Fay Elinora Lanphier (December 12, 1905 – June 21, 1959) was an American model and actress most noted for winning the title of Miss Santa Cruz in 1924 and then
Miss California
The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition.
The pageant began in Santa Cruz in 1924 and was held there in 1925. During the years 1926 through 1946 in years when the Mi ...
and
Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
in 1925.
Early life
Lanphier was born in
El Dorado, California
El Dorado (Spanish for "The Golden") is an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California. It is located southwest of Placerville, at an elevation of 1608 feet (490 m). The population was 4,096 at the 2000 census. The town is regis ...
, the eldest child of six born to Percival Caspar Lanphier and Emily Elenora Olson.
Her family later moved to
Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda (island), Alam ...
.
Lanphier's father died before she was a teenager.
She graduated from
Oakland High School in 1924 and was saving money to go to business college.
In December 1924, Lanphier signed a contract with Max Graf to star in a series of shorts produced on the San Francisco Peninsula.
Career
Pageantry
She was the 1925
Rose Queen. To date, she is the only person to hold both titles at the same time. She is also the first Miss California to become Miss America.
Before she was Miss California, she was Miss Santa Cruz 1924. Lanphier won Miss America in 1925 on a vote of 12–3.
Film career
Lanphier appeared in the
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
film ''
The American Venus
''The American Venus'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle, and starring Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Lawrence Gray, Fay Lanphier, Louise Brooks, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The film was based on an original story b ...
'' (1926) which featured a beauty contest, and co-starred
Louise Brooks
Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helpe ...
, and performed for a short time on stage in San Francisco with the Henry Duffy Players.
Personal life
On June 8, 1928, Lanphier married Sidney M. Spiegel, son of
Joseph Spiegel
Joseph Spiegel (1840–1918) was the founder of the Spiegel catalog, a Civil War veteran, the younger brother of Union Army Colonel Marcus M. Spiegel, and patriarch of the Spiegel family.
Biography
Spiegel was born to a Jewish family, the son o ...
, in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. They divorced after six months of marriage.
In 1931, she married high-school sweetheart Winfield Daniels, with whom she had two daughters. They remained married until her death in 1959.
Later years and death
After her second marriage, Lanphier largely retired from public life and became a housewife and mother.
She lived in the
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
suburb of
Orinda until her death from
hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...
and
viral pneumonia
Viral pneumonia is a pneumonia caused by a virus. Pneumonia is an infection that causes inflammation in one or both of the lungs. The pulmonary alveoli fill with fluid or pus making it difficult to breathe. Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, vir ...
at age 53 on June 21, 1959.
On June 24, 1959, Lanphier was interred at the Outdoor Mausoleum at the
Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.
References
External links
*
Biography1920 Census
1905 births
1959 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from Oakland, California
American silent film actresses
American stage actresses
Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)
Deaths from hepatitis
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Miss America 1920s delegates
Miss America winners
Female models from California
People from El Dorado County, California
People from Orinda, California
Spiegel family
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