Helen Jerome Eddy (February 25, 1897 – January 27, 1990) was a
motion picture actress from New York City. She was noted as a
character actress
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to be ...
who played genteel heroines in films such as ''
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy ...
'' (1917).
Early years
Eddy was born in New York City on February 25, 1897,
and was raised in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. As a youth, she acted in productions put on by the
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California, United States. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engage ...
. She became interested in films through the studio of
Siegmund Lubin
Siegmund Lubin (born Zygmunt Lubszyński, April 20, 1851 – September 11, 1923) was an American motion picture pioneer who founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (1902–1917) of Philadelphia.
Biography
Siegmund Lubin was born as Zygmunt Lu ...
, which was based in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. In her youth they opened a
backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction.
Uses
Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...
in her Los Angeles neighborhood.
Career
![Helen Jerome Eddy, in](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Helen_Jerome_Eddy%2C_in_%22The_Flirt%22_%28Mar_1923%29.png)
Lubin's studio rejected a scenario that Eddy wrote at age 17, "but decided to capitalize on her face",
using her in
roles in "lurid melodramas".
Eddy's first movie was ''The Discontented Man'' (1915). Soon after, she left Lubin and joined
Paramount Pictures. At this time she began to play the roles for which she is best remembered. Other films in which the actress participated include ''The March Hare'' (1921), ''
The Dark Angel'', ''
Camille'', ''
Quality Street'', ''
The Divine Lady
''The Divine Lady'' is a 1929 American pre-Code Vitaphone sound film with a synchronized musical score, sound effects, and some synchronized singing, but no spoken dialogue. It stars Corinne Griffith and tells the story of the love affair betwe ...
'' (1929) and the first ''
Our Gang'' talkie ''
Small Talk
Small talk is an informal type of discourse that does not cover any functional topics of conversation or any transactions that need to be addressed. In essence, it is polite and standard conversation about unimportant things.
The phenomenon ...
'' (1929).
She made ''
Girls Demand Excitement
''Girls Demand Excitement'' is a 1931 film starring Virginia Cherrill, John Wayne, and Marguerite Churchill. Wayne and Churchill had starred in the widescreen Western epic ''The Big Trail'' the previous year. The movie was written by Harlan Th ...
'' in 1931 and her final film, ''
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
'', in 1947.
[ Even as a seasoned performer in the late 1920s it was remarked that Eddy looked "astonishingly young in appearance to have been in pictures for so many years".
Eddy thrived on playing varied characters and said, "Italian women, French, Turkish, girls of the Bowery, kitchenmaids — they're all in the day's work".]
Dissatisfaction with her salary led Eddy to retire from her film career.
Later years and death
After she retired from films, Eddy worked in real estate in Pasadena. She acted in some local productions, including playing religious characters in plays at the Pilgrimage Theater in Hollywood Hills.
Eddy died of heart failure on January 27, 1990, at the Episcopal Home in Alhambra, California
Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11 ...
, at the age of 92.
Partial filmography
* ''The Gentleman from Indiana
''The Gentleman from Indiana'' is a surviving 1915 American silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and written by Julia Crawford Ivers and Frank Lloyd after the novel by Booth Tarkington. The film stars Dustin Farnum, Winifred Kingston, Herbe ...
'' (1915)
* ''Madame la Presidente
''Madame la Presidente'' is a surviving 1916 silent film comedy produced by Oliver Morosco and directed by Frank Lloyd. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and stars Broadway legend and musical comedy star Anna Held in what would be her fin ...
'' (1916)
* ''The Tongues of Men
''The Tongues of Men'' is a 1916 silent film drama produced by the Oliver Morosco Company and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Frank Lloyd directed and English stage actress Constance Collier stars in her debut film. The story is based on a 191 ...
'' (1916)
* ''The Code of Marcia Gray
''The Code of Marcia Gray'' is a 1916 silent romantic crime drama produced by Oliver Morosco, distributed through Paramount Pictures and directed by Frank Lloyd.
Cast
* Constance Collier as Marcia Gray
*Harry De Vere as Harry Gray
*Forrest Stanl ...
'' (1916)
* '' Pasquale'' (1916)
* ''Her Father's Son
''Her Father's Son'' is a 1916 American silent comedy film directed by William Desmond Taylor and written by Anna Fielder Brand and L. V. Jefferson. The film stars Vivian Martin, Gayne Whitman, Herbert Standing, Helen Jerome Eddy, Joe Mass ...
'' (1916)
* '' Redeeming Love'' (1916)
* '' His Sweetheart'' (1917)
* '' The Wax Model'' (1917)
* '' As Men Love'' (1917)
* ''The Marcellini Millions
''The Marcellini Millions'' is a 1917 American drama silent film directed by Donald Crisp and written by George Beban and Edith M. Kennedy. The film stars George Beban, Helen Jerome Eddy, Pietro Sosso, Henry Woodward, Fred Huntley and Mae Gaston ...
'' (1917)
* ''The Cook of Canyon Camp
''The Cook of Canyon Camp'' is a lost film, lost 1917 American Drama film, drama silent film directed by Donald Crisp and written by Donald Crisp and Julia Crawford Ivers. The film stars George Beban, Monroe Salisbury, Florence Vidor, Helen Jerom ...
'' (1917)
* ''Lost in Transit
''Lost in Transit'' (original title: ''Tombés du ciel''; literally "Fallen from the Sky") is a 1993 French comedy-drama film directed by Philippe Lioret. The film is about a man who loses his passport and spends a couple of days at a Paris airp ...
'' (1917)
* ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy ...
'' (1917)
* ''The Fair Barbarian
''The Fair Barbarian'' is a 1917 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Thornby and written by Edith M. Kennedy, based on an 1881 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Vivian Martin, Clarence Geldart, Douglas MacLean, Jane Wol ...
'' (1917)
* ''Jules of the Strong Heart
''Jules of the Strong Heart'' is a lost 1918 American silent drama film directed by Donald Crisp and written by William Merriam Rouse, Frank X. Finnegan' and Harvey F. Thew. The film stars George Beban, Helen Jerome Eddy, Charles Ogle, Raymond Ha ...
'' (1918)
* ''The Spirit of '17
''The Spirit of '17'' is a lost 1918 American silent drama film directed by William Desmond Taylor and written by Judge Willis Brown and Julia Crawford Ivers. The film stars Jack Pickford, Clarence Geldart, Edythe Chapman, L.N. Wells, Charles Arl ...
'' (1918)
* '' One More American'' (1918)
* '' Winner Takes All'' (1918)
* ''Old Wives for New
''Old Wives for New'' is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Prints of the film survive at the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House.
Plot
As described in a film magazine, disgusted by ...
'' (1918)
* ''Breakers Ahead
''Breakers Ahead'' is a 1918 American silent drama film, directed by Charles Brabin. It stars Viola Dana, Clifford Bruce, and Mabel Van Buren, and was released on March 25, 1918.
Plot
Agnes Bowman is the sweetheart of Captain Scudder, a local s ...
'' (1918)
* ''The Trembling Hour
''The Trembling Hour'' is a 1919 American silent mystery film directed by George Siegmann and starring Helen Jerome Eddy, Kenneth Harlan and Henry A. Barrows.Codori p.233
Cast
* Helen Jerome Eddy as Margy Webb
* Kenneth Harlan as Major Ralph Du ...
'' (1919)
* ''The Turn in the Road
The Turn in the Road is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor. His first feature film, the production was financed by the Brentwood Film Corporation and the title and the scenario based on a Christian Science religious tract. ...
'' (1919)
* ''The Boomerang
''The Boomerang'' was a weekly newspaper published in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
History
The newspaper was established by William Lane in 1887, publishing its first issue on 19 November 1887. James Drake, future Attorney-General of A ...
'' (1919)
* ''The Man Beneath
''The Man Beneath'' is a 1919 American silent crime drama film directed by William Worthington and produced by Sessue Hayakawa's Haworth Pictures Corporation. An incomplete copy of the film is in the collection of the EYE Film Institute Netherlan ...
'' (1919)
* ''A Very Good Young Man
''A Very Good Young Man'' is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Donald Crisp, written by Martin Brown, Robert Housum, and Walter Woods, and starring Bryant Washburn, Helene Chadwick, Julia Faye, Sylvia Ashton, Jane Wolfe, He ...
'' (1919)
* ''The Tong Man
''The Tong Man'' is a 1919 American thriller film directed by William Worthington and produced by Haworth Pictures Corporation.
''The Tong Man'' survives and is available on home video. The film has long been preserved by the Library of Congress ...
'' (1919)
* ''Pollyanna
''Pollyanna'' is a 1913 novel by American author Eleanor H. Porter, considered a classic of children's literature. The book's success led to Porter's soon writing a sequel, ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' (1915). Eleven more ''Pollyanna'' sequels, know ...
'' (1920)
* '' The County Fair'' (1920)
* ''A City Sparrow
''A City Sparrow'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and written by Kate Jordan and Clara Genevieve Kennedy. The film stars Ethel Clayton, Walter Hiers, Clyde Fillmore, Lillian Leighton, William Boyd, and Rose Cade. Th ...
'' (1920)
* '' A Light Woman'' (1920)
* ''Miss Hobbs
''Miss Hobbs'' is a 1920 American silent comedy film directed by Donald Crisp and written by Elmer Blaney Harris. The film stars Wanda Hawley, Harrison Ford, Helen Jerome Eddy, Walter Hiers, Julanne Johnston, and Emily Chichester. The film was ...
'' (1920)
* ''The House of Toys
''The House of Toys'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by George L. Cox and starring Seena Owen, Pell Trenton, and Helen Jerome Eddy.Goble p. 803
Cast
* Seena Owen as Shirley Lord
* Pell Trenton as David Quentin
* Helen Jerome E ...
'' (1920)
* ''The Forbidden Thing
''The Forbidden Thing'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring James Kirkwood, Helen Jerome Eddy and Marcia Manon.Lombardi p.113
Cast
* James Kirkwood as Abel Blake
* Helen Jerome Eddy as Joan
* Marcia M ...
'' (1920)
* ''The Ten Dollar Raise
''The Ten Dollar Raise'' is a 1921 American silent comedy film directed by Edward Sloman and starring William V. Mong, Marguerite De La Motte, and Pat O'Malley.Taves p. 169
Cast
* William V. Mong as Wilkins
* Marguerite De La Motte as Dorot ...
'' (1921)
* '' One Man in a Million'' (1921)
* '' The First Born'' (1921)
* '' The March Hare'' (1921)
*'' The Other Woman'' (1921)
* '' The Flirt'' (1922)
*''When Love Comes
''When Love Comes'' is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Helen Jerome Eddy, Harrison Ford and Fanny Midgley.Munden p.885
Cast
* Helen Jerome Eddy as Jane Coleridge
* Harrison Ford as Peter Jamison
* Fa ...
'' (1922)
* ''An Old Sweetheart of Mine
''An Old Sweetheart of Mine'' is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Harry Garson and starring Elliott Dexter, Helen Jerome Eddy, and Lloyd Whitlock.
Cast
* Elliott Dexter as John Craig
* Helen Jerome Eddy as Mary Ellen Anderson
* L ...
'' (1923)
* '' The Country Kid'' (1923)
* ''To the Ladies
''To the Ladies'' is a 1923 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on a 1922 Broadway play, ''To the Ladies'', by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly.
The film was directed b ...
'' (1923)
* '' The Fire Patrol'' (1924)
* '' Marry Me'' (1925)
* '' The Dark Angel'' (1925)
* ''Padlocked
''Padlocked'' is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Rex Beach, Becky Gardiner, and James Shelley Hamilton. The film stars Lois Moran, Noah Beery Sr., Louise Dresser, Helen Jerome Eddy, Allan Simpson, Floren ...
'' (1926)
* '' Camille'' (1926)
* '' Quality Street'' (1927)
* '' Two Lovers'' (1928)
* ''The Speed Classic
''The Speed Classic'' is a 1928 American silent action film directed by Bruce M. Mitchell and starring Rex Lease, Mildred Harris and Mitchell Lewis.
Synopsis
A young man obsessed with cars is dumped by his girlfriend, and goes on a binge in ...
'' (1928)
* ''Chicago After Midnight
''Chicago After Midnight'' is a lost 1928 American silent film directed by and starring Ralph Ince.
Cast
* Ralph Ince as Jim Boyd
* Jola Mendez as Betty Boyd / Mona Gale
* Lorraine Rivero as Betty Boyd, as a baby
* James "Jim" Mason as ...
'' (1928)
* '' Blue Skies'' (1929)
* ''Small Talk
Small talk is an informal type of discourse that does not cover any functional topics of conversation or any transactions that need to be addressed. In essence, it is polite and standard conversation about unimportant things.
The phenomenon ...
'' (1929)
* ''Railroadin'
''Railroadin is an ''Our Gang'' short film, short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. Produced by Hal Roach and released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was the 88th release in the ''Our Gang'' series.
Plot
The gang is playing aro ...
'' (1929)
* ''Midstream
The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by pipeline, rail, barge, oil tanker or truck), storage, and wholesale marketing of crud ...
'' (1929)
* ''War Nurse
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
'' (1930)
* '' Reaching for the Moon'' (1930)
* ''The Great Meadow
''The Great Meadow'' is a 1931 American Pre-Code adventure film, produced and distributed by MGM with direction by Charles Brabin. The film starred Eleanor Boardman and Johnny Mack Brown. It is based on the novel ''The Great Meadow'' by Elizabe ...
'' (1930)
* ''Girls Demand Excitement
''Girls Demand Excitement'' is a 1931 film starring Virginia Cherrill, John Wayne, and Marguerite Churchill. Wayne and Churchill had starred in the widescreen Western epic ''The Big Trail'' the previous year. The movie was written by Harlan Th ...
'' (1931)
* '' Skippy'' (1931)
* '' Sooky'' (1931)
* ''Mata Hari
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...
'' (1931) as Sister Genevieve
* '' Make Me a Star'' (1932)
* ''The Night of June 13
''The Night of June 13'' is a 1932 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Stephen Roberts. The film stars Clive Brook, Frances Dee, Charlie Ruggles, Gene Raymond, Lila Lee, Mary Boland and Adrianne Allen. The film was released on September 23 ...
'' (1932)
* ''Impatient Maiden
''The Impatient Maiden'' is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by James Whale, starring Lew Ayres and Mae Clarke, and released by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Richard Schayer and Winifred Dunn, based on the nove ...
'' (1932)
* ''Frisco Jenny
''Frisco Jenny'' is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Ruth Chatterton and Louis Calhern, and directed by William A. Wellman. Its storyline bears a resemblance to Chatterton's previous hit film, ''Madame X''.
Plot
In 1906 San Fran ...
'' (1932)
* ''Madame Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lut ...
'' (1932)
* ''The Bitter Tea of General Yen
''The Bitter Tea of General Yen'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama war film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, and featuring Nils Asther and Walter Connolly. Based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Grace Zaring Stone, th ...
'' (1933)
* ''Strictly Personal
''Strictly Personal'' is the second album by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. It was originally released in October 1968 as the first album on the Blue Thumb Records label. It was released nearly a year after the band had taken to the stud ...
'' (1933)
* '' The Masquerader'' (1933)
* ''Torch Singer
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affecte ...
'' (1933)
* '' Night Flight'' (1933) as Worried Mother
* ''Riptide
A rip tide, or riptide, is a strong offshore current that is caused by the tide pulling water through an inlet along a barrier beach, at a lagoon or inland marina where tide water flows steadily out to sea during ebb tide. It is a strong tidal fl ...
'' (1934)
* ''Unknown Blonde
''Unknown Blonde'' is a 1934 American pre-Code crime drama film directed by Hobart Henley and starring Edward Arnold, Barbara Barondess and Dorothy Revier. It was released by the independent Majestic Pictures.Pitts, p. 234 It was based on the ...
'' (1934)
* '' A Girl of the Limberlost'' (1934)
* '' A Shot in the Dark'' (1935)
* '' Keeper of the Bees'' (1935)
* '' The Country Doctor'' (1936)
* '' Winterset'' (1936)
* ''Klondike Annie
''Klondike Annie'' is a 1936 American Western film starring Mae West and Victor McLaglen. The film was co-written by West from her play ''Frisco Kate'', which she wrote in 1921 and a story written by the duo Marion Morgan and George Brendan Dowe ...
'' (1936)
* ''Jim Hanvey, Detective
''Jim Hanvey, Detective'' is a 1937 American film directed by Phil Rosen. It is loosely based on the short story collection of the same name by novelist Octavus Roy Cohen.
Plot summary
Cast
*Guy Kibbee as James Woolford "Jim" Hanvey
* Tom ...
'' (1937)
* ''The Strange Case of Dr. Meade
''The Strange Case of Dr. Meade'' is a 1938 American adventure film directed by Lewis D. Collins and starring Jack Holt, Beverly Roberts and Noah Beery Jr.Darby p.65
Cast
* Jack Holt as Dr. Meade
* Beverly Roberts as Bonnie
* Noah Beery Jr ...
'' (1938)
* ''Scandal Sheet
Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...
'' (1939)
* '' Strike Up the Band'' (1940)
References
Further reading
* Pasadena, California ''Star-News'', "Eddy House Yields Ghost", April 25, 1973, page 7
* Syracuse, New York ''Herald'', June 27, 1935, "Theater Guide", page 14
External links
*
Helen Jerome Eddy
at Virtual History
at silenthollywood.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eddy, Helen Jerome
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City
Actresses from Los Angeles
1897 births
1990 deaths