Reine Davies (born Irene Douras; June 6, 1883 – April 5, 1938) was an American singer and actress.
Life and career
Davies was born on June 6, 1883, in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the daughter of Bernard J. Douras, a lawyer and judge in New York City; and Rose Reilly. Her father performed the civil marriage of socialite
Gloria Gould Bishop. The eldest sister of actress
Marion Davies
Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...
, Reine was the first of the Douras daughters to start using the name Davies. One day she was driving through the Brooklyn neighborhood, and saw the office sign of Valentine Davies. She liked the name and adopted it, and the other sisters followed suit.
Davies married twice, first to director
George Lederer
George Washington Lederer (c. 1862, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania − October 8, 1938) was an American producer and director on Broadway from 1894 to 1931. He was the husband of actresses Reine Davies and Jessie Lewis and the father of Charles Leder ...
from January 12, 1908; until they divorced in 1912, and later to actor
George Regas
George Thomas Regas (Greek: Γεώργιος Θωμάς Ρεγάκος; November 9, 1890 – December 13, 1940) was a Greek American actor.
Biography
Regis was born in the village of Goranoi near Sparta, Greece, the brother of actor Pedro Regas ...
. She had a son with Lederer, director/writer
Charles Lederer
Charles Davies Lederer (December 31, 1910 – March 5, 1976) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was born into a theatrical family in New York, and after his parents divorced, was raised in California by his aunt, Marion Davies, ...
, and a daughter,
Josephine Rose ("Pepi") Lederer.
She was known as "The New American Beauty," and, by her friends as, "The True Blue Girl". Reine Davies lived for many years in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and was on the
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
circuit as a singer and actress. She appeared in the 1915 movie ''
Sunday as Sunday'' and in 1917 as Beth Winthrop in ''
The Sin Woman''. She was also a popular subject on sheet music covers, most famously for "
Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland
"Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" was one of the most famous and beloved popular songs of the early 20th century. This gentle waltz, with lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson and music by Leo Friedman, was published in Chicago in 1909.
Friedman and Whit ...
" (which she introduced), as well as "The Reine Waltz" (1910), "When I Kissed Your Tears Away" (1911), "Leaf by Leaf the Roses Fall" (1911), "When I Met You Last Night in Dreamland" (1912), "In the Palace of Dreams" (1914), and "Araby" (1915). For many years she edited the gossip column in the ''
Los Angeles Examiner
The ''Los Angeles Examiner'' was a newspaper founded in 1903 by William Randolph Hearst in Los Angeles, California. The afternoon '' Los Angeles Herald-Express'' and the morning ''Los Angeles Examiner'', both of which had been publishing in the ...
''.
In 1935, Davies began writing a column about Hollywood social events for ''
The San Francisco Examiner
The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...
''.
Davies died on April 5, 1938, in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, from a heart attack in a swimming pool.
She was buried with a Requiem Mass at St. Augustine's Church in Culver City, California, and interred in the Douras Mausoleum in what is now
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles ...
.
See also
*
1886 in film
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Reine
1886 births
1938 deaths
American silent film actresses
Actresses from Beverly Hills, California
Actresses from Chicago
Actresses from New York City
Vaudeville performers
20th-century American actresses
Singers from Chicago
Singers from New York City
Musicians from Brooklyn
20th-century American singers