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(19 July 1903 - 25 October 1981)
(born Violet Rose) was born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and
educated in Chicago, where she graduated from the Lake View High
School.
She felt the urge to appear on the screen at this time and
immediately set out for Hollywood, where she impressed Lambert
Hillyer, William S. Hart's director, by her unusual beauty and
charm, and despite the fact that she had no stage or screen
experience he cast her for a leading role in Hart's The Cradle of
Courage (1920) and the girl's reputation was made overnight.
Director Maurice Tourneur liked her and cast her later that year as
Cora Munro in his beautiful version of The Last of the Mohicans.
Cora's death scene made her a star. Hart used her again, this time
as his leading lady in Tumbleweeds (1925), the great cowboy's last
film, and there were several roles opposite the rising star John
Gilbert. |