Sylvia Ashton (January 26, 1880 – November 18, 1940) was an American film actress 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, w ...

era. Ashton was born in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. She bore a heavyset resemblance to

Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...

and like Darwell was playing mother and grandmother roles, though more famously than Darwell in the silents, while still in her 30s and 40s. In 1912, Ashton was an actress in D.W. Griffith's stock company. After that, she acted for Famous Players-Lasky. For years she was a regular member of Cecil B. DeMille's troupe of character actors. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1912 and 1929. She retired from movies almost immediately at the dawn of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

, one of her later films being the part-sound film ''

The Barker ''The Barker'' is a 1928 part-talkie pre-Code romantic drama film produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., acquired in September 1928. The film was directed by George Fitzmaurice and stars Milton Sills, ...

'' (1928).

Ashton died on November 18, 1940, aged 60.

Partial filmography

* ''

The Nick of Time Baby ''The Nick of Time Baby'' is a 1916 American silent comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Gloria Swanson. Cast * Sylvia Ashton * Robert Bolder (as Bobby Bolder) * Helen Bray * Teddy the Dog * Tom Kennedy * Larry Lyndon * ...

'' (1916) * '' Matching Dreams'' (1916) * '' Viviana'' (1916) * '' A Sanitarium Scramble'' (1916) * ''

Haystacks and Steeples ''Haystacks and Steeples'' is a 1916 American silent comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Gloria Swanson. Cast * Sylvia Ashton * Helen Bray * George Felix * Reggie Morris * Della Pringle * Gloria Swanson * Josef Swickard ...

'' (1916) * ''

Whose Baby? ''Whose Baby?'' is a 1917 American silent comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame a ...

'' (1917) * ''

Old Wives for New ''Old Wives for New'' is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Prints of the film survive at the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House. Plot As described in a film magazine, disgusted by ...

'' (1918) * '' We Can't Have Everything'' (1918) * '' A Pair of Silk Stockings'' (1918) * '' The Goat'' (1918) * ''

Fuss and Feathers ''Fuss and Feathers'' is a 1918 American silent comedy film directed by Fred Niblo. It is not known whether the film currently survives,Don't Change Your Husband'' (1919) * '' Peggy Does Her Darndest'' (1919) * '' For Better, for Worse'' (1919) * '' Men, Women, and Money'' (1919) * ''

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

'' (1920) * '' Mrs. Temple's Telegram'' (1920) * '' Sweet Lavender'' (1920) * ''

Jenny Be Good ''Jenny Be Good'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by William Desmond Taylor and starring Mary Miles Minter, based on a novel by Wilbur Finley Fauley and adapted for the screen by Julia Crawford Ivers. It is the last of Minter's ...

'' (1920) * '' Why Change Your Wife?'' (1920) * '' Thou Art the Man'' (1920) * '' The Soul of Youth'' (1920) * '' Conrad in Quest of His Youth'' (1920) * '' Sham'' (1921) * ''

Hold Your Horses "Hold your horses", sometimes said as "Hold the horses", is an English-language idiom meaning " wait, slow down". The phrase is historically related to horse riding or travelling by horse, or driving a horse-drawn vehicle. A number of explanation ...

'' (1921) * '' Garments of Truth'' (1921) * '' The Snob'' (1921) * '' Saturday Night'' (1922) * '' For the Defense'' (1922) * '' Our Leading Citizen'' (1922) * ''

While Satan Sleeps ''While Satan Sleeps'' is a 1922 American silent Western film directed by Joseph Henabery and written by Albert S. Le Vino based upon a story by Peter B. Kyne. It stars Jack Holt, Wade Boteler, Mabel Van Buren, Fritzi Brunette, Will Walling ...

'' (1922) * ''

Manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

'' (1922) * '' Youth to Youth'' (1922) * ''

The White Flower (''For a similar-sounding film from the same year by D. W. Griffith, see The White Rose'') ''The White Flower'' is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film written and directed by Julia Crawford Ivers and starring Betty Compson and Edmund L ...

'' (1923) * ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like " wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of ...

'' (1923) * ''

Greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as und ...

'' (1924) * ''

Dancing Days "Dancing Days" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It appears on their 1973 album, ''Houses of the Holy'', and was released as a single in the US. It was recorded at Stargroves, England in 1972. It was inspired by an Indian tune tha ...

'' (1926) * '' Cheating Cheaters'' (1927) * '' Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath'' (1928) * ''

'' (1928) * '' The Head Man'' (1928) * '' The Crash'' (1928) * '' Bachelor's Paradise'' (1928) * '' Queen Kelly'' (1928) * ''

The Leopard Lady ''The Leopard Lady'' is a 1928 American silent horror film directed by Rupert Julian, written by Beulah Marie Dix, and starring Jacqueline Logan, Alan Hale and Robert Armstrong. The film, based on a play by Edward Childs Carpenter, is about a ...

'' (1928)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, Sylvia 1880 births 1940 deaths American silent film actresses Actresses from Denver 20th-century American actresses