- Ruth Roland
Ruth Roland (
August 26 1892 -September 22 1937 ) was an American stage and film actress andfilm producer .Born in
San Francisco, California , her father managed a theatre and she became a child actress who went on to work invaudeville . She was hired by directorSidney Olcott who had seen her on stage inNew York City , she appeared in her first film forKalem Studios in 1909 and along withGene Gauntier was soon billed as a "Kalem Girl." Roland was eventually sent to Kalem's West Coast studio where she was the lead actress and overseer of "Kalem House" where all the actors lived. At 12 years old, Roland was the youngest student atHollywood High School . [ [http://www.silent-movies.com/Taylorology/Taylor36.txt ] at www.silent-movies.com]Ruth Roland left Kalem and went on to even more fame at
Balboa Films , where she was under contract from 1914-1917. In 1915 she appeared in a 14-episodeadventure film serial titled "The Red Circle"." A shrewd businessperson, she established her own production company and signed a distribution deal withPathé to make six new multi-episode serials that proved very successful.Ruth Roland Serials, Inc.: (each 15 episodes)
*"The Adventures of Ruth " (1919)
*"Ruth of the Rockies " (1920)
*"White Eagle" (1922)
*"The Timber Queen " (1922)
*"The Haunted Valley" (1923)
*"Ruth of the Range" (1923)Between 1909 and 1927 Ruth Roland appeared in more than 200 films. She appeared in an early color film "
Cupid Angling " (1918) made in the Naturalcolor process invented by Leon F. Douglass, and filmed in the Lake Lagunitas area ofMarin County, California .Roland left the film business until 1930 when she made her first
talkie . Although her voice worked well enough on screen, now entering her forties she returned to performing in live theatre, making only one more film appearance in 1935.Roland married actor
Ben Bard in 1929. Bard also had stage acting in common and ran a Hollywood acting school after they married. They were together until the end of Roland's life.Ruth Roland died of
cancer in 1937, aged 45, inHollywood and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery inGlendale, California .For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ruth Roland has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6220 Hollywood Blvd.References
*imdb name|id= 0738082|name= Ruth Roland
* "Balboa Films - A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio" ISBN 078640496-5
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