Ola Humphrey (born Pearl Ola Jane Humphrey; July 16, 1875 - 1948) was an American actress on stage and in silent films.

Early life

Ola Humphrey was born 16 July 1875 in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

as Pearl Ola Jane Humphrey "Born at Cairo, Ia., Reigned in Cairo, Egypt"
''Des Moines Register'' (June 11, 1922): 27. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

and gave the impression that she'd been almost entirely brought up in

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 ...

, some sources even giving it as her place of birth. However, she was a teenager when the family moved to Oakland, probably in 1891. Ola gave her birth year as 1884, but census figures establish it as 1875. She graduated Class of 1893 from the

Snell Seminary Snell Seminary School for Women was a girls school in Oakland and then Berkeley, California. History Edna Snell, (born September 29, 1843 in Farmington, New York) served a principal. At age 25, she was the only unmarried woman who attended the fir ...

in Oakland, where she was celebrated for her ability at dramatic recitation, and in 1894 attended the Emerson School of Oratory in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

after this beginning her professional career. She was the daughter of Thomas Marshall Humphrey and Minnie J. Paschal Humphrey. Her father was a San Francisco furniture salesman. Her brother

Orrall Humphrey Thomas Orral Humphrey (April 3, 1880 - August 12, 1929) was an American silent film actor and director. Humphrey was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He starred in 46 films between 1914 and 1929 and is credited for directing four films. His youn ...

was an actor and film director.

Career

Humphrey toured in stage companies in Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain, in ''The Empress'', ''The Prodigal Son'' (1906), ''The Little Gray Lady'' (1906), ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'', ''The Second Mrs. Tanqueray'', ''The Thief'', and ''Another Woman's Window'' (1918), among others."Khedive's Cousin Marries Actress"
''San Francisco Call'' (April 16, 1911): 1. via

California Digital Newspaper Collection The California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC) is a freely-available, archive of digitized California newspapers; it is accessible through the project's website. The collection contains over six million pages from over forty-two million arti ...

She appeared in three silent films: ''

Under the Crescent ''Under the Crescent'' is a 1915 American drama film serial directed by Burton L. King, starring Ola Humphrey, and released by Universal. The film is considered to be lost. Plot A series of six episodes involving the adventures of an American a ...

'' (1915, now lost; a highly-fictionalized serialized version of Humphrey's own story, written by

Nell Shipman Nell Shipman (born Helen Foster-Barham; October 25, 1892 – January 23, 1970) was a Canadian actress, author, screenwriter, producer, director, animal rights activist and animal trainer. Her works often had autobiographical elements to them and ...

). The first of six two-reel chapters was entitled ''The Purple Iris''. Other films were ''

Missing Missing or The Missing may refer to: Film * ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young * ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras * ''Missing'' (2007 film) (''Vermist''), a Bel ...

'' (1918), and ''Coax Me'' (1919).

Personal life

Ola Humphrey married three times. Her first husband was

Edwin Mordant Edwin Mordant (December 22, 1868 - February 16, 1942) was an actor on stage and in films in the United States. He appeared in numerous shows between 1901 and the later 1920s. He was married to Ola Humphrey. They divorced. The ‘’New York Dram ...

, a fellow actor; they divorced. While performing on the London stage, she caught the eye of Prince Ibrahim Hassan. Hassan was a cousin to

Abbas II of Egypt Abbas II Helmy Bey (also known as ''ʿAbbās Ḥilmī Pāshā'', ar, عباس حلمي باشا) (14 July 1874 – 19 December 1944) was the last Khedive ( Ottoman viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan, ruling from 8January 1892 to 19 December 1914 ...

. Their 1911 marriage in a London registrar's office was witnessed by American Vice-consul Richard Westacott (1849-1922) and the Count de Nevers. However, the marriage soon foundered, and they separated; the complicated matter of divorce was resolved when she was widowed in 1918 (though her legal troubles related to the marriage continued through at least 1923). She remarried to John Henry Broadwood, an English military officer, in 1920. Widowed again, she lived in Los Angeles in 1935, and donated Egyptian artifacts to the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

. Late in life, she was living in an apartment in New York, her fortune lost or withheld by the Prince's relatives.Igor Cassini
"Beggared by a Prince"
''The Honolulu Advertiser'' (October 19, 1947): 9, 15. via

Ola Humphrey died in California in 1948, aged about 73 years.

References

External links

*
Five photographs of Ola Humphrey
in the

National Portrait Gallery (London) The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

, all taken by

Bassano Ltd Alexander Bassano (10 May 1829 – 21 October 1913) was an English photographer who was a leading royal and high society portrait photographer in Victorian London. He is known for his photo of the Earl Kitchener in the ''Lord Kitchener Wants Yo ...

in 1920.
Postcard portrait of Ola Humphrey as "Countess Diana" in ''The Squaw Man''
printed in Australia.
Postcard portrait of Ola Humphrey as Marguerite Blakeney in ''The Scarlet Pimpernel''
printed in Australia.
Ola Humphrey's listing at BFI.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrey, Ola 1875 births 1948 deaths American actresses