Lila Lee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lila Lee (born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel, July 25, 1905 – November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras.
In 1918, she was chosen for a film contract by Hollywood film mogul Jesse Lasky for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount Pictures. Her first feature, The Cruise of the Make-Believes, garnered the teenaged starlet much public acclaim and Lasky quickly sent Lee on an arduous publicity campaign. Critics lauded Lila for her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts. Lee quickly rose to the ranks of leading lady and often starred opposite such matinee heavies as Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, and Rudolph Valentino. Lee bore more than a slight resemblance to Ann Little, a former Paramount star and frequent Reid co-star who was leaving the film business and at this stage in her career an even stronger resemblance to Marguerite Clark.
In 1922 Lee was cast as Carmen in the enormously popular film Blood and Sand, opposite matinee idol Rudolph Valentino and silent screen vamp Nita Naldi; Lee subsequently won the first WAMPAS Baby Stars award that year. Lee continued to be a highly popular leading lady throughout the 1920s and made scores of critically praised and widely watched films.
As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, Lee's popularity began to wane and Lee positioned herself for the transition to talkies. She is one of the few leading ladies of the silent screen whose popularity did not nosedive with the coming of sound. She went back to working with the major studios and appeared, most notably, in The Unholy Three, in 1930, opposite Lon Chaney Sr. in his only talkie. However, a series of bad career choices and bouts of recurring tuberculosis and alcoholism hindered further projects and Lee was relegated to taking parts in mostly grade B movies.
Acted in
Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
1967
as Viola Zickafoose
The Emperor's New Clothes
1966
as Wringmouth
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
1961
as Self (archive footage)
Panic!
1957
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Mrs. McLean
Nation Aflame
1937
as Mona Franklin Burtis
Two Wise Maids
1937
as Ethel Harriman
Country Gentlemen
1936
as Louise Heath
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
1936
as Miss Prentiss, Bradford's Receptionist
The People's Enemy
1935
as Katherine Carr
I Can't Escape
1934
as Mae Nichols
In Love with Life
1934
as Sharon
Stand Up and Cheer!
1934
as Zelda
Whirlpool
1934
as Helen Rankin Morrison
Lone Cowboy
1933
as Eleanor Jones
The Intruder
1933
as Connie Wayne
The Iron Master
1933
as Janet Stillman
Face in the Sky
1933
as Sharon Hadley
Officer Thirteen
1932
as Doris Dane
False Faces
1932
as Georgia Rand
The Night of June 13
1932
as Trudie Morrow
Exposure
1932
as Doris Corbin
War Correspondent
1932
as Julie March
Unholy Love
1932
as Jane Bradford
Radio Patrol
1932
as Sue Kennedy
Misbehaving Ladies
1931
as Princess Ellen
Woman Hungry
1931
as Judith Temple
The Gorilla
1930
as Alice Denby
The Unholy Three
1930
as Rosie O'Grady
Double Cross Roads
1930
as Mary Carlyle
Those Who Dance
1930
as Nora Brady
Second Wife
1930
as Florence Wendell Fairchild
The Sacred Flame
1929
as Stella Taylor
Show of Shows
1929
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
Love, Live & Laugh
1929
as Margharita
Flight
1929
as Elinor
Honky Tonk
1929
as Beth
The Argyle Case
1929
as Mary Morgan
Dark Streets
1929
as Katie Dean
Drag
1929
as Dot
Queen of the Night Clubs
1929
as Bea Walters
The Black Pearl
1928
as Eugenie Bromley
Fashion News
1928
as Self (1930)
Just Married
1928
as Victoire
The Adorable Cheat
1928
as Marion Dorsey
The Little Wild Girl
1928
as Marie Cleste
Top Sergeant Mulligan
1928
as The girl
Million Dollar Mystery
1927
One Increasing Purpose
1927
as Elizabeth Glade
Fascinating Youth
1926
as Lila Lee
The New Klondike
1926
as Evelyn Lane
Broken Hearts
1926
as Ruth Esterin
Coming Through
1925
as Alice Rand
The Midnight Girl
1925
as Anna
Another Man's Wife
1924
as Helen Brand
Wandering Husbands
1924
as Diana Moreland
Love's Whirlpool
1924
as Molly
Woman-Proof
1923
as Louise Halliday
Hollywood
1923
as Lila Lee
Homeward Bound
1923
as Mary Brent
The Ne'er-Do-Well
1923
as Chiquita
Ebb Tide
1922
as Ruth Attwater
The Ghost Breaker
1922
as Maria Theresa, a Spanish Heiress
Blood and Sand
1922
as Carmen
A Trip to Paramountown
1922
as Self
The Dictator
1922
as Juanita
The Fast Freight
1922
as Elsie
The Wampas Baby Stars of 1922
1922
as Self
One Glorious Day
1922
as Molly McIntyre
Rent Free
1922
as Barbara Teller
After the Show
1921
as Eileen
Crazy to Marry
1921
as Annabelle Landis
Gasoline Gus
1921
as Sal Jo Banty
The Dollar-a-Year Man
1921
as Peggy Bruce
Midsummer Madness
1921
as Daisy Osborne
The Charm School
1921
as Elsie
The Soul of Youth
1920
as Vera Hamilton
Terror Island
1920
as Beverly West
Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
1919
as Princess Irma
Male and Female
1919
as Tweeny, the scullery maid
The Lottery Man
1919
as Polly
The Secret Garden
1919
as Mary Lennox