Mary Pickford, Lillian Russell, Gloria Swanson
Silent Screen Star Scandals – Sex, Sanity, Substance Abuse and So On
Before the days of censorship and codes within Hollywood, the stars of the silent silver screen created several scandals.
Continuing from K-O Silent Screen Stars, the murderous, sexual, economic, and political scandals of the silent film era were torrid, sorrowful, and more extreme than many movie star scandals of the talking picture era.
P – Mary Pickford
Ironically remembered as America’s sweetheart, Mary Pickford (1892-1979) was actually Canadian.
Born Gladys Louise Smith, her middle name was soon changed to “Marie.” Pickford experienced a difficult childhood. Her alcoholic father abandoned the family and died while Mary was a very young child. She became a child actress, eventually becoming one of the first mega-movie stars.
Pickford wed three times. Her first husband Owen Moore caused the couple to separate due to his professional jealousy, domestic violence, and alcoholism. It is though that Pickford became pregnant at some point during the marriage, but due to either a miscarriage or abortion she may have been left unable to have children in the future.
Although long separated, Pickford did not divorce Moore until she became romantically involved with Douglas Fairbanks, who became her second husband. The couple were considered “Hollywood Royalty,” and they were famous hosting lavish parties at their home, Pickfair.
Strains were placed upon her second marriage with the introduction of talkies. Fairbanks stamped out his restlessness through travel, which Pickford did not enjoy, and the relationship became unsalvagable when Fairbanks embarked on an affair.
A string of family deaths and the end of her second marriage upset Pickford, who soon retired from acting. She wished to have all of her films destroyed, but she was persuaded against. She remained married over forty years to her third husband, Charles Rogers, and the couple adopted two children, although it is thought that Pickford continued to miss Fairbanks.
Q – Eddie Quillan
Edward “Eddie” Quillan (1907-1990) was born into a successful vaudeville family. As a young man, he began acting in silent films, and he was able to make the transition to talking pictures. He continued to get leading and supporting roles, but by the 1950s, he began to more often gain work in television.
It is perhaps sensational that unlike many of his colleague and despite his career spanning three mediums and many decades, no event of Quillan’s life made scandalous headlines.
R – Lillian Russell
Helen Louise Leonard (1860-1922) is most remembered as a stage actress and singer who took the name Lillian Russell. However, she also starred in a few early silent films, including Wildfire (1915) opposite Lionel Barrymore.
Russell wed four times. She married her first husband after discovering that she was pregnant, but the baby was accidentally killed by a nanny. After divorcing her first husband, Russell had an illegitimate daughter with composer Edward Solomon, who eventually became her second husband, but unbeknownst to Russell he had committed bigamy by marrying her, causing him to be arrested.
Not only marrying two more times, Russell also became the companion of wealthy businessman Diamond Jim Brady, who financed her lavish lifestyle.
S – Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson (1899-1983) was prominent as a silent screen star and fashion icon, although she is now most recognized from playing Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950).
Swanson rivaled Henry VIII by also marrying six times. She first married when she was only seventeen, but this marriage to fellow-actor Wallace Beery lasted only two years.
Her second husband was the president of Equity Pictures Corporation, and he later owned the Brown Derby restaurant. The couple had a daughter together, but he eventually divorced Swanson, claiming she had committed adultery with thirteen men including Cecil B. DeMille and Rudolph Valentino.
Besides her multiple marriages, one of which was technically bigamy due to Swanson’s divorce not being finalized, Swanson also became the longtime mistress of married Joseph P. Kennedy, father of John F. Kennedy. The affair ended when Swanson discovered that Kennedy had mismanaged her finances, bankrupting her.
T – Talmadge Sisters
Norma, Natalie, and Constance Talmadge were silent film actresses, and both Norma and Constance Talmadge were among the very first stars to add their footprints and signatures to the pavement of Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
Norma Talmadge (1893-1957) peaked as one of the most popular stars of the early 1920s. A specialist of melodramatic performance, she became one of the highest stars to fall due to the introduction of sound. Although Norma retired a wealthy woman, she became reclusive and reliant on painkillers to cope with increased arthritic pain.
Natalie Talmadge (1896-1969) was never as successful an actress as her two sisters, but she is famed as the first wife of Buster Keaton. It is not entirely clear why the couple wed, but the marriage was tumultuous. Natalie spent money lavishly, while Keaton frequently committed adultery and eventually became an unmanageable alcoholic.
Constance Talmadge (1897-1973) was a star in silent films, but few of her movies survive. Like her sisters, she retired with the introduction of talking pictures, instead investing in real estate and business, but Constance suffered from substance abuse and alcoholism. Although married four times, only her final marriage lasted longer than two years.
Rudolph Valentino, Billie Burke Ziegfeld, and more…
Silent Screen Star Scandals continues with the murders, intrigues, and affairs of V-Z Silent Silver Screen Stars.
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