Violet Wilkey

Violet Wilkey (January 10, 1903 - June 5, 1976) was an American child actor whose career lasted only four years during the early silent film era.

Biography

Violet Wilkey was born in St. Louis, Missouri to an English father named Arthur Wilkey and an American mother named Anna Dora (Winter) Wilkey. Violet made her motion picture debut at age ten in a 1913 dramatic short entitled "The Little Mother" opposite actress Ruth Stonehouse. Her follow up film would be 1914 release "The Old Maid" opposite such popular stars of the era as Blanche Sweet, Spottiswoode Aitken, Mary Alden and Jack Conway.

Violet Wilkey is possibly best recalled today for her appearance as 'young Flora' in director D.W. Griffith's controversial 1915 classic "The Birth of a Nation". [ [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=76316] "New York Times Movies"] Wilkey portaryed the character 'Flora Cameron' as a child in flashback scenes; the character of 'Flora' as an adult in the film was portrayed by actress Mae Marsh.

Wilkey would spend the next few years in relatively minor roles; including one of actor/director Tod Browning's early efforts "The Burned Hand" from 1915. Other notable films of the period were the Lloyd Ingraham directed and Anita Loos penned drama "The Children Pay" (1916), opposite Lillian Gish and Alma Rubens and the 1917 drama "Cheerful Givers" opposite Bessie Love, Spottiswoode Aitken, Kenneth Harlan and Pauline Starke.

Wilkey's final film performance was the role of 'Minnie Smellie' in the 1917 comedy-drama "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". The film was directed by Marshall Neilan and starred notable film actress Mary Pickford in the title role.

Violet Wilkey subsequently retired from the screen at the age of fifteen in 1917.

Later life

Violet Wilkey married Russell Gilbert Kauffmann on January 27, 1927 and the couple had two children, Robert Russell and Patricia. The couple, however, would eventually divorce.

Filmography

*"Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1917)
*"Cheerful Givers" (1917)
*"The Children Pay" (1916)
*"Little Miss Nobody" (1916)
*"The Wayward Son" (1915)
*"The Little Orphans" (1915)
*"Her Fairy Prince" (1915)
*"The Healers" (1915)
*"A Bad Man and Others" (1915)
*"The Burned Hand" (1915)
*"Hearts United" (1915)
*"Mike's Elopement" (1915)
*"The Little Mother" (1915)
*"The Birth of a Nation" (1915)
*"The Old Maid" (1914)
*"The Little Mother" (1913)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0929200|name=Violet Wilkey
* [http://www.filmsite.org/birt.html "The Birth of A Nation"]
* [http://www.younghollywoodhof.com/1900.html Young Hollywood Hall of Fame]