| Pauline Frederick | |
| Birth Name: | Pauline Beatrice Libbey |
| Birth Date: | August 12, 1883 |
| Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 1902 - 1937 |
| Spouse: | |
| Signature: | Pauline Frederick Signature - Jun 1918 FF.jpg |
Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress.
Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources state 1884 or 1885),[1] the only child of Richard O. and Loretta C. Libbey. Her father worked as a yardmaster for the Old Colony Railroad before becoming a salesman. Her parents separated when she was a toddler and Frederick was raised primarily by her mother to whom she remained close for the remainder of her life (her parents divorced around 1897). As a girl, she was fascinated with show business, and determined early to place her goals in the direction of the theater. She studied acting, singing and dancing at Miss Blanchard's Finishing School in Boston where she later graduated.[2] [3]
Her father, however, discouraged her ambitions to be an actress and encouraged her to become an elocution teacher. After pursuing a career as an actress, her father disinherited her (he died in 1922). Due to her father's attitude towards her acting career, Pauline adopted the surname "Frederick" as her stage name.[4] She legally changed her name to Pauline Frederick in 1908.
She made her stage debut at the age of 17 as a chorus girl in the farce The Rogers Brothers at Harvard, but was fired shortly thereafter.[5] She won other small roles on the stage before being discovered by illustrator Harrison Fisher who called her "the purest American beauty." With Fisher's help, she landed more substantial stage roles. Nicknamed "The Girl with the Topaz Eyes", Frederick was cast in the lead roles in the touring productions of The Little Gray Lady and The Girl in White in 1906. She briefly retired from acting after her first marriage in 1909, but returned to the stage in January 1913 in Joseph and His Brethren.
A well-known stage star, Frederick was already in her 30s when she made her film debut in 1915 as Donna Roma in The Eternal City.[6] In March 1927, she received some of her better reviews when she appeared in the play Madame X in London. Frederick was able to make a successful transition to "talkies" in 1929, and was cast as Joan Crawford's mother in This Modern Age (1931). Frederick did not like acting in sound films and returned to Broadway in 1932 in When the Bough Breaks. She would continue the remainder of her career appearing in films and also touring in stage productions in the United States, Europe and Australia.
Frederick's personal life was beset with marital and financial problems. Despite having reportedly made $1 million for her work in silent films, Frederick filed for bankruptcy in 1933.
Frederick was married five times. In 1909, she married architect Frank Mills Andrews. Frederick then briefly retired from acting after their daughter Pauline was born in 1910, but returned upon divorcing Andrews in 1913. She married her second husband, playwright Willard Mack, on September 27, 1917.[7] They divorced in August 1920.[8] Her third husband was Dr. Charles A. Rutherford, a physician, whom she married in Santa Ana, California in 1922. Frederick filed for divorce in December 1924.[9] [10] Their divorce was finalized on January 6, 1925.[11]
It was around this time that the then 43-year-old first met the much younger Clark Gable, then a struggling actor, with whom she allegedly had a two-year affair.[12] [13]
Frederick married her fourth husband, millionaire hotel and Interstate News Company owner Hugh Chisholm Leighton on April 20, 1930, in New York City.[14] [15] [16] Leighton had the marriage annulled in December 1930, claiming that he was Frederick's husband "in name only".[17]
Frederick's fifth marriage, in January 1934, was to an ailing United States Army colonel, Joseph A. Marmon, commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment.[18] They remained married until Marmon's death on December 4, 1934.[19]
On January 17, 1936, Frederick underwent emergency surgery on her abdomen.[20] Her health steadily declined, which limited her ability to work.[21] She was dealt another blow when her mother died in 1937.
On September 16, 1938, Frederick suffered an asthma attack. She suffered a second, fatal asthma attack on September 19, 1938, while she was recuperating at her aunt's home in Beverly Hills.[22] According to her wishes, a private funeral was held on September 23, 1938, in Hollywood,[23] after which she was buried at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[24]
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Pauline Frederick has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.[25]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | The Eternal City | Donna Roma | Lost film |
| Sold | Helen | Lost film | |
| Zaza | ZaZa | Lost film | |
| Bella Donna | Bella Donna (Ruby Chepstow) | Lost film | |
| Lydia Gilmore | Lydia Gilmore | Lost film | |
| 1916 | The Spider | Valerie St. Cyr/Joan Marche | Lost film |
| Audrey | Audrey | Lost film | |
| The Moment Before | Madge | A 35mm nitrate copy of the film is housed at the Cineteca Nazionale film archive in Rome.[26] The print is missing one sequence described as "the opening scene before the flashback."[27] | |
| The World's Great Snare | Myra | Lost film | |
| The Woman in the Case | Margaret Rolfe | Incomplete, with its final reel missing | |
| Ashes of Embers | Laura Ward/Agnes Ward | Lost film | |
| Nanette of the Wilds | Nanette Gauntier | Lost film | |
| 1917 | The Slave Market | Ramona | Lost film |
| Sapho | Sapho, aka Fanny Lagrand | Lost film | |
| Sleeping Fires | Zelma Bryce | Lost film | |
| Her Better Self | Vivian Tyler | Lost film | |
| The Love That Lives | Molly McGill | ||
| Double Crossed | Eleanor Stratton | Lost film | |
| The Hungry Heart | Courtney Vaughan | Lost film | |
| 1918 | Mrs. Dane's Defense | Felicia Hindemarsh | Lost film |
| Madame Jealousy | Madame Jealousy | Lost film | |
| La Tosca | Floria Tosca | Lost film | |
| Resurrection | Katusha | Lost film | |
| Her Final Reckoning | Marsa | Lost film | |
| Fedora | Princess Fedora | Lost film | |
| Stake Uncle Sam to Play Your Hand | Miss Liberty Loan | Lost film Short subject | |
| A Daughter of the Old South | Dolores Jardine | Lost film | |
| 1919 | Out of the Shadow | Ruth Minchin | Lost film |
| The Woman on the Index | Sylvia Martin | Lost film | |
| Paid in Full | Emma Brooks | Lost film Final Famous Players–Lasky / Paramount feature | |
| One Week of Life | Mrs. Sherwood & Marion Roche | Lost film | |
| The Fear Woman | Helen Winthrop | Lost film | |
| The Peace of Roaring River | Madge Nelson | Lost film | |
| Bonds of Love | Una Sayre | Lost film | |
| The Loves of Letty | Letty Shell | Incomplete | |
| 1920 | The Paliser Case | Cassy Cara | Lost film |
| The Woman in Room 13 | Laura Bruce | Lost film | |
| Madame X | Jacqueline Floriot | ||
| A Slave of Vanity | Iris Bellamy | Lost film First Robertson-Cole release | |
| 1921 | The Mistress of Shenstone | Lady Myra Ingleby | Incomplete version survives |
| Roads of Destiny | Dolly Jordan Lennon | Lost film Final Goldwyn Pictures release | |
| Salvage | Bernice Ridgeway/Kate Martin | Lost film | |
| The Sting of the Lash | Dorothy Keith | Lost film | |
| The Lure of Jade | Sara Vincent | Lost film | |
| 1922 | The Woman Breed | ||
| Two Kinds of Women | Judith Sanford | Lost film | |
| The Glory of Clementina | Clementina Wing | Lost film | |
| 1924 | Let Not Man Put Asunder | Petrina Faneuil | Lost film |
| Married Flirts | Nellie Wayne | Lost film | |
| Three Women | Mrs. Mabel Wilton | ||
| 1925 | Smouldering Fires | Jane Vale | |
| 1926 | Her Honor, the Governor | Adele Fenway | |
| Devil's Island | Jeannette Picto | ||
| Josselyn's Wife | Lillian Josselyn | Lost film | |
| 1927 | Mumsie | Mumsie | Lost film |
| The Nest | Mrs. Hamilton | ||
| 1928 | On Trial | Joan Trask | Lost film |
| 1929 | Evidence | Myra Stanhope | Lost film |
| The Sacred Flame | Mrs. Taylor - the Mother | Lost film | |
| 1930 | Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1 | Die Zofe | Episode: "Was Ziehe ich an, Bevor ich mich anziehe" |
| 1931 | This Modern Age | Diane "Di" Winters | |
| 1932 | Wayward | Mrs. Eleanor Frost | |
| The Phantom of Crestwood | Faith Andes | ||
| Self Defense | Katy Devoux | ||
| 1934 | Social Register | Mrs. Breene | |
| 1935 | My Marriage | Mrs. DeWitt Tyler II | |
| 1936 | Ramona | Señora Moreno | |
| 1937 | Thank You, Mr. Moto | Madame Chung | |