- Dorothy Seastrom
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Dorothy Seastrom Born February 16, 1903
Texas, U.S.Died January 31, 1930 (aged 26)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.Occupation Actress Years active 1923–1926 Spouse Francis Corby (m.?–1930) Dorothy Seastrom (March 16, 1903 – January 31, 1930) was an American silent film actress.
Contents
Early life and career
Born in Texas, Seastrom got into acting after winning the a beauty competition. Her film career began in 1923 with the role of Eleanor Harmon in The Call of the Canyon, directed by Victor Fleming. Later she acted under the direction of Cecil B. Demille. She signed a five year contract with First National Pictures in September 1925. Seastrom was called the "Candy Kid" at First National because of her taffy colored hair.
She appeared in The Perfect Flapper with Colleen Moore and Classified with Corinne Griffith. Seastrom barely avoided a potentially disfiguring accident during the filming of We Moderns (1925). A shower of sparks from a short-circuited light fell upon her hair and shoulders at the United Studios. Seastrom escaped injury when assistant director James Dunne grabbed a table cloth from a prop table and covered the actress' head. Electricians shut off the power to a light which hung from the Fly system above the scene. Seastrom made a full recovery from the burns she sustained. She returned to complete the John Francis Dillon directed film.
Death
Due to declining health, Seastrom returned to Dallas for a rest in the fall of 1925 where she became ill. Physicians ordered her to a rest sanatorium for several months. It was feared that if she continued working, she would be forced out of movies completely. First National management agreed to hold the starting date of her contract temporarily, until she regained her health. She lost a role in Irene (1926), which she was scheduled to make with Colleen Moore. Her frail strength and a hard work regimen left her a victim of tuberculosis.
She was taken by her husband to a sanatorium in the hills of California to recuperate. In 1926, Seastrom returned and appeared in her final film It Must Be Love. Seastrom died of tuberculosis in Dallas on January 31, 1930. She was 26 years old.
Filmography
Year Film Role 1923 The Call of the Canyon Eleanor Harmon 1924 Jonah Jones Margaret Morgan Crushed Miss Brown 1926 Hooked Dorothy Fifth Avenue Models Mannequin King Cotton Pretty Ladies Diamond Tights We Moderns Dolly Wimple 1926 It Must Be Love Min References
- Charleston Gazette, "Dorothy Seastrom On For Long Term", September 27, 1925, Page 35.
- Frederick Daily News, "She Just Worships Vikings", Tuesday, March 24, 1925, Page 11.
- Los Angeles Times, "Beauty Periled By Shower of Sparks", August 18, 1925, Page A1.
- Los Angeles Times, "Actress Burned In Film Set Recovers", August 24, 1925, Page A3.
- Los Angeles Times, "Dorothy Seastrom Will Be With First National", September 9, 1925, Page A9.
- Los Angeles Times, "Avoirdupois is Banned on First National Lot", September 16, 1925, Page 6.
- Los Angeles Times, "Illness Halts Film Rise", September 28, 1925, Page A10.
- Nevada State Journal, "Behind The Screen", Sunday, May 2, 1926, Page 6.
External links
Categories:- Actors from Texas
- American film actors
- American silent film actors
- Deaths from tuberculosis
- People from Dallas, Texas
- Western (genre) film actors
- 1903 births
- 1930 deaths
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