Helen Marguerite Clark (February 22, 1883 – September 25, 1940) 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 ...

and

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...

actress. As a movie actress, at one time, Clark was second only to

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 ...

in popularity. All but five of her films are considered lost.

Early life and theatre

Born in

Avondale, Cincinnati Avondale is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is home to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. The population was 11,345 at the 2020 census. 92 percent of Avondale residents are African American and more than 40 percent are living at or ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

on February 22, 1883, she was the third child of Augustus "Gus" James and Helen Elizabeth Clark. She had an older sister, Cora, and an older brother named Clifton. Clark's mother Helen died on January 21, 1893. Her father worked in his self-owned successful

haberdashery In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing ...

located in downtown Cincinnati before his death on December 29, 1896. Following his death, Clark's sister Cora was appointed her legal guardian and removed her from public school to further her education at Ursuline Academy. She finished school at age 16, decided to pursue a career in the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and soon made her

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut in 1900. The 17-year-old performed at various venues. In 1903, she was seen on Broadway opposite hulking comedian

DeWolf Hopper William DeWolf Hopper (March 30, 1858September 23, 1935) was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. A star of vaudeville and musical theater, he became best known for performing the popular baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" ...

in ''Mr. Pickwick''. The Hopper dwarfed the nearly Clark in their scenes together. Several adventure-fantasy roles followed. In 1909, Clark starred in the whimsical costume play ''

The Beauty Spot ''The Beauty Spot'' was a 1909 musical comedy in two acts that played for 137 performances at the Herald Square Theatre in New York with music by Reginald De Koven, a book by Joseph W. Herbert and additional lyrics by Terry Sullivan. The musical ...

'', establishing the fantasy stories which would soon become her hallmark. In 1910, Clark appeared in ''The Wishing Ring'', a play directed by Cecil DeMille which was later made into a motion picture by Maurice Tourneur. That same 1910 season had Clark appearing in '' Baby Mine'', a popular play produced by William A. Brady. In 1912, Clark performed in a lead role with

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

, Doris Keane and Gail Kane in the play ''

The Affairs of Anatol ''The Affairs of Anatol'' is a 1921 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson. The film is based on the 1893 play '' Anatol'' by Arthur Schnitzler. Plot Socialite Anatol Spencer ...

'', later made into a motion picture by Clark's future movie studio

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...

and directed by Cecil DeMille. That same year, she starred in a retelling of ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

''. The classic tale was adapted for the stage by

Winthrop Ames Winthrop Ames (November 25, 1870 – November 3, 1937) was an American theatre director and producer, playwright and screenwriter. For three decades at the beginning of the 20th century, Ames was an important force on Broadway, whose repertoir ...

(writing under the pseudonym Jessie Braham White), who closely oversaw its production at his Little Theatre in New York and personally selected the lead actress. Clark expressed her delight in the role, and the play had a successful run into 1913. Clark's popularity led to her signing a contract in 1914 to make motion pictures with Adolph Zukor's

Famous Players Film Company The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful New York City theatre impresario. History Discussions to form the company were held at The Lambs, a famous th ...

, and over the next two years she was cast in starring roles in more than a dozen features. She then reprised her stage role in a film that would define the Clark persona—the influential 1916 screen version of ''

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

''.

Film career

At age 31, it was relatively late in life for a film actress to begin a career with starring roles, but the diminutive Clark had a little-girl look, like

, that belied her years. Also, film was not developed or mature enough to showcase Clark at her youthful best at the turn of the century. These were some of the reasons established Broadway stars refused early film offers. Feature films were unheard of when Clark was in her early 20s. She made her first appearance on screen in the

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

Wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...

'', directed by Allan Dwan.Ballard. Mike
"Marguerite Clark, Film Fantasy Queen."
''greatlivesinhistory,'' February 22, 2010. Retrieved: January 9, 2012. Marguerite Clark in

In 1915, Clark starred as "Gretchen" in a feature-length production of ''

The Goose Girl "The Goose Girl" (german: Die Gänsemagd) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' in 1815 (KHM 89). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 533. The story was first translated into English b ...

'' based on a 1909

best-selling A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

novel by

Harold MacGrath Harold MacGrath (September 4, 1871 – October 30, 1932) was a bestselling and prolific American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He sometimes completed more than one novel per year for the mass market, covering romance, spies, my ...

. She performed in the feature-length production '' The Seven Sisters'' (1915), directed by

Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott, September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great direc ...

, and she reprised a Broadway role, starring in the first feature-length film version of ''

'' (1916). Clark was directed in this by

J. Searle Dawley James Searle Dawley (October 4, 1877 – March 30, 1949) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, stage actor, and playwright. Between 1907 and the mid-1920s, while working for Edison, Rex Motion Picture Company, Famous Player ...

, as well as in a number of films, notably when she played the characters of both "Little Eva St. Clair" and "Topsy" in the feature ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

'' (1918). Marguerite Clark in Come Out Of The Kitchen

Clark starred in ''Come Out of the Kitchen'' (1919), which was filmed in Pass Christian, Mississippi, at Ossian Hall. The same year, she enrolled as a yeowoman in the naval reserves. Clark made all but one of her 40 films with

, her last with them in 1920 titled ''Easy to Get'', in which she starred opposite silent film actor Harrison Ford. Her next film, in 1921, was made by her own production company for First National Pictures distribution. As one of the most popular actresses going into the 1920s, and one of the industry's best paid, her name alone was enough to ensure reasonable box office success. As such, ''Scrambled Wives'' was made under her direction, following which she retired at age 38 to be with her husband at their country estate in New Orleans. LatterLibraryToCarriageEntrance

Personal life

On August 15, 1918, Clark married

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, plantation owner and millionaire businessman

Harry Palmerston Williams Harry Palmerston Williams (October 6, 1889 – May 19, 1936) was a Louisiana businessman and co-owner of the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation that dominated air racing in the United States during the so-called Golden Age of Aviation. Ea ...

, a marriage that ended with the death of Williams on May 19, 1936 in an aircraft crash. After his death, Clark owned Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation, which had built and flown air racers, along with other aviation enterprises, until sold in 1937.

Death

After the death of her husband, Clark moved to New York City where she lived with her sister Cora. On September 20, 1940, she entered

LeRoy Sanitarium The LeRoy Sanitarium, later called the LeRoy Hospital, was a medical facility in New York, New York. It was founded in 1928 by Alice Fuller LeRoy and closed in 1980. Notable patients *actress Marguerite Clark entered as a patient and then died th ...

where she died five days later of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. A private funeral was held at

Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel The Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel is a funeral home located on Madison Avenue at 81st Street in Manhattan. Founded in 1898 as Frank E. Campbell Burial and Cremation Company, the company is now owned by Service Corporation International. The fun ...

on September 28. She was cremated and buried with her husband in

Metairie Cemetery Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in southeastern Louisiana. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road (and fo ...

in New Orleans. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Marguerite Clark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6304 Hollywood Boulevard."Hollywood Star Walk: Marguerite Clark."
''Los Angeles Times''. Retrieved: May 19, 2013.

Broadway credits

Filmography

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Blum, Daniel. ''Pictorial History of the American Theater.'' New York: Random House Value Publishing, First edition 1950. . * Nunn, Curtis. ''Marguerite Clark: America's Darling of Broadway and the Silent Screen''. Fort Worth, Texas: The Texas Christian University Press, 1981. .

External links

* *
Contemporary interviews with Marguerite Clark

Marguerite Clark page at Corbis

Marguerite Clark
gallery NY Public Library
Marguerite Clark bio & picsportrait of Marguerite Clark and DeWolf Hopper on Broadway in ''Happyland'' (1905) Univ. of Washington/Sayre Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Marguerite 1883 births 1940 deaths 19th-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Cincinnati American film actresses American silent film actresses American stage actresses Burials at Metairie Cemetery Deaths from pneumonia in New York City People from Avondale, Cincinnati