Marion Leonard (June 9, 1881 – January 9, 1956) was an American

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

actress who became one of the first

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

in the early years of the

silent film 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, when ...

era.

Early career

Born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Marion Leonard began her acting career in

live theatre Live Theatre, formerly Live Theatre Company, is a new writing theatre and company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As well as producing and presenting new plays many of which go on to tour nationally and internationally, it seeks out an ...

, but at the age of 27 she started performing in the rapidly expanding film industry. She signed a contract in 1908 with the

American Mutoscope and Biograph Company The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, ...

and initially worked at that studio's production facilities in New York City, which were then located at 11 East, 14th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. There she made her screen debut in ''At the Crossroads of Life'', a

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Jr. and written by

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...

, who also acted in that film and directed the vast majority of Leonard's other films at Biograph. Shortly after her screen debut, Leonard became one of the company's leading "photoplayers". At a time when

screen credit Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which m ...

s were not given to actors, she and

Florence Auer Florence Auer (March 3, 1880 – May 14, 1962) was an American theater and motion picture actress whose career spanned more than five decades. Life and career Born in Albany, New York, Auer began her career on East Coast stages at the turn ...

were the first star actresses to be billed by the studio as a "Biograph Girl". Among the many films Leonard made at Biograph, 32 of them were with an up-and-coming young actress named

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

Marriage and switch to Universal Pictures

Marion Leonard and D W Griffith in At the corssroads of life 1908

While working for Biograph, Leonard met screenwriter/director Stanner E.V. Taylor and a personal relationship developed that led to marriage. They created their own studio, the

Gem Motion Picture Company Gem Motion Picture Company was an American silent-era film studio. It was co-founded by filmmaker Stanner E.V. Taylor and his wife, actress Marion Leonard in 1911. After management issues, the company evolved to primarily act as a producer of sho ...

, in 1911 to benefit from Leonard's increasing popularity. Moving Picture News (1911) (1911) (14595259929)

In 1915, after appearing in more than 150 motion pictures, Leonard retired from film acting. She returned, however, 11 years later at age 45 for one final screen appearance in a 1926

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...

comedy. Leonard died in 1956 at the

Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

Selected filmography

References

External links

*
Marion Leonard
at Women Film Pioneers Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Marion 1881 births 1956 deaths American stage actresses American film actresses American silent film actresses Actresses from Ohio 20th-century American actresses Women film pioneers