. Talmadge's childhood was marked by poverty. One Christmas morning Fred Talmadge left the house to buy food and never came back, leaving his wife to raise their three little daughters. Peg took in laundry, sold cosmetics, taught painting classes, and rented out rooms, raising her daughters in Brooklyn
, New York
.
After telling her mother about a fellow classmate from Erasmus Hall High School
who modeled for popular, illustrated song
slides (which were often shown before the feature in movie theaters so that the audience could sing along), Mrs. Talmadge decided to locate the photographer and arranged an interview for her daughter, who, after an initial rejection, was hired soon after. When they went to the theater to see her "debut", Peg resolved to get her into motion pictures. Mrs. Talmadge pushed all three of her daughters to become actresses, encouraging them relentlessly to make money and invest it, though none of the sisters were really interested in being movie stars.
Talmadge was the eldest and the most beautiful among the three daughters and the first pushed by the mother to look for a career as a film actress. Mother and daughter traveled to the Vitagraph Studios
in Flatbush
, New York, just a streetcar ride from her home. They managed to get past the studio gates and in to see the casting director, who promptly threw them out. However, scenario editor Breta Breuil, attracted by Talmadge's beauty, arranged a small part for her as a young girl who is kissed under a photographer's cloth in The Household Pest (1909).
Thanks to Breuill's continued patronage, between 1911 and 1912, Talmadge played bit parts in over 100 films. She eventually earned a spot in the stock company at $25 per week and got a steady stream of work. Her first role as a contract actress was 1911's Neighboring Kingdom, with comedian John Bunny
. Her first real success came with the first original screen version of A Tale of Two Cities (1911), a three hour epic released in weekly one-reel segments in which she played the small role of Mimi, a seamstress who accompanies Sidney Carton to the guillotine. With help from the studio's major star, Maurice Costello
, the star of A Tale of Two Cities, Talmadge's acting improved and she continued to play everything from leads to extras, gaining experience and public exposure in a variety of characters—from a colored mammy to a clumsy waitress to a reckless young modern, she began attracting both public and critical notice. By 1913 she was Vitagraph's most promising young actress. That same year she was assigned to Van Dyke Brooke
's acting unit, and throughout 1913 and 1914 appeared in more films playing frequently with Antonio Moreno
as her leading man.
In 1915, Talmadge got her big break, starring in Vitagraph’s prestigious feature film The Battle Cry of Peace, an anti-German propagandist drama. But ambitious Peg saw that her daughter's potential could carry them further, and got a two-year contract with National Pictures Company for eight features and $400 per week. Talmadge's last film for Vitagraph was The Crown Prince's Double, and in the summer of 1915 she left Vitagraph. In the five years she had been with Vitagraph, she made over 250 films.
In August the Talmadges left for California
where Norma's first role was in Captivating Mary Carstairs. The whole enterprise was a fiasco; the sets and costumes were cheap and the studio itself lacked adequate backing. The film was a flop, and the small new studio shut down after the release of Mary Carstairs. The demise of National Pictures Company left the family stranded in California after only one picture. Deciding it was smarter to aim high, they went to the Triangle Film Corporation
, where D.W. Griffith was supervising productions. On the strength of The Battle Cry, Talmadge got a contract with Griffith's Fine Arts Company. For eight months, she starred in seven features for Triangle, including the comedy The Social Secretary (1916), a comedy written by Anita Loos
and directed by John Emerson, that gave her an opportunity to disguise her beauty as a girl trying to avoid the unwelcome attentions of her male employers.
and film producer Joseph M. Schenck, a wealthy exhibitor who wanted to produce his own films. Immediately taken by Talmadge both personally and professionally, Schenck proposed marriage and a production studio. Two months later on October 20, 1916 they were married. Talmadge called her much older husband, “Daddy.” He supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother.
In 1917, the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. Schenck vowed he would make his wife the greatest star of all, and one to be remembered always. The best stories, most opulent costumes, grandest sets, talented casts and distinguished directors, along with spectacular publicity, would be hers. Before long, women around the world wanted to be the romantic Norma Talmadge and flocked to her extravagant movies filmed on the East Coast
. Schenck soon had a stable of stars operating in his studio in New York, with the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation making dramas on the ground floor, the Constance Talmadge Film Corporation making sophisticated comedies on the second floor, and the Comic unit with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
on the top floor, with Natalie Talmadge acting as secretary and taking occasional small roles in her sisters' films. Arbuckle brought in his nephew Al St. John and vaudeville star Buster Keaton
. When Scheck decided it was financially advantageous to rent Arbuckle to Paramount Pictures
for feature films, Keaton took over the comedy unit and soon married Natalie, bringing him more thoroughly into the Talmadge family fold, at least for a time.
Talmadge’s first film for her studio, the now lost
Panthea, (1917) was directed by Allan Dwan
with assistants Erich von Stroheim
and Arthur Rossen. The film was a dramatic tour de force for her in a story set in Russia, of a woman who sacrifices herself to help her husband. The film was a hit, turning Talmadge into a sensation and established her as a first rate dramatic actress.
Talmadge’s acting ability improved rapidly during this period. She made between four and six films a year in New York between 1917 and 1921. Under Schenck's personal supervision other films followed, including Poppy (1917) in which, she was paired with Eugene O'Brien. The teaming was such a hit they made ten more films together, including The Moth, and The Secret of the Storm Country, a sequel to Tess of the Storm Country
(1914), starring Mary Pickford
. In 1918 she reteamed with Sidney Franklin
who directed The Safety Curtain, Her Only Way, Forbidden City, The Heart of Wetona, and 1919's The Probation Wife. These films have an intimate feel, with small-scale settings and familiar actors appearing from one film to the next; even Talmadge's personal jewelry and pets can be recognized. An advantage of the East Coast locale was access to the country's best high fashion designers, such as Madame Francis and Lucile
. Eventually, Talmadge began writing a regular monthly fashion advice column for Photoplay
magazine.
(1922) directed by Sidney Franklin
. One of the greatest screen romances of the silent film era, it was remade twice, in 1932 with Norma Shearer
and in 1941 with Jeanette MacDonald
. This would be the most popular film of her entire career.
After Smilin' Through, Schenck closed the New York studios and Norma and Constance moved to Hollywood to join Keaton and Natalie, who had preceded them. Talmadge's Hollywood films were different from her New York films. Bigger and glossier, they were fewer but more varied, often with period or exotic settings. She teamed with cinematographer Tony Gaudio and some of Hollywood's finest costume designers for a more glamorous image. She also worked with top-flight directors such as Frank Lloyd
, Clarence Brown
, and Frank Borzage
. Though her films were uneven, she did the finest work of her career during this period. With help from films directed by first husband Joseph M. Schenck, Talmadge became one of the most highly paid actresses of the 1920s.
In 1923, a poll of picture exhibitors named Norma Talmadge the number one box office star. She was earning $10,000 a week, and receiving as many as 3,000 letters weekly from her fans. Her film Secrets, (1924), directed by Frank Borzage marked the pinnacle of her career giving her best performance and receiving the best reviews. In 1924, Joseph Schenck had moved over to head United Artists
, but Talmadge still had a distribution contract with First National
. She continued to make successful films such as The Lady (1925) directed by Frank Borzage and the romantic comedy Kiki
(1926) directed by Clarence Brown, remade later by Mary Pickford as a sound film in 1931.
In 1927, Norma Talmadge started a famous Hollywood tradition when she accidentally stepped into wet concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.
(1926), a film adaptation of an Alexandre Dumas, fils
novel later remade by Greta Garbo
. During the filming of Camille, Talmadge fell in love with leading man Gilbert Roland
. She asked Schenck for a divorce, but he was not ready to grant it. Despite his personal feelings, he was not going to break up a moneymaking team, and continued casting Roland in Talmadge's next three films released by United Artists. Talmadge and Schenck separated, though he continued producing her films. He was now president of the prestigious but theater-poor United Artists Corporation, and the rest of Talmadge's films were released for that company. UA’s distribution problems, however, began to erode her popularity. Her first films for this studio, The Dove (1927) and The Woman Disputed (1928) were box-office failures and ended up being her last silent movies. (The latter film was shown before a highly appreciative audience at the 2010 San Francisco Silent Film Festival.)
By the time Woman Disputed (1928) was released, the talking film
revolution had begun, and Talmadge began taking voice lessons in preparation. She worked diligently with voice coaches for over a year so she could make her sound debut. Her first talkie, New York Nights (1929), showed that she could speak and act acceptably in talkies. While her performance was good, the film was not. Talmadge next took on the role of Madame Du Barry
in the 1930 film DuBarry, Woman of Passion. In spite of the elaborate sets by William Cameron Menzies
, incompetent direction and Talmadge's inexperience at a role requiring very demanding vocal acting, the film was a failure.
Talmadge's sister Constance sent her a telegram with this advice: "Quit pressing your luck, baby. The critics can't knock those trust funds Mama set up for us". As time passed, it was increasingly clear that the public was no longer interested in its old favorites, and Talmadge was seen as an icon of the past. Talmadge had been increasingly bored with filmmaking before the talkie challenge came along, and this setback seems to have discouraged her from further attempts.
She still had two more films on her United Artists contract. Samuel Goldwyn
announced he had bought The Greeks Had a Word for It for her in late 1930, and she reportedly did some stage rehearsals for it in New York, but within a few months, she asked to be released from her contract and she never again appeared on screen.
Some time before late 1932, Talmadge decided against marrying Gilbert Roland, as he was twelve years her junior and she feared he would eventually leave her. Mother Peg fell ill in 1931, and died in September 1933. In late 1932, Talmadge began seeing her ex-husband Joseph Schenck's poker friend, comedian George Jessel
. In April 1934, Schenck, from whom she had been separated for seven years, finally granted Talmadge her divorce and nine days later, she married George Jessel. Schenck continued to do what he could for Norma and her sisters, acting as a financial adviser and guiding her business affairs.
Talmadge's last professional works consisted of appearances on Jessel's radio program, which was sagging in its ratings. The program soon ended, and the marriage did not last; the couple divorced in 1939. Schenck's business acumen and her mother's watchful ambition for her daughters had resulted in a huge fortune for Talmadge, and she never wanted for money. Restless since the end of her filmmaking days, Talmadge traveled, often shuttling between her houses, entertaining, and visiting with her sisters. In 1946, she married Dr. Carvel James, a Beverly Hills physician.
and reportedly to be dependent on painkilling drugs, she moved to the warm climate of Las Vegas, Nevada
for her final years. In 1956, she was voted by her peers as one of the top five female stars of the pre-1925 era, but was too ill to travel to Rochester, New York
to accept her award.
After suffering a series of stroke
s in 1957, Talmadge died of pneumonia
on Christmas Eve
of that year. At the time of her death, her estate was valued at more than USD$1,000,000. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Norma Talmadge has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1500 Vine Street
. She is interred, along with Constance and Natalie in their own niche in the Abbey of the Psalms. The crypts are in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.
(1952), she is parodied as Lina Lamont... More malignantly, Billy Wilder used Norma Talmadge as the obvious if unacknowledged source of Norma Desmond, the grotesque, predatory silent movie queen of his 1950 film Sunset Boulevard
."
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. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.
Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through
Smilin' Through (1922 film)
Smilin' Through is a 1922 silent film based on the 1919 play of the same name, written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin . The film starred Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Wyndham Standing. It was co-written and directed by Sidney Franklin, who also directed the more famous 1932 remake at MGM...
(1922), but she also scored artistic triumphs teamed with director Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage was an American film director and actor.-Biography:Frank Borzage's father, Luigi Borzaga, was born in Ronzone, in 1859. As a stonemason, he sometimes worked in Switzerland; he met his future wife, Maria Ruegg , where she worked in a silk factory...
in Secrets
Secrets (1924 film)
Secrets is a silent film directed by Frank Borzage. The film is based upon a 1872 opera called Don César de Bazan and was remade in 1933 with Mary Pickford in the leading role. Although the film was never released on video or DVD, copies still exist.-Plot:The films opens in present. 75-year-old...
(1924) and The Lady
The Lady (1925 film)
The Lady is a 1925 American silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge and directed by Frank Borzage.Talmadge's own production company produced the film with distribution by First National Pictures....
(1925). Her younger sisters Constance Talmadge
Constance Talmadge
Constance Talmadge was a silent movie star born in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and was the sister of fellow actresses Norma Talmadge and Natalie Talmadge.-Early life:...
and Natalie Talmadge
Natalie Talmadge
Natalie Talmadge was an occasional silent film actress who was more well-known as the sister of her movie star siblings Norma and Constance Talmadge until her marriage to silent film actor and comedian Buster Keaton....
were also movie stars. Talmadge married millionaire and film producer Joseph Schenck
Joseph Schenck
Joseph Michael Schenck was a pioneer executive who played a key role in the development of the United States film industry.Born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia to a Jewish household, he and his family-including younger brother Nicholas- emigrated to New York City in 1893, he and Nicholas...
and they successfully created their own production company. After reaching fame in the film studios on the East Coast, she moved to Hollywood in 1922.
A specialist in melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, Talmadge was one of the most elegant and glamorous film stars of the roaring twenties
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
. By the end of the silent film period her popularity with audiences had waned. After her two talkies proved disappointing at the box office, she retired a very wealthy woman. She is little remembered, yet in her day she was hugely popular and the epitome of stardom.
Early life
According to the birth certificate http://www.stanford.edu/~gdegroat/NT/NormaTalmadgeBirthCertificate.jpg, Talmadge was born on May 2, 1894 in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, although it has been widely believed she was born in Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. After achieving stardom, she admitted that she and her mother provided the more scenic setting of Niagara Falls to fan magazines to be more romantic. Talmadge was the eldest daughter of Fred Talmadge, a chronic unemployed alcoholic, and Margaret "Peg" Talmadge, a witty and indomitable woman. Talmadge's childhood was marked by poverty. One Christmas morning Fred Talmadge left the house to buy food and never came back, leaving his wife to raise their three little daughters. Peg took in laundry, sold cosmetics, taught painting classes, and rented out rooms, raising her daughters in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
After telling her mother about a fellow classmate from Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education....
who modeled for popular, illustrated song
Illustrated songs
An illustrated song is a type of performance art and was a popular form of entertainment in the early 20th century in the United States.Live performers and music recordings were both used by different venues to accompany still images projected from glass slides...
slides (which were often shown before the feature in movie theaters so that the audience could sing along), Mrs. Talmadge decided to locate the photographer and arranged an interview for her daughter, who, after an initial rejection, was hired soon after. When they went to the theater to see her "debut", Peg resolved to get her into motion pictures. Mrs. Talmadge pushed all three of her daughters to become actresses, encouraging them relentlessly to make money and invest it, though none of the sisters were really interested in being movie stars.
Early films
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 Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, New York, just a streetcar ride from her home. They managed to get past the studio gates and in to see the casting director, who promptly threw them out. However, scenario editor Breta Breuil, attracted by Talmadge's beauty, arranged a small part for her as a young girl who is kissed under a photographer's cloth in The Household Pest (1909).
Thanks to Breuill's continued patronage, between 1911 and 1912, Talmadge played bit parts in over 100 films. She eventually earned a spot in the stock company at $25 per week and got a steady stream of work. Her first role as a contract actress was 1911's Neighboring Kingdom, with comedian John Bunny
John Bunny
John Bunny was an American actor and was one of the first comic stars of the motion picture era. Between 1910 and his death in 1915 Bunny was one of the top stars of early silent film, as well as an early example of celebrity...
. Her first real success came with the first original screen version of A Tale of Two Cities (1911), a three hour epic released in weekly one-reel segments in which she played the small role of Mimi, a seamstress who accompanies Sidney Carton to the guillotine. With help from the studio's major star, Maurice Costello
Maurice Costello
Maurice 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....
, the star of A Tale of Two Cities, Talmadge's acting improved and she continued to play everything from leads to extras, gaining experience and public exposure in a variety of characters—from a colored mammy to a clumsy waitress to a reckless young modern, she began attracting both public and critical notice. By 1913 she was Vitagraph's most promising young actress. That same year she was assigned to Van Dyke Brooke
Van Dyke Brooke
Van Dyke Brooke was an early American film director, whose works include The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln and Lights of New York .-External links:...
's acting unit, and throughout 1913 and 1914 appeared in more films playing frequently with Antonio Moreno
Antonio Moreno
Antonio "Tony" Moreno was a notable Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s.- Biography :...
as her leading man.
In 1915, Talmadge got her big break, starring in Vitagraph’s prestigious feature film The Battle Cry of Peace, an anti-German propagandist drama. But ambitious Peg saw that her daughter's potential could carry them further, and got a two-year contract with National Pictures Company for eight features and $400 per week. Talmadge's last film for Vitagraph was The Crown Prince's Double, and in the summer of 1915 she left Vitagraph. In the five years she had been with Vitagraph, she made over 250 films.
In August the Talmadges left for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where Norma's first role was in Captivating Mary Carstairs. The whole enterprise was a fiasco; the sets and costumes were cheap and the studio itself lacked adequate backing. The film was a flop, and the small new studio shut down after the release of Mary Carstairs. The demise of National Pictures Company left the family stranded in California after only one picture. Deciding it was smarter to aim high, they went to the Triangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in the summer of 1915 in Culver City, California, and envisioned as a prestige studio based on the producing abilities of filmmakers D. W. Griffith, Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett...
, where D.W. Griffith was supervising productions. On the strength of The Battle Cry, Talmadge got a contract with Griffith's Fine Arts Company. For eight months, she starred in seven features for Triangle, including the comedy The Social Secretary (1916), a comedy written by Anita Loos
Anita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
and directed by John Emerson, that gave her an opportunity to disguise her beauty as a girl trying to avoid the unwelcome attentions of her male employers.
Norma Talmadge Film Corporation
When the contract ran out the Talmadges returned to New York. At a party, Talmadge met BroadwayBroadway 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...
and film producer Joseph M. Schenck, a wealthy exhibitor who wanted to produce his own films. Immediately taken by Talmadge both personally and professionally, Schenck proposed marriage and a production studio. Two months later on October 20, 1916 they were married. Talmadge called her much older husband, “Daddy.” He supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother.
In 1917, the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. Schenck vowed he would make his wife the greatest star of all, and one to be remembered always. The best stories, most opulent costumes, grandest sets, talented casts and distinguished directors, along with spectacular publicity, would be hers. Before long, women around the world wanted to be the romantic Norma Talmadge and flocked to her extravagant movies filmed on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
. Schenck soon had a stable of stars operating in his studio in New York, with the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation making dramas on the ground floor, the Constance Talmadge Film Corporation making sophisticated comedies on the second floor, and the Comic unit with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Fatty Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. Starting at the Selig Polyscope Company he eventually moved to Keystone Studios where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd...
on the top floor, with Natalie Talmadge acting as secretary and taking occasional small roles in her sisters' films. Arbuckle brought in his nephew Al St. John and vaudeville star Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
. When Scheck decided it was financially advantageous to rent Arbuckle to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
for feature films, Keaton took over the comedy unit and soon married Natalie, bringing him more thoroughly into the Talmadge family fold, at least for a time.
Talmadge’s first film for her studio, the now lost
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
Panthea, (1917) was directed by Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...
with assistants Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born film star of the silent era, subsequently noted as an auteur for his directorial work.-Background:...
and Arthur Rossen. The film was a dramatic tour de force for her in a story set in Russia, of a woman who sacrifices herself to help her husband. The film was a hit, turning Talmadge into a sensation and established her as a first rate dramatic actress.
Talmadge’s acting ability improved rapidly during this period. She made between four and six films a year in New York between 1917 and 1921. Under Schenck's personal supervision other films followed, including Poppy (1917) in which, she was paired with Eugene O'Brien. The teaming was such a hit they made ten more films together, including The Moth, and The Secret of the Storm Country, a sequel to Tess of the Storm Country
Tess of the Storm Country (1914 film)
Tess of the Storm Country is a 1914 drama, based on the novel of the same name by Grace Miller White. It starred Mary Pickford, in a role she would reprise eight years later for the 1922 adaptation by John S...
(1914), starring 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...
. In 1918 she reteamed with Sidney Franklin
Sidney Franklin (director)
Sidney Franklin was an American film director and producer. His brother Chester Franklin also became a director during the silent film era best known for helming the early Technicolor film Toll of the Sea....
who directed The Safety Curtain, Her Only Way, Forbidden City, The Heart of Wetona, and 1919's The Probation Wife. These films have an intimate feel, with small-scale settings and familiar actors appearing from one film to the next; even Talmadge's personal jewelry and pets can be recognized. An advantage of the East Coast locale was access to the country's best high fashion designers, such as Madame Francis and Lucile
Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon
Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff Gordon was a leading fashion designer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, best known as "Lucile", her professional name. The first British designer to achieve international renown, Lucile was a widely-acknowledged innovator in couture styles as well as in fashion...
. Eventually, Talmadge began writing a regular monthly fashion advice column for Photoplay
Photoplay
Photoplay was one of the first American film fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded a similar magazine entitled Motion Picture Story...
magazine.
Hollywood films
Throughout the 1920s Talmadge continued to triumph in films such as 1920's Yes or No, The Branded Woman, Passion Flower (1921 The Sign on the Door (1921). The next year she had her biggest hit, Smilin' ThroughSmilin' Through (1922 film)
Smilin' Through is a 1922 silent film based on the 1919 play of the same name, written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin . The film starred Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Wyndham Standing. It was co-written and directed by Sidney Franklin, who also directed the more famous 1932 remake at MGM...
(1922) directed by Sidney Franklin
Sidney Franklin (director)
Sidney Franklin was an American film director and producer. His brother Chester Franklin also became a director during the silent film era best known for helming the early Technicolor film Toll of the Sea....
. One of the greatest screen romances of the silent film era, it was remade twice, in 1932 with Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
and in 1941 with Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
. This would be the most popular film of her entire career.
After Smilin' Through, Schenck closed the New York studios and Norma and Constance moved to Hollywood to join Keaton and Natalie, who had preceded them. Talmadge's Hollywood films were different from her New York films. Bigger and glossier, they were fewer but more varied, often with period or exotic settings. She teamed with cinematographer Tony Gaudio and some of Hollywood's finest costume designers for a more glamorous image. She also worked with top-flight directors such as Frank Lloyd
Frank Lloyd
Frank Lloyd was a film director, scriptwriter and producer...
, Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was 11. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of...
, and Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage was an American film director and actor.-Biography:Frank Borzage's father, Luigi Borzaga, was born in Ronzone, in 1859. As a stonemason, he sometimes worked in Switzerland; he met his future wife, Maria Ruegg , where she worked in a silk factory...
. Though her films were uneven, she did the finest work of her career during this period. With help from films directed by first husband Joseph M. Schenck, Talmadge became one of the most highly paid actresses of the 1920s.
In 1923, a poll of picture exhibitors named Norma Talmadge the number one box office star. She was earning $10,000 a week, and receiving as many as 3,000 letters weekly from her fans. Her film Secrets, (1924), directed by Frank Borzage marked the pinnacle of her career giving her best performance and receiving the best reviews. In 1924, Joseph Schenck had moved over to head United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, but Talmadge still had a distribution contract with First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
. She continued to make successful films such as The Lady (1925) directed by Frank Borzage and the romantic comedy Kiki
Kiki (1926 film)
Kiki is a 1926 silent comedy film directed by Clarence Brown. The film is based upon a 1920 novel of the same name by André Picard, which was later adapted by David Belasco and performed on Broadway to great success in 1921 by his muse Lenore Ulric....
(1926) directed by Clarence Brown, remade later by Mary Pickford as a sound film in 1931.
In 1927, Norma Talmadge started a famous Hollywood tradition when she accidentally stepped into wet concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.
Career decline
Talmadge's last film for First National was CamilleCamille (1926 film)
Camille is a silent film based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The film was adapted by Fred De Gresac, George Marion Jr., Olga Printzlau and Chandler Sprague, directed by Fred Niblo, and starred Norma Talmadge, Gilbert Roland, and Lilyan Tashman...
(1926), a film adaptation of an Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
novel later remade by Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
. During the filming of Camille, Talmadge fell in love with leading man Gilbert Roland
Gilbert Roland
Gilbert Roland was a Mexican-born American film actor.He was born Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and originally intended to become a bullfighter like his father. When the family moved to the United States, however, he became interested in acting when he was...
. She asked Schenck for a divorce, but he was not ready to grant it. Despite his personal feelings, he was not going to break up a moneymaking team, and continued casting Roland in Talmadge's next three films released by United Artists. Talmadge and Schenck separated, though he continued producing her films. He was now president of the prestigious but theater-poor United Artists Corporation, and the rest of Talmadge's films were released for that company. UA’s distribution problems, however, began to erode her popularity. Her first films for this studio, The Dove (1927) and The Woman Disputed (1928) were box-office failures and ended up being her last silent movies. (The latter film was shown before a highly appreciative audience at the 2010 San Francisco Silent Film Festival.)
By the time Woman Disputed (1928) was released, the talking film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
revolution had begun, and Talmadge began taking voice lessons in preparation. She worked diligently with voice coaches for over a year so she could make her sound debut. Her first talkie, New York Nights (1929), showed that she could speak and act acceptably in talkies. While her performance was good, the film was not. Talmadge next took on the role of Madame Du Barry
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
in the 1930 film DuBarry, Woman of Passion. In spite of the elaborate sets by William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies was an Academy Award-winning American film production designer and art director who also worked as a director, producer, and screenwriter during a career spanning five decades...
, incompetent direction and Talmadge's inexperience at a role requiring very demanding vocal acting, the film was a failure.
Talmadge's sister Constance sent her a telegram with this advice: "Quit pressing your luck, baby. The critics can't knock those trust funds Mama set up for us". As time passed, it was increasingly clear that the public was no longer interested in its old favorites, and Talmadge was seen as an icon of the past. Talmadge had been increasingly bored with filmmaking before the talkie challenge came along, and this setback seems to have discouraged her from further attempts.
She still had two more films on her United Artists contract. Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
announced he had bought The Greeks Had a Word for It for her in late 1930, and she reportedly did some stage rehearsals for it in New York, but within a few months, she asked to be released from her contract and she never again appeared on screen.
Retirement
Once leaving the movie world, Norma Talmadge rid herself of all the duties and responsibilities of stardom. She sweetly told eager fans who were pressing her for an autograph as she left a restaurant, "Get away, dears. I don't need you anymore and you dont need me."Some time before late 1932, Talmadge decided against marrying Gilbert Roland, as he was twelve years her junior and she feared he would eventually leave her. Mother Peg fell ill in 1931, and died in September 1933. In late 1932, Talmadge began seeing her ex-husband Joseph Schenck's poker friend, comedian George Jessel
George Jessel (actor)
George Albert Jessel was an American illustrated song "model," actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies...
. In April 1934, Schenck, from whom she had been separated for seven years, finally granted Talmadge her divorce and nine days later, she married George Jessel. Schenck continued to do what he could for Norma and her sisters, acting as a financial adviser and guiding her business affairs.
Talmadge's last professional works consisted of appearances on Jessel's radio program, which was sagging in its ratings. The program soon ended, and the marriage did not last; the couple divorced in 1939. Schenck's business acumen and her mother's watchful ambition for her daughters had resulted in a huge fortune for Talmadge, and she never wanted for money. Restless since the end of her filmmaking days, Talmadge traveled, often shuttling between her houses, entertaining, and visiting with her sisters. In 1946, she married Dr. Carvel James, a Beverly Hills physician.
Later years and death
In her later years, Talmadge, who had never been comfortable with the burdens of public celebrity, became reclusive. Increasingly crippled by painful arthritisArthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
and reportedly to be dependent on painkilling drugs, she moved to the warm climate of Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
for her final years. In 1956, she was voted by her peers as one of the top five female stars of the pre-1925 era, but was too ill to travel to Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
to accept her award.
After suffering a series of stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s in 1957, Talmadge died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
of that year. At the time of her death, her estate was valued at more than USD$1,000,000. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Norma Talmadge has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1500 Vine Street
Vine Street
Vine is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north-south from Melrose Avenue up past Hollywood Boulevard. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine was once a symbol of Hollywood itself...
. She is interred, along with Constance and Natalie in their own niche in the Abbey of the Psalms. The crypts are in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.
Film characters modeled on Talmadge
A New York Times article from March 14, 2010 says that Talmadge "is misremembered, having inspired two unfair caricatures that have lived on in a pair of popular films. In Singin' in the RainSingin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
(1952), she is parodied as Lina Lamont... More malignantly, Billy Wilder used Norma Talmadge as the obvious if unacknowledged source of Norma Desmond, the grotesque, predatory silent movie queen of his 1950 film Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
."
Selected filmography(feature films)
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | Captivating Mary Carstairs | Mary Carstairs | First feature film; Lost film |
| The Battle Cry of Peace | Virginia Vandergriff | Incomplete(George Eastman House-fragments, Cinemateket Svenska Filminstitutet-one reel) | |
| The Crown Prince's Double | Shirley Rives | Lost film | |
| 1916 | The Missing Links | Myra Holburn | Lost film |
| Martha's Vindication | Martha | Lost film | |
| The Children in the House | Cora | Incomplete(George Eastman House-3 reels out of 5, UCLA Film & Television Archives) | |
| Going Straight Going Straight (film) Going Straight is a 1916 silent film directed by Chester M. Franklin and Sidney Franklin. The film is one of the few of Norma Talmadge's to still exist.... |
Grace Remington | Extant(George Eastman House, National Film & Television Museum/London) | |
| The Devil's Needle | Renee | Extant(Library of Congress-1923 reissue) | |
| The Social Secretary | Mayme | Extant(Library of Congress-incomplete, George Eastman House, National Film & Television Museum/London, Cinemateca Modern Art Museum/Rio de Janeiro, UCLA Film & Television Archive, Blackhawk Films) | |
| Fifty-Fifty | Naomi | Extant(George Eastman House, Finnish Film Archive) | |
| 1917 | Panthea | Panthea Romoff | First film for Norma Talmadge Film Corporation Producer; Lost film |
| The Law of Compensation | Flora Graham/Ruth Graham | Extant(Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art) | |
| Poppy | Poppy Destinn | Abridged version(Library of Congress) | |
| The Moth | Lucy Gillam | Incomplete(Library of Congress) | |
| The Secret of the Storm Country The Secret of the Storm Country The Secret of the Storm Country is a 1917 silent film directed by Charles Miller. The movie is a sequel to Tess of the Storm Country , starring Mary Pickford. The film is believed to be lost.... |
Tess Skinner | Lost film | |
| 1918 | The Ghosts of Yesterday | Ruth Graham/Jeanne La Fleur | Incomplete(Library of Congress; reels 1-4 & some feet of reel 6) |
| By Right of Purchase By Right of Purchase By Right of Purchase is a 1918 silent feature film drama starring Norma Talmadge in a story produced by her husband Joseph Schenck. The film was distributed by Lewis J. Selznick's Select Pictures Company. An up and coming actress and soon to be gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper, has a small role in... |
Margot Hughes | Extant(Library of Congress; missing reel 6) | |
| De Luxe Annie | Julie Kendal (De Luxe Annie II) | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| The Safety Curtain | Puck | Extant(Nederlands Filmmuseum, UCLA) | |
| Her Only Way | Lucille Westbrook | Lost film | |
| The Forbidden City The Forbidden City The Forbidden City is a film released in 1918 starring Norma Talmadge and Thomas Meighan and directed by Sidney Franklin. The plot centers around an inter-racial romance between a Chinese princess and an American . When palace officials discover she has become pregnant she is sentenced to death... |
San San/Toy | Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| 1919 | The Heart of Wetona | Wetona | Extant(Library of Congress, George Eastman, Cinema Museum/London, UCLA) |
| The New Moon | Princess Marie Pavlovna | Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| The Probation Wife | Josephine Mowbray | Producer; Incomplete(Library of Congress, George Eastman, | |
| Dust of Desire | - | Cameo appearance Cameo appearance A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television... |
|
| The Way of a Woman | Nancy Lee | Incomplete(negative, National Film & Television Archive London) | |
| The Isle of Conquest The Isle of Conquest The Isle of Conquest is a silent film drama starring Norma Talmadge and produced by Talmadge and her husband Joseph Schenck. This film is now considered a lost film.-Cast:*Norma Talmadge - Ethel Harmon*Wyndham Standing - John Arnold... |
Ethel Harmon | Producer; Lost film | |
| 1920 | She Loves and Lies | Marie Callender, aka Marie Max and June Dayne | Incomplete(Library of Congress) |
| A Daughter of Two Worlds | Jennie Malone | Extant(Library of Congress, George Eastman House) | |
| The Woman Gives | Inga Sonderson | Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| Yes or No | Margaret Vane/Minnie Berry | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| The Branded Woman The Branded Woman The Branded Woman is a 1920 silent film drama released by First National Pictures. It starred Norma Talmadge who also produced along with her husband Joseph Schenck through their production company Norma Talmadge Productions. The film is based on a 1917 Broadway play called Branded by Oliver D.... |
Ruth Sawyer | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| 1921 | Passion Flower | Acacia, The Passion Flower | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) |
| The Sign on the Door The Sign on the Door The Sign on the Door is a silent film, starring Norma Talmadge and Lew Cody, directed and written by Herbert Brenon, and based upon the play by Channing Pollock. The film was remade as The Locked Door , starring Barbara Stanwyck. -Cast:... |
Ann Hunniwell/Mrs. 'Lafe' Regan | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| The Wonderful Thing | Jacqueline Laurentine Boggs | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| Love's Redemption | Jennie Dobson (aka Ginger) | Producer; Lost film | |
| 1922 | Smilin' Through Smilin' Through (1922 film) Smilin' Through is a 1922 silent film based on the 1919 play of the same name, written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin . The film starred Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Wyndham Standing. It was co-written and directed by Sidney Franklin, who also directed the more famous 1932 remake at MGM... |
Kathleen/Moonyeen | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress, Nederlands Filmmuseum) |
| The Eternal Flame | Duchesse de Langeais | Producer; Incomplete(Library of Congress reels 1-2, 4-7) | |
| 1923 | The Voice from the Minaret | Lady Adrienne Carlyle | Producer; Lost film |
| Within the Law Within the Law (1923 film) Within the Law is a 1923 silent film drama directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Norma Talmadge. In 2009 the film was released on DVD along with Talmadge's 1926 film Kiki... |
Mary Turner | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress, unconfirmed-Gosfilmofond Moscow) | |
| Ashes of Vengeance Ashes of Vengeance Ashes of Vengeance is a 1923 movie by Frank Lloyd, starring Norma Talmadge and Wallace Beery. This film survives at the Library of Congress and at the George Eastman House, Rochester New York.-Cast:*Norma Talmadge - Yolande de Breux... |
Yolande de Breux | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress, George Eastman House) | |
| The Song of Love | Noorma-hal | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress, Czech Film Archive) | |
| 1924 1924 in film -Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer... |
Secrets Secrets (1924 film) Secrets is a silent film directed by Frank Borzage. The film is based upon a 1872 opera called Don César de Bazan and was remade in 1933 with Mary Pickford in the leading role. Although the film was never released on video or DVD, copies still exist.-Plot:The films opens in present. 75-year-old... |
Mary Carlton | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, Cinematheque Royale Brussels, Gosfilmofond-unconfirmed, UCLA-unconfirmed) |
| The Only Woman | Helen Brinsley | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) | |
| 1925 1925 in film -Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :... |
The Lady The Lady (1925 film) The Lady is a 1925 American silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge and directed by Frank Borzage.Talmadge's own production company produced the film with distribution by First National Pictures.... |
Polly Pearl | Producer; Incomplete(Library of Congress, reels 1 and 3-8) |
| Graustark | Princess Yetive | Producer; Incomplete(Library of Congress reels 2 & 4-7) | |
| 1926 | Kiki Kiki (1926 film) Kiki is a 1926 silent comedy film directed by Clarence Brown. The film is based upon a 1920 novel of the same name by André Picard, which was later adapted by David Belasco and performed on Broadway to great success in 1921 by his muse Lenore Ulric.... |
Kiki | Producer; Extant(comprising prints from Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, Czech Film Archive & UCLA Film & Television Archive) |
| Camille Camille (1926 film) Camille is a silent film based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The film was adapted by Fred De Gresac, George Marion Jr., Olga Printzlau and Chandler Sprague, directed by Fred Niblo, and starred Norma Talmadge, Gilbert Roland, and Lilyan Tashman... |
Marguerite Gautier (Camille) | Producer; Incomplete(Douris Corporation) | |
| 1927 | The Dove | Dolores | Producer ; Incomplete(Library of Congress, Cinemateket-Svenska Filminstitutet, Douris Corporation) |
| 1928 | The Woman Disputed | Mary Ann Wagner | Producer; Extant(Library of Congress) |
| 1929 | New York Nights New York Nights New York Nights is a 1929 crime film directed by Lewis Milestone. It is based on the 1928 play Tin Pan Alley by Hugh Stanislaus Stange. The film is known for being leading actress Norma Talmadge's first sound film.-Plot:... |
Jill Deverne | Producer; Incomplete(Library of Congress, George Eastman House) |
| 1930 | Du Barry, Woman of Passion Du Barry, Woman of Passion Du Barry, Woman of Passion is a 1930 talking film drama starring Norma Talmadge, produced by her husband Joseph Schenck, released through United Artists, and based on a 1901 stage play Du Barry written and produced by David Belasco and starring Mrs. Leslie Carter.This film is the second talking... |
Madame Du Barry Madame du Barry Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:... |
Extant(Library of Congress, ?others) |