Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born August 19, 1900 in Port Huron , Michigan , † January 25, 1988 in Paso Robles , California ; actually: Kathleen Morrison ) was an American actress . She was often cast for the female flapper type and became one of the greatest stars of the silent movie era.
Career
Colleen Moore was educated in a convent and studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory. As she herself pointed out in her autobiography Silent Star , she came to film in 1917 through a favor that director David Wark Griffith owed her uncle Walther Howey. Howey was editor at a Chicago newspaper and was the model for the reporter in the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht . However, contrary to many reports to the contrary, Colleen Moore did not star in either The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance .
For the next several years, Moore mainly starred in B-movies and westerns without making any particular impression at the box office. In 1922 she was chosen as one of the first WAMPAS Baby Stars . Her breakthrough came practically overnight when she had her hair styled into a bobbed head that was popular at the time for the film Flaming Youth in 1923 and thus became a symbol for the flappers of the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties . In the years that followed, she was seen again and again as an exuberant young woman who lives her life according to her own rules and rejects traditional conventions. Together with her first husband, John McCormick, she founded her own production company under the umbrella of the First National , whose production manager was McCormick. At the height of her career, Moore was making $ 12,500 a week. She invested her fees wisely and amassed a great fortune. Her future husbands were also stockbrokers who helped her lead a luxurious life. Moore was careful not to get too locked into the flapper type. Excursions into dramatic roles such as Edna Ferber's So Big from 1925 alternated with romantic comedies and love stories such as Ella Cinders from 1926. As early as 1928, Moore recognized the signs of the times and produced a so-called hybrid sound film with Lilac Times , the sound effects and individual Contained dialog lines. Her partner in the film, which was one of the most successful of the year, was Gary Cooper .
Your attempt to master the new medium of sound film , however, was rather half-hearted. In 1929 she directed a number of musicals, including Footlights and Fools alongside Fredric March , but audience tastes had already decided against Moore and her role. Their attempts to start a comeback in 1933/34 failed due to the lack of public interest.
Moore subsequently wrote many successful guides for women, such as How Women Can Make Money at the Stock Market and Colleen Moore's Doll House, about her famous collection of dolls and the legendary dollhouse she had built.
Quotes
I was the spark that lit up Flaming Youth, and Colleen Moore was the torch. (Eng .: I was the spark that lit Flaming Youth and Colleen Moore was the torch) - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Filmography (selection)
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Web links
- Colleen Moore in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Colleen Moore at Golden Silents
- Colleen Moore at Silents Are Golden
- Short biography on the occasion of her death in the New York Times
- About Colleen Moore's Dollhouse
- Images by Colleen Moore In: Virtual History
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Moore, Colleen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Morrison, Kathleen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-american actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 19th August 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Port Huron , Michigan , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 25, 1988 |
| Place of death | Paso Robles , California , United States |