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.
Known for
Hollywood
Lila Lee
Blood and Sand
Carmen
Wandering Husbands
Diana Moreland
Lux Video Theatre
Mrs. McLean
Misbehaving Ladies
Princess Ellen
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Miss Prentiss, Bradford's Receptionist
Woman-Proof
Louise Halliday
Radio Patrol
Sue Kennedy
The Secret Garden
Mary Lennox
The Gorilla
Alice Denby
Flight
Elinor
Queen of the Night Clubs
Bea Walters
The Intruder
Connie Wayne
Just Married
Victoire
Million Dollar Mystery
Florence Grey
The Dictator
Juanita
Drag
Dot
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Self (archive footage)
Lone Cowboy
Eleanor Jones
Crazy to Marry
Annabelle Landis
Male and Female
Tweeny, the scullery maid
Homeward Bound
Mary Brent
Woman Hungry
Judith Temple
The Night of June 13
Trudie Morrow
Face in the Sky
Sharon Hadley
Those Who Dance
Nora Brady
The Emperor's New Clothes
Wringmouth
The Show of Shows
Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
The Prince Chap
Claudia (age 18)
A Trip to Paramountown
Self
Exposure
Doris Corbin
One Increasing Purpose
Elizabeth Glade
The Iron Master
Janet Stillman
Honky Tonk
Beth
I Can't Escape
Mae Nichols
Double Cross Roads
Mary Carlyle
The Wampas Baby Stars of 1922
Self
Panic!
Terror Island
Beverly West
False Faces
Georgia Rand
The Lottery Man
Polly
The Soul of Youth
Vera Hamilton
The Unholy Three
Rosie O'Grady
The Ne'er-Do-Well
Chiquita
Love, Live & Laugh
Margharita
In Love with Life
Sharon
Unholy Love
Jane Bradford
The Black Pearl
Eugenie Bromley
The Little Wild Girl
Marie Cleste
Another Man's Wife
Helen Brand
The Fast Freight
Elsie
Back Home and Broke
Mary Thorne
Ebb Tide
Ruth Attwater
Officer Thirteen
Doris Dane
Two Wise Maids
Ethel Harriman
Second Wife
Florence Wendell Fairchild
After the Show
Eileen
Nation Aflame
Mona Franklin Burtis
Dark Streets
Katie Dean
Stand Up and Cheer!
Zelda
The People's Enemy
Katherine Carr
Country Gentlemen
Louise Heath
The New Klondike
Evelyn Lane
Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
Princess Irma
Coming Through
Alice Rand
Rent Free
Barbara Teller
The Argyle Case
Mary Morgan
The Easy Road
Ella Klotz
Puppy Love
Gloria O'Connell
The Ghost Breaker
Maria Theresa, a Spanish Heiress
Jane Goes A-Wooing
Gasoline Gus
Sal Jo Banty
The Midnight Girl
Anna
Fascinating Youth
Lila Lee
The Dollar-a-Year Man
Peggy Bruce
The Charm School
Elsie
Whirlpool
Helen
Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
Viola Zickafoose
The Adorable Cheat
Marion Dorsey
War Correspondent
Julie March
One Glorious Day
Molly McIntyre
Love's Whirlpool
Molly
Is Matrimony a Failure?
Margaret Saxby
Midsummer Madness
Daisy Osborne
Top Sergeant Mulligan
The girl
The Sacred Flame
Stella Taylor
Broken Hearts
Ruth Esterin