Florence Turner

Florence Turner

Florence Turner in 1916
Born (1885-01-06)January 6, 1885
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died August 28, 1946(1946-08-28) (aged 61)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1907–1943

Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films.

Biography

Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by her ambitious mother. Turner became a regular performer in a variety of productions.

In 1906 she joined the fledgling motion picture business, signing with the pioneering Vitagraph Studios and making her film debut in How to Cure a Cold (June 8, 1907).[1]

At the time there were no stars per se, unless an already famous stage star made a movie. Performers were not even mentioned by name. Long, drawn out screen credits were not thought of. There was nothing but the name of the company and the picture. As the content of movies evolved from simple incidents, or situations, into definite stories, some of the heroes and heroines were conceded a vague identity, such as the "Edison Girl", etc.

Florence Turner, the Vitagraph Girl, in 1912

Though she was known only as the "Vitagraph Girl" in the early motion picture shorts, Turner became the most popular American actress to appear on screen (at that time still dominated by French pictures, especially from the Pathe and Gaumont companies). Her worth to the studio, as its biggest box-office draw, was recognised in 1907 when her pay was upped to $22 a week, as proto-star plus part-time seamstress. It was somewhat less than the male leading players, especially those with stage experience, particularly the super-popular Maurice Costello. In March 1910 she and Florence Lawrence became the first screen actors not already famous in another medium to be publicized by name by their studios to the general public.[2]

Later that year, Florence was paired several times with heart throb Wallace Reid, who was on his way to stardom. But with the rise of more stars such as Gene Gauntier and Marin Sais at Kalem Studios, Marion Leonard and Mary Pickford at Biograph Studios, and Florence Lawrence (Biograph, moving to IMP in 1910), Florence Turner was no longer quite as special. By 1913 she was looking for new pastures and left the United States accompanied by longtime friend Laurence Trimble, who directed her in a number of movies.[3] They moved to England, where she and Larry began performing together in London music halls.

Turner sometimes wrote screenplays and directed her own movies, including a number of comedies. She also organized her own production company, Turner Films, for which she made more than thirty shorts.

Turner entertained Allied troops during World War I. She returned to the U.S. after the Armistice, but was not as successful as before. In 1920, she again went to England, where she remained until moving to Hollywood, virtually forgotten, in 1924.[4]

By then she was thirty-nine years of age and her starring days were long behind her. She continued to act in supporting roles into the 1930s.

In 1928 she acted in a minor role on Broadway in Sign of the Leopard, which ran for 39 performances.[5] Turner was placed on the payroll at MGM by Louis B. Mayer in the 1930s, but was limited in the assignments offered. She mostly played bit or small parts and worked as an extra.

She later moved to the Motion Picture Country House, a retirement community for the industry in Woodland Hills, California.

After appearing in more than 160 motion pictures, Florence Turner died at 61 in Woodland Hills.[6] She was cremated at a mortuary in Hollywood and, at her request, there was no funeral service. She was buried at Chapel of the Pines Crematory.

Filmography

  • How to Cure a Cold (1907)
  • Athletic American Girls (1907)
  • Bargain Fiend; or, Shopping à la Mode (1907)
  • Cast Up by the Sea (1907)
  • The Gypsy's Warning (1907)
  • An Unexpected Santa Claus (1908)
  • Ex-Convict No. 900 (1908)
  • Francesca di Rimini; or, The Two Brothers (1908)
  • Macbeth (1908)
  • Richard III (1908)
  • Romance of a War Nurse (1908)
  • Romeo and Juliet (1908)
  • Saved by Love (1908)
  • The Merchant of Venice (1908)
  • A Daughter of the Sun (1909)
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)
  • Fuss and Feathers (1909)
  • Kenilworth (1909)
  • King Lear (1909)
  • Launcelot and Elaine (1909)
  • The Heart of a Clown (1909)
  • A Dixie Mother (1910)
  • A Pair of Schemers; or, My Wife and My Uncle (1910)
  • A Tin-Type Romance (1910)
  • Auld Robin Gray (1910)
  • Back to Nature; or, The Best Man Wins (1910)
  • Brother Man (1910)
  • Davy Jones and Captain Bragg (1910)
  • For Her Sister's Sake (1910)
  • Francesca da Rimini (1910)
  • Her Mother's Wedding Gown (1910)
  • In the Mountains of Kentucky (1910)
  • Jean Goes Fishing (1910)
  • Jean the Match-Maker (1910)
  • Love, Luck and Gasoline (1910)
  • Over the Garden Wall (1910)
  • Peg Woffington (1910)
  • Ranson's Folly (1910)
  • Renunciation (1910)
  • Rose Leaves (1910)
  • Sisters (1910)
  • St. Elmo (1910)
  • The Winning of Miss Langdon (1910)
  • Twelfth Night (1910)
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910)
  • Wilson's Wife's Countenance (1910)
  • A Tale of Two Cities (1911)
  • Auld Lang Syne (1911)
  • Birds of a Feather (1911)
  • Captain Barnacle's Courtship (1911)
  • Cherry Blossoms (1911)
  • For His Sake; or, The Winning of the Stepchildren (1911)
  • Forgotten; or, An Answered Prayer (1911)
  • Hypnotizing the Hypnotist (1911)
  • Intrepid Davy (1911)
  • Jealousy (1911)
  • Jean Rescues (1911)
  • One Touch of Nature (1911)
  • Prejudice of Pierre Marie (1911)
  • Proving His Love; or, The Ruse of a Beautiful Woman (1911)
  • The Answer of the Roses (1911)
  • The New Stenographer (1911)
  • The Sacrifice (1911)
  • The Show Girl (1911)
  • The Spirit of the Light; or, Love Watches on Through the Years (1911)
  • The Stumbling Block (1911)
  • The Thumb Print (1911)
  • The Wrong Patient (1911)
  • Wig Wag (1911)
  • A Red Cross Martyr; or, On the Firing Lines of Tripoli (1912)
  • A Vitagraph Romance (1912)
  • Aunty's Romance (1912)
  • Flirt or Heroine (1912)
  • Her Diary (1912)
  • Indian Romeo and Juliet (1912)
  • Jean Intervenes (1912)
  • Mrs. Carter's Necklace (1912)
  • She Cried (1912)
  • Susie to Susanne (1912)
  • The Face or the Voice (1912)
  • The Irony of Fate (1912)
  • The Loyalty of Sylvia (1912)
  • The Path of True Love (1912)
  • The Servant Problem; or, How Mr. Bullington Ran the House (1912)
  • The Signal of Distress (1912)
  • Two Cinders (1912)
  • Una of the Sierras (1912)
  • Wanted... a Grandmother (1912)
  • When Persistency and Obstinacy Meet (1912)
  • While She Powdered Her Nose (1912)
  • A Window on Washington Park (1913)
  • Checkmated (1913)
  • Counsellor Bobby (1913)
  • Cutey and the Twins (1913)
  • Everybody's Doing It (1913)
  • Let 'Em Quarrel (1913)
  • Pumps (1913)
  • Sisters All (1913)
  • Stenographer's Troubles (1913)
  • The Deerslayer (1913)
  • The Harper Mystery (1913)
  • The House in Suburbia (1913)
  • The One Good Turn (1913)
  • The Skull (1913)
  • The Wings of a Moth (1913)
  • Under the Make-Up (1913)
  • Up and Down the Ladder (1913)
  • What a Change of Clothes Did (1913)
  • Creatures of Habit (1914)
  • Daisy Doodad's Dial (1914)
  • Flotilla the Flirt (1914)
  • For Her People (1914)
  • Jean's Evidence (1914)
  • Rose of Surrey (1914)
  • Shopgirls: or, The Great Question (1914)
  • The Murdock Trial (1914)
  • The Shepherd Lassie of Argyle (1914)
  • The Younger Sister (1914)
  • Through the Valley of Shadows (1914)
  • A Welsh Singer (1915)
  • Alone in London (1915)
  • As Ye Repent (1915)
  • Far from the Madding Crowd (1915)
  • Lost and Won (1915)
  • My Old Dutch (1915)
  • Doorsteps (1916)
  • East Is East (1916)
  • Grim Justice (1916)
  • Fool's Gold (1919)
  • Oh, It's E.Z. (1919)
  • Blackmail (1920)
  • The Brand of Lopez (1920)
  • The Ugly Duckling (1920)
  • Three Men in a Boat (1920)
  • All Dolled Up (1921)
  • Passion Fruit (1921)
  • The Old Wives' Tale (1921)
  • The Lights o' London (1922)
  • The Little Mother (1922)
  • The Street Tumblers (1922)
  • Was She Justified? (1922)
  • Hornet's Nest (1923)
  • Janice Meredith (1924)
  • Sally Bishop (1924)
  • The Boatswain's Mate (1924)
  • Women and Diamonds (1924)
  • Never the Twain Shall Meet (1925)
  • The Dark Angel (1925)
  • The Mad Marriage (1925)
  • The Price of Success (1925)
  • Flame of the Argentine (1926)
  • Padlocked (1926)
  • The Gilded Highway (1926)
  • The Last Alarm (1926)
  • College (1927)
  • Sally in Our Alley (1927)
  • Stranded (1927)
  • The Broken Gate (1927)
  • The Cancelled Debt (1927)
  • The Chinese Parrot (1927)
  • The Overland Stage (1927)
  • Jazzland (1928)
  • Marry the Girl (1928)
  • The Law and the Man (1928)
  • The Pace That Kills (1928)
  • The Road to Ruin (1928)
  • Walking Back (1928)
  • Kid's Clever (1929)
  • The Iron Mask (1929)
  • The Rampant Age (1930)
  • The Ridin' Fool (1931)
  • The Animal Kingdom (1932)
  • The Sign of the Cross (1932)
  • The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932)
  • He Couldn't Take It (1933)
  • One Rainy Afternoon (1936)
  • Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)
  • Thousands Cheer (1943)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330418/
  2. ↑ Eileen Bowser, The Transformation of Cinema, 1907–1915, University of California Press, 1994, p. 112–113. ISBN 978-0-520-08534-3.
  3. ↑ Passenger list of S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II, Port of Plymouth, England, May 5, 1913. Ancestry.com. UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Would You Be Famous? Consider for a Moment the Fortunes of These Stars of Yesterday!", The Evening Herald, Rock Hill, South Carolina, July 21, 1924, p. 8.
  5. ↑ Internet Broadway Database.
  6. ↑ "Obituaries; Florence Turner". Chicago Tribune. August 30, 1946. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
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