Lila Lee
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Lila Lee (July 25, 1901 - November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress of the early silent film era.
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[edit] Early life
Lila Lee was born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel in Union Hill, New Jersey into a middle-class family of German immigrants who relocated to New York City when Lila was quite young. Searching for a hobby for their gregarious young daughter, the Appels enrolled Lila in Gus Edwards' kiddie review shows where she was given the nickname of "Cuddles"; a name that she would be known by for the rest of her acting career. Her stagework became so popular with the public that her parents had her educated with private tutors. Edwards would become Lee's long-term manager.
[edit] Career
In 1918 she was chosen for a film contract by Hollywood film mogul Jesse Lasky for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount Pictures. Her first feature The Cruise of the Make-Believes garnered the seventeen year old starlet much public acclaim and Lassky quickly sent Lee on an arduous publicity campaign. Critics lauded Lila for her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts. Lee quickly rose to the ranks of leading lady and often starred opposite such matinee heavies as Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, and Rudolph Valentino.
In 1922 Lee was cast as Carmen in the enormously popular film Blood and Sand, opposite matinee idol Rudolph Valentino and silent screen vamp Nita Naldi; Lee subsequently won the first WAMPAS Baby Stars award that year. Lee continued to be a highly popular leading lady throughout the 1920's and made scores of critically praised and widely watched films.
[edit] Personal life
Lila was married and divorced three times, including a marriage to actor James Kirkwood, Sr. in 1923. However, the union ended in divorce in 1931. Lee and Kirkwood had a son in 1930 named James Kirkwood, Jr. who became a highly regarded playwright and screenwriter whose works include A Chorus Line and P.S. Your Cat Is Dead.
As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, Lee's popularity began to wane and Lee positioned herself for the transition to talkies. However, a series of bad career choices and bouts of recurring tuberculosis hindered further projects and Lee was relegated to taking parts in mostly grade B-movies.
Lee made several uneventful stage plays in the 1940s and starred in early television soap operas in the 1950s. In 1973 Lee died of a stroke at Saranac Lake, New York. For her contribution as an actress in motion pictures, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1716 Vine Street, in Hollywood, California.
[edit] Filmography
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[edit] External links
- Lila Lee at the Internet Movie Database
- Silent Ladies & Gents
- Golden Silents
- Lila Lee at Find A Grave
- Lila Lee interview with the Columbia University Oral History Research Officede:Lila Lee
es:Lila Lee nl:Lila Lee ru:Ли, Лила
