Marguerite Clark

Marguerite Clark
Born	February 22, 1883(1883-02-22) Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	September 25, 1940(1940-09-25) (aged 57) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1900–1921
Spouse	Harry Palmerson Williams (1918-1936) (his death)

Marguerite Clark (February 22, 1883 – September 25, 1940) was an American stage and silent film actress.

Early life and theater

Born to a farming family in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Clark was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cincinnati. She finished school at age 16, and, having decided to pursue a career in the theatre, she quickly showed herself to be a gifted actress.

After performing for only a short time, she made her Broadway debut in 1900. The 17-year-old went on to star at various venues. In 1903 she was seen on Broadway opposite that hulking comedian DeWolf Hopper in Mr. Pickwick. The 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) Hopper dwarfed the nearly 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) Clark in their scenes together. Several adventure-fantasy roles followed. In 1909 Clark starred in the whimsical costume play The Beauty Spot keeping in line with the kind of fantasy stories she would soon do in films and which would become her hallmark.^[1] In 1910 Clark appeared in The Wishing Ring, a play directed by Cecil DeMille and later made into a motion picture by Maurice Tourneur. That same 1910 season had Clark appearing in Baby Mine, a popular play produced by William A. Brady. In 1912 Clark performed in a starring role with John Barrymore, Doris Keane and Gail Kane in the play The Affairs of Anatol later made into a motion picture by Clark's future movie studio Famous Players-Lasky(Paramount) and directed by Cecil DeMille. Also in 1912 Clark starred in a memorable production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This role was a definition of Clark's persona, and she would make an influential film version of the story in 1916. Clark's popularity led to her signing a contract in 1914 to make motion pictures with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.

Late starting film career

Marguerite in 1916

At age 31 it was relatively late in life for a film actress to begin a career with starring roles, but the diminutive Clark, who stood 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) tall, had a little-girl look, like Mary Pickford, that belied her years. Also, film was not developed or mature enough to showcase Clark at her youthful best at the turn of the century. These were one of the reasons established Broadway stars refused early film offers. Feature films were unheard of when Clark was in her early 20s. She made her first appearance on screen in the short film Wildflower, directed by Allan Dwan.

In 1915 she starred as "Gretchen" in a feature-length production of The Goose Girl based on a 1909 best-selling novel by Harold MacGrath. She performed in the feature-length production The Seven Sisters (1915), directed by Sidney Olcott, and she reprised a Broadway role, starring in the first feature-length film version of Snow White (1916).

Clark and Williams' former mansion on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown New Orleans now houses the Latter branch of the New Orleans Public Library

Clark was directed in this by J. Searle Dawley, as well as in a number of films, notably when she played the characters of both "Little Eva St. Clair" and "Topsy" in the feature Uncle Tom's Cabin (1918). That year Marguerite Clark married New Orleans, Louisiana plantation owner Harry Palmerston Williams (1880–1936) with whom she would remain until his death.

She starred in Come Out of the Kitchen (1919), which was filmed in Pass Christian, Mississippi, at Ossian Hall. The same year, she enrolled as a yeowoman in the naval reserves.

Marguerite Clark made all but one of her 40 films with Famous Players-Lasky, her last with them in 1920 titled Easy to Get, in which she starred opposite Harrison Ford.

Her next film, in 1921, was made by her own production company for First National Pictures distribution. As one of the most popular actresses going into the 1920s, and one of the industry's best paid, her name alone was enough to ensure reasonable box office success. As such, Scrambled Wives was made under her direction, following which she retired at age 38 to be with her husband at their country estate in New Orleans.

After the death of her husband in 1936, Marguerite Clark spent time in New York City, where she died from pneumonia in 1940 at the age of 57. She was buried with her husband in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Marguerite Clark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6304 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

• Wildflower (1914)
• The Crucible (1914)
• The Goose Girl (1915)
• Gretna Green (1915)
• The Pretty Sister of Jose (1915)
• The Seven Sisters (1915)
• Helene of the North (1915)
• Still Waters (1915)
• The Prince & the Pauper (1915)
• Mice and Men (1916)
• Out of the Drifts (1916)
• Molly Make-Believe (1916)
• Silks and Satins (1916)
• Little Lady Eileen (1916)
• Miss George Washington (1916)
• Snow White (1916)
• The Fortunes of Fifi (1917)
• The Valentine Girl (1917)
• The Amazons (1917)
• Bab's Diary (1917)
• Bab's Burglar (1917)
• Bab's Matinee Idol (1917)
• The Seven Swans (1917)
• Rich Man, Poor Man (1918)
• Prunella (1918)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (1918)
• Out of a Clear Sky (1918)
• The Biggest and the Littlest Lady in the World (1918)
• Little Miss Hoover (1918)
• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1919)
• Three Men and a Girl (1919)
• Let's Elope (1919)
• Come Out of the Kitchen (1919)
• Girls (1919)
• Widow by Proxy (1919)
• Luck in Pawn (1919)
• A Girl Named Mary (1919)
• All of a Sudden Peggy (1920)
• Easy to Get (1920)
• Scrambled Wives (1921)

Bibliography

• Marguerite Clark: America's Darling of Broadway and the Silent Screen, by Curtis Nunn, The Texas Christian University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-912646-69-1

References

1. ^ PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN THEATER by Daniel Blum c. 1953 (1970 reprint edition) page 109

External links

• Marguerite Clark in an excerpt from Snow White (1916).
• Marguerite Clark at the Internet Movie Database
• Marguerite Clark at the Internet Broadway Database
• Marguerite Clark at Find a Grave
• Some contemporary interviews with Marguerite Clark
• Marguerite Clark page at Corbis
• Marguerite Clark gallery NY Public Library
• Marguerite Clark bio & pics
• portrait of Marguerite Clark and DeWolf Hopper on Broadway in Happyland (1905) Univ. of Washington/Sayre Collection

Persondata
Name	Clark, Marguerite
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 22, 1883
Place of birth	Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Date of death	September 25, 1940
Place of death	New York City, U.S.