Violet Radcliffe (20 August 1904, Niagara Falls - 4 May 1965, Los Angeles) was a child actress active during Hollywood's silent era. She appeared in several dozen films for Fine Arts, Fox, and

Pathe Pathe or Pathé may refer to: * Pathé, a French company established in 1896 * Pathé Exchange, U.S. division of the French film company that was spun off into an independent entity * Pathé News, a French and British distributor of cinema news ...

, and was frequently cast as a villain or as a little boy. One of her best-known roles was as Dirty Face Dan in a number of serials.

Biography

According to several US censuses, Violet Bonita Radcliffe was born August 20, 1904 in Niagara Falls, New York, to Harry Belmont Radcliffe and Ida F. Davenport. However, during her career she was said to be four years younger, resulting in an assumption she was born in 1908. She began performing when she was only two months old, and she was quite young when she appeared in her first film, 1913's ''Quo Vadis''. She played boys role in at least eighteen films between 1915 and 1917. She specialized in

comedies Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...

and fairy tales in which all the actors were supposedly under the age of ten. She played a series of lovable villains for Majestic, including the character Dan in ''The Straw Man'', ''Bilie's Goat'', ''The Little Cupids'' and ''The Little Life Guard'' (1915). She then went to

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

role of Al-Talib in '' Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp'' (1917) and

Long John Silver Long John Silver is a Character (arts), fictional character and the main antagonist in the novel ''Treasure Island'' (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular cult ...

in ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' (1918). She played Prince Rudolpho in ''

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Co ...

'' along Francis Carpenter,

Virginia Lee Corbin Virginia Lee Corbin (December 5, 1910 – June 4, 1942) was an American silent film actress. Early years Corbin was born Laverne Virginia Corbin in Prescott, Arizona to Leon Ernest Corbin and Virginia Frances (Cox) Corbin, and she had a siste ...

and Carmen De Rue. She became regular with Carmen De Rue in the Fox Kiddie Features. She left the movies in 1918, aged supposedly ten. Little was known of what became of her after her career in Hollywood ended, and she was assumed to have died in 1926, aged supposedly 18. In 1922, she married Samuel Maddox, in 1927 Archie Lee Sims, both in Los Angeles, and Eugene Woodford in 1935, in

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

. She died May 4, 1965 in Los Angeles, named Violet Bonita Beiringer.

Selected filmography

*''

'' (1918) *''

The Babes in the Woods ''The Babes in the Woods'' is a 1917 American silent fantasy film directed by Chester M. Franklin and Sidney Franklin and starring Francis Carpenter, Virginia Lee Corbin and Violet Radcliffe.Solomon p.243-44 Cast * Francis Carpenter as Roland ...

'' (1917) * ''Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp'' (1917) * ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' (1917) *''

Cheerful Givers ''Cheerful Givers'' is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film stars Bessie Love and Kenneth Harlan. The film is presumed lost Lost may refer to g ...

'' (1917) * ''Everybody's Doing It'' (1916) *'' A Sister of Six'' (1916) *''

Gretchen the Greenhorn ''Gretchen the Greenhorn'' is an American silent film released in 1916. The film stars Dorothy Gish as a Dutch girl who emigrates to America to be with her father; they become entangled with a counterfeiting ring. Set in an immigrant section of a ...

'' (1916) *''

The Little School Ma'am ''The Little School Ma'am'' is a 1916 American drama silent black and white film directed by C.M. Franklin and S.A. Franklin, and written by Bernard McConville and Frank E. Woods. It stars Dorothy Gish. Cast * Dorothy Gish as Nan * Elmer Clif ...

'' (1916) * ''Going Straight'' (1916) *''

Let Katie Do It ''Let Katie Do It'' is a 1916 American silent film drama directed by Chester and Sidney Franklin and was produced by D. W. Griffith's Fine Arts company. It is also known as ''Let Katy Do It''. A copy is preserved in the Library of Congress ...

'' (1916) * ''Quo Vadis?'' (1913)

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, Violet American child actresses American actresses Actresses from New York (state) 1904 births 1965 deaths 20th-century American women