Marie Osborne Yeats (born Helen Alice Myres; November 5, 1911 – November 11, 2010), credited as Baby Marie between 1914 and 1919, was the first major
child star of American
silent films
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, whe ...
. She was one of the three major American child stars of the Hollywood silent film era along with
Jackie Coogan
John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child actor in silent films.
Charlie Chaplin's film classic ''The Kid'' (1921) made him one of the first child stars in the ...
and
Diana Serra Cary
Diana Serra Cary (born Peggy-Jean Montgomery; October 29, 1918 – February 24, 2020), known as Baby Peggy, was an American child film actress, vaudevillian, author and silent film historian. She was the last living person with a substantial car ...
. As an adult, from 1934 until 1950, and now billed as Marie Osborne, she continued in film productions, although she appeared only in uncredited roles. In the 1950s, after retiring from the acting profession, she carved out a second career as a costume designer for
Hollywood film
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
.
[Obituary, ''L.A. Times'', November 18, 2010, pg. AA6.]
Biography
Early life and child star
![The Voice of Destiny](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/The_Voice_of_Destiny.jpg)
Osborne was born as Helen Alice Myres in
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, the daughter of Roy and Mary Myres. She soon became — under mysterious circumstances — the child of Leon and Edith Osborn, who called her Marie and added the "e" to the surname, apparently to obscure the adoption. Her foster parents, the Osbornes, introduced their daughter to silent films when they left Colorado to work at
Balboa Studios in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. Osborne made her debut credited as Baby Osbourne in 1914's short drama film ''
Kidnapped in New York''.
Osborne signed to a lucrative contract with Balboa Films (and working with director
Henry King and writer
Clara Beranger
Clara Beranger (' Strouse; January 14, 1886 – September 10, 1956) was an American screenwriter of the silent film era and a member of the original faculty of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Biography
Beranger was born Clara Strouse in Balti ...
), by the age of five she was starring in silent films, including her best-remembered movie,
''Little Mary Sunshine'', from 1916, one of her few films which still survive on celluloid. Some of her other films are ''Maid of the Wild'' (1915), ''Sunshine and Gold'' (1917), ''What Baby Forgot'' (1917), ''Daddy's Girl'' (1918), ''The Locked Heart'' (1918), ''Winning Grandma'' (1918), ''The Sawdust Doll'' (1919), and ''Daddy Number Two'' (1919).
At the age of eight, she completed her final film as a child star, ''Miss Gingersnap'' in 1919. In all, she was featured or starred in 29 films in a six-year period. Most of her films were produced at Diando Studios, the former
Kalem Movie Studio in
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
.
Later films
As an adult, she returned to motion pictures 15 years later in 1934 – at the request of director Henry King – to appear in his film ''
Carolina
Carolina may refer to:
Geography
* The Carolinas, the U.S. states of North and South Carolina
** North Carolina, a U.S. state
** South Carolina, a U.S. state
* Province of Carolina, a British province until 1712
* Carolina, Alabama, a town in ...
'', starring
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress.
Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (later ...
and
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
. This movie also featured future child star
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...
in a minor role. Over the next 16 years, Osborne worked as a
film extra, also serving as a
stand-in
A stand-in for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting and camera setup.
Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of film and television production.
Stand-ins a ...
for actresses such as
Ginger Rogers,
Deanna Durbin, and
Betty Hutton. After appearing in more than a dozen films, she made her last on-screen appearance in ''Bunco Squad'' (1950), starring
Robert Sterling and
Joan Dixon
Joan Dixon (June 6, 1930 in Norfolk, Virginia – February 20, 1992 in Los Angeles) was an American film and television actress in the 1950s. She is known for her role in the film noir ''Roadblock'' (1951).
Career
Dixon appeared in ten fil ...
.
Costumer
In the 1950s, she started a new career as a costumer for
Western Costume
Western Costume is a costume warehouse in Hollywood, California which supplies costumes and costuming supplies to the film and TV industry. One of the oldest businesses in the industry, the company outdates any studio or production company curren ...
, a clothing supplier for the motion picture industry. Osborne worked on the wardrobes for such films as ''
Around the World in 80 Days'' (1956), ''
How to Murder Your Wife
''How to Murder Your Wife'' is a 1965 American black comedy film from United Artists, produced by George Axelrod, directed by Richard Quine, that stars Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi. Quine also directed Lemmon in ''My Sister Eileen'', ''It Happened ...
'' (1965), ''
The Godfather: Part II'' (1974), and ''
Harry and Walter Go to New York
''Harry and Walter Go to New York'' is a 1976 American period comedy film written by John Byrum and Robert Kaufman, directed by Mark Rydell, and starring James Caan, Elliott Gould, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, Charles Durning and Lesley Ann Warre ...
'' (1976). In 1963, Osborne worked as a special costumer for
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
in the big-budget film, ''
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
''. Osborne retired in 1977, and moved to
San Clemente, California
San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway betwee ...
.
Personal life
Osborne married Frank J. Dempsey on May 2, 1931. Dempsey was the father of Osborne's only child, Joan (born May 13, 1932). They divorced in 1937. Osborne married 36-year-old actor Murray F. Yeats on June 14, 1945, and moved to
Sepulveda, California
North Hills, known previously as Sepulveda, is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
North Hills was originally part of an agricultural community known as Mission Acres. After WWII, the newly-developed s ...
. They remained married until his death on January 27, 1975.
Osborne died on November 11, 2010, in
San Clemente, California
San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway betwee ...
, six days after her 99th birthday, from
natural causes
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...
. She was interred at Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery. She was survived by her daughter, Joan, and five grandchildren.
Obituary in the ''New York Times'', ibid.
/ref>
References
Further reading
*''Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio'';
External links
*
*
Literature on Baby Marie Osborne
2005 biography of Baby Marie Osborne
Marie Osborne Yeats at Find A Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Baby Marie
1911 births
2010 deaths
Actresses from Denver
American child actresses
American silent film actresses
American costume designers
Actresses from Los Angeles
People from San Clemente, California
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American women