Kathlyn Williams

Kathlyn Williams

Kathlyn Williams (May 31, 1888 – September 23, 1960) was an American actress.

Early Life and Career

Born to Joseph E. and Mary C. Boe Williams of Welsh and Norwegian descent in Butte, Montana around 1880, she attended Montana Wesleyan University in the late 1890s and excelled in elocution. Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and made her first film in 1908 under the direction of Francis Boggs. Williams played "Cherry Malotte" in the first movie based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers in 1914, a role portrayed in subsequent versions by Betty Compson (1930), Marlene Dietrich (1942), and Anne Baxter (1955). In 1916, she starred in the thirteen episode adventure film serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn. She was busy throughout the silent film era but age and the advent of talkies saw her make only five sound films, her last coming in 1935. Kathlyn evolved from a comedienne and serial player in silents to portraying character roles in the early 1930s.

She was married twice, first to Otto H. Kainer, who worked on Wall Street in New York City, from 1903 to 1910 which produced a son named Victor Hugo born in 1905. In 1905, she successfully sued her husband for $20,000 dollars for not paying her $10,000 on day of their marriage and for every year of their marriage. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. They divorced, and she later married Paramount Pictures executive Charles Eyton. The Eyton romance culminated in a June 1916 marriage in Riverside, California. The couple met approximately ten years prior to their union, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eyton went there to look over a new play. While there he met Kathlyn, who was a member of the Willard Mack stock company. Eyton and Williams were engaged earlier but a lover's quarrel broke them up. A second meeting in the movie camps of Los Angeles, California rekindled their love. Eyton was one of the owners of the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company. On February 22, 1922, her beloved son, now called Victor Eyton, died suddenly at the age of 16 from complications from the influenza. The Eytons divorced in 1931.

Kathlyn Williams died of a heart attack in Hollywood in 1960. She was found dead in her home, where she lived as a wheelchair invalid. She was cremated, her ashes stored at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Kathlyn Williams has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7038 Hollywood Blvd.

References

• Galveston, Texas Daily News, Screen Life in Hollywood, Friday, March 20, 1931, Page 4.
• New York Times, Kathlyn Williams, September 25, 1960, Page 86.
• Reno, Nevada Evening Gazette, Short Yarns About Many Favorites, Saturday, June 17, 1916, Page 10.
• Anaconda, Montana The Anaconda Standard, "Butte Actress Loses Young Son", March 7, 1922, Page 6.
• New York City New York Times, "Husband Must Pay Up", Tuesday, May 9, 1905, page 2.
• 1924 passport from Ancestry.com states birth year was 1885.
• 1910 Census for Los Angeles
• Olympia, Washington Morning Olympian, "Kathlyn Wiliams Kainer", July 7, 1905, Page 2.
• Helena, Montana The Helena Independent, "For Honor and A Prize", May 29, 1899, Page
• 1880 Census, Butte Montana
• Anaconda, Montana The Anaconda Standard, "Sad News Shocks Daughter: Rushes To Bedside Of Aged Pioneer Woman On Learning Plight For First Time", December 12, 1908

External links

• Kathlyn Williams at IMDb
• Some contemporary articles and interviews with Kathlyn Williams