Clarine Seymour

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Clarine Seymour (Photo by Albert Witzel, 1919)

Clarine E. Seymour (born December 9, 1898 in New York City , † April 25, 1920 ibid) was an American actress of the silent film era . She gained fame in her short career primarily through roles in comedies and her collaboration with David Wark Griffith . Seymour died in 1920 at the age of just 21 while filming Griffiths Far East .

Life

Childhood and youth

Clarine Seymour was born in Brooklyn , New York, as the elder of two children to wealthy business owner Albert V and his wife Florence Seymour . As a child, Seymour made her first appearances in the local Methodist Church. In the spring of 1916, her father fell seriously ill and had to close his shop as a result. The family moved to New Rochelle , where Clarine Seymour worked as an extra in films for the Thanhouser Company to help her family financially.

Career

Clarine Seymour during a movie scene (1920)

Seymour caught the attention of the Pathé studios through her work as an extra, where she got her first small roles in serials with Pearl White as the leading actress. She was discovered in 1917 through a supporting role in Mystery of the Double Cross by Hal Roach , who offered her a contract with the Rolin Film Company, which he founded. Seymour moved to Los Angeles and gained notoriety in the following years mainly through comedies in the Toto the Clown film series. After a short time, however, the contract with the Rolin Film Company was terminated after Seymour refused to perform a stunt in a film scene himself. She successfully sued the film studio and received $ 1,325 in compensation. During the trial, Seymour made several comedic short films for Al Christie .

In 1918 Seymour met the director and screenwriter Victor Heerman , through whom she got in touch with David Wark Griffith. This hired her after a casting in a supporting role in his 1919 short film The Girl Who Stayed at Home . That same year, Seymour starred as Bettina on the side of Lillian Gish in True Heart Susie . In Griffith's Western Scarlet Days , also published in 1919, she played the role of Chiquita , which Griffith wrote spontaneously into the script especially for Seymour. Seymour was near the set while filming when the director decided to put in a comedic scene for her. In the 1920 drama The Idol Dancer , Griffith first engaged Seymour in the female lead as Mary .

Shortly before her death, Clarine Seymour was featured on the cover of Motion Picture Classic magazine in March 1920 . The report contained therein noted that there had never been "such a beautiful and piquant comedian" before.

Last film role and death

In the spring of 1920 Clarine Seymour was engaged again by Griffith in the role of Kate in the drama Far in the East with Lillian Gish. However, during about half of the shooting, she suffered an intestinal obstruction. Seymour was admitted to the Misericordia Hospital, where emergency surgery was performed. However, her health did not improve. She also fell ill with pneumonia in the hospital . Clarine Seymour died on April 25, 1920 at the age of only 21. She was buried in Greenwood Union Cemetery in the small community of Rye in Westchester County . Her scenes as Kate in Far in the East were re-shot with actress Mary Hay , but according to Lillian Gish, Seymour can be seen in some takes of the finished film (mostly from a greater distance). In addition, Gish noted in an interview that she believes the hard filming of Far in the East in freezing temperatures is the reason behind Seymour's fatal illness.

On September 26, 1920, a funeral service was held at Robert Brunton Studios for a number of actors who had all died young that year. In addition to Clarine Seymour, Ormer Locklear , Olive Thomas and Robert Harron were honored. The funeral speech was held by William Desmond Taylor , who himself was murdered almost two years later at the age of only 49.

Filmography

Clarine Seymour filming Scarlet Days (1919)

Feature films

  • 1917: The Mystery of the Double Cross
  • 1917: Pots-and-Pans Peggy
  • 1917: It Happened to Adele
  • 1918: A One Night Stand
  • 1919: True Heart Susie
  • 1919: Scarlet Days
  • 1920: The Idol Dancer
  • 1920: Far in the East ( Way Down East ; scenes not completed, only individual shots in the film have been preserved)

Short films

  • 1918: Fare, Please
  • 1918: His Busy Day
  • 1918: The Furniture Movers
  • 1918: Fire the Cook
  • 1918: Beach Nuts
  • 1918: Do Husbands Deceive?
  • 1918: Nipped in the Bud
  • 1918: The Dippy Daughter
  • 1918: Just Rambling Along
  • 1918: An Enemy of Soap
  • 1918: Check Your Baggage
  • 1919: Hustling for Health
  • 1919: Toto's Troubles
  • 1919: The Girl Who Stayed at Home

literature

  • Eve Golden: Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars . McFarland, Jefferson 2015. ISBN 978-0786408344

Web links

Commons : Clarine Seymour  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clarine Seymour. In: silentsaregolden.com. Retrieved September 13, 2019 .
  2. ^ Q. David Bowers: Seymour, Clarine. In: Thanhouser. 1995, accessed September 13, 2019 .
  3. ^ Eve Golden: Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars . McFarland, Jefferson 2015, ISBN 978-0786408344 , 159.
  4. ↑ Charles Affron: Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life . University of California Press , Berkeley 2002, ISBN 978-0-520-23434-5 , 133.
  5. ↑ Anthony Slide: Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses . University Press of Kentucky , Lexington 2010, ISBN 978-0-8131-2708-8 , chapter Lillian Gish .
  6. ↑ Clarine Seymour. In: Find a Grave . March 28, 2001, accessed September 13, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Hans J. Wollstein: Clarine Seymour. In: Silent Hollywood. Retrieved September 13, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Jessica Keaton: Miss Clarine Seymour. In: Silence is Platinum. August 22, 2010, accessed September 13, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Bruce Long: William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier . Rowman & Littlefield , Lanham 1991, ISBN 978-0-8108-4171-0 , 148.
personal data
SURNAME Seymour, Clarine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seymour, Clarine E. (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 1920
Place of death New York City