Gladys Brockwell

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Gladys Brockwell (Photo by Fred Hartsook, circa 1924)

Gladys Brockwell (actually Gladys Lindeman ; born September 26, 1894 in Brooklyn , New York City , † July 2, 1929 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress of the silent and early talkies era. In her 16-year screen career, she appeared in 117 films. In 1916 she became a contract actress with Fox Studios and soon became one of the production company's main stars. In the 1920s, Brockwell scored by roles in films such as The Hunchback of Notre Damealso for other film studios successes and was considered a distinguished character actress. In 1928, with Lights of New York, she made the transition from silent to sound films. Shortly after signing a contract with Warner Brothers and other planned film appearances, Brockwell died in 1929 at the age of 34 of the consequences of a car accident.

Private life

Gladys Brockwell (1917)

Gladys Brockwell grew up in her native New York. Her mother was the singer and stage actress Lillian "Billie" Lindeman, who was only 13 when her daughter was born. Brockwell later described their bond more as "friendship" than a typical mother-child relationship. No details are known about her father, HR Lindeman.

Brockwell married actor Robert B. Broadwell in September 1915. The marriage remained childless and was divorced in March 1918. A second marriage in July 1918 with director Harry Edwards lasted only three days and was annulled as invalid that same year.

After the United States entered World War I , Brockwell became a patriot and suffragette when she publicly promoted women taking over the professions of their war-drawn men, even if these were typical "man's jobs". During this time she herself worked - accompanied by reporters from Motion Picture Magazine - as a network electrician , blacksmith, barber, water truck driver , electrician, farm worker and postman.

On June 27, 1929, Gladys Brockwell was the passenger in the car of her friend, advertising expert Thomas Brennan, when the vehicle crashed in a curve near Calabasas . The car, presumably too fast, overturned three times and finally came to a stop after 20 meters on an embankment. Brockwell, trapped under the car, was admitted to the Osteopathic Hospital in Los Angeles with multiple fractures and internal injuries, where she received a total of four blood transfusions in the days that followed. Brockwell was slowly recovering from her injuries when she suffered peritonitis . Despite further treatment, the actress died on the evening of July 2, 1929 at the age of 34.

No investigation into the accident has been made against Thomas Brennan. He recovered from his injuries but died in another car accident in Los Angeles in February 1949. Gladys Brockwell does not own a tomb, her body was cremated and the urn given to her family.

Career

Brockwell with William Scott in Pitfalls of a Big City (1919)

At the age of three, Brockwell had her first speaking role in the theater. The first leading roles followed at the age of eleven. In 1913 she began her career as a film actress with the Lubin Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia and took her stage name at this time. After further films for other studios Brockwell made her breakthrough in Hollywood in 1916 as a contract actress with Fox Studios, for which she soon became an important star.

In the early 1920s Brockwell, in collaboration with other major film studios, reached the climax of her acting career through the role of Nancy in Oliver Twist and the following year as Sister Gudule in The Hunchback of Notre Dame . In the following years she was seen in numerous leading roles and important supporting roles. In 1927 Brockwell played the leading female role alongside Harry Langdon in the comedy The First Long Pants and supporting roles in Luck in the Attic and Blue Boys - blonde girls . Although she also appeared in comedies, she was mostly seen in dramatic roles. Unlike other stars of the silent film era, Brockwell made the transition to the sound film successfully. In 1928, she was seen as Molly Thompson in the first feature-length sound film, Lights of New York . Due to the success of this film, Brockwell received a contract with Warner Brothers and was to take over leading roles in other productions of the studio.

Her last film, The Drake Case , was released posthumously in September 1929.

Act

Gladys Brockwell (1919)

Gladys Brockwell has been a major actress since moving to Hollywood in 1916 and has starred in numerous Fox Studios films. In the 1920s, she was mostly limited to supporting roles, but her name continued to be the first to appear on movie posters and advertisements due to her popularity. During these years Brockwell cemented her reputation as a character actress and was dubbed "The Woman of a Thousand Expressions" by film critics, which was also used on movie posters and in advertisements.

Brockwell embodied in her films both positive characters such as mothers and "fallen angels", as well as difficult women (so-called Harrigans , in German to be compared with Vetteln ). She preferred demanding character roles, which is why her film appearances from 1920 onwards became less frequent, but also qualitatively more demanding. Brockwell mostly played roles that were several years older than her. Her appearance was described as "noticeable" by her large, dark eyes and thick eyebrows. Despite her popularity at the time, Brockwell rarely received recognition for her contributions to Fox Studios in the years and decades after her death .

Several dozen of Gladys Brockwell's 117 films are now considered lost or destroyed. This is due to the extremely flammable celluloid film used at the time , which self-decomposes if stored poorly.

Filmography (selection)

The Fires of Conscience (1916)
Sins of Her Parent (1916)
The Honor System (1917), one of Brockwell's lost or destroyed films
  • 1913: The Evil One (short film; lost or destroyed)
  • 1913: The Rattlesnake (only preserved in fragments)
  • 1913: His Blind Power
  • 1914: The Geisha
  • 1914: The Last of the Line
  • 1914: A Relic of Old Japan
  • 1914: The Typhoon
  • 1915: Double Trouble
  • 1916: The Fires of Conscience
  • 1916: Sins of Her Parent
  • 1917: A Branded Soul (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1917: The Honor System (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1917: The Soul of Satan
  • 1918: culture (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1919: Pitfalls of a Big City
  • 1920: Flames of the Flesh (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1920: The Mother of His Children (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1921: The Sage Hen
  • 1922: Oliver Twist
  • 1922: Paid Back
  • 1923: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
  • 1923: Penrod and Sam
  • 1923: The Darling of New York (only preserved in fragments)
  • 1924: The Foolish Virgin (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1924: So Big (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1925: Chickie (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1925: The Drake Case
  • 1925: The Ancient Mariner (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1926: The Skyrocket (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1926: Twinkletoes
  • 1926: The Last Frontier
  • 1926: Spangles
  • 1927: The first long pants (long pants)
  • 1927: The Country Doctor
  • 1927: Man, Woman and Sin
  • 1927: Luck in the attic (7th Heaven)
  • 1928: Blue Boys - Blonde Girls (A Girl in Every Port)
  • 1928: The Home Towners (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1928: Lights of New York
  • 1928: The Woman Disputed
  • 1928: The Law and the Man
  • 1929: The Hottentot (film lost or destroyed)
  • 1929: The Argyle Case (only fragments of the soundtrack preserved)
  • 1929: Hardboiled Rose
  • 1929: The Drake Case

literature

  • Eve Golden: Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars . McFarland, Jefferson 2015, ISBN 978-0-7864-8354-9 .

Web links

Commons : Gladys Brockwell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In some sources, 1893 is also given as the date of birth
  2. ↑ a b c Eve Golden: Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars . McFarland, Jefferson 2015, ISBN 978-0-7864-8354-9 , 8.
  3. ↑ a b c Eve Golden: Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars . McFarland, Jefferson 2015, ISBN 978-0-7864-8354-9 , 9.
  4. ^ Allan R. Ellenberger: The Tragic Death of Gladys Brockwell: The Woman of a Thousand Expressions. In: allanellenberger.com. November 11, 2018, accessed October 23, 2019 .
  5. ^ Andre S .: Gladys Brockwell: Remarkable Silent Era Actress Remembered. In: Alt Film Guide. July 2, 2008, accessed October 24, 2019 .
  6. ^ Grand Theater, Newcomerstown, Ohio - July 2, 1917. In: The Silent Film Still Archive. September 3, 2015, accessed October 25, 2019 .
  7. ^ Aubrey Solomon: The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8610-6 , p. 1.
personal data
SURNAME Brockwell, Gladys
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lindeman, Gladys (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City
DATE OF DEATH July 2, 1929
Place of death Los Angeles , California