Clara Kimball Young

Clara Kimball Young was a famous movie star. She started acting when she was only three. Her parents were also actors. They traveled to many places for work.

Clara became very popular in silent films.

She played many different roles. Some of her films were huge hits. Many of these old films are now lost.

She even had her own film company. Later, she acted in movies with sound. She also worked on the radio.

Clara's work helped start the movie world.

Clara Kimball Young was a famous movie star. She grew up in a family of actors. Her parents traveled to act in many theaters. Clara started acting when she was only three years old. She worked in small towns across the United States.

In 1912, Clara began making silent films.

These were movies without spoken words. She became a very popular leading lady. One hit movie was called My Official Wife. It was made in 1914. Clara was so famous that she had her own film company.

Later, her career faced many hard times. She had trouble with business deals. She also worked with people who lacked experience. By 1925, her fame began to fade. She later acted in movies with sound. She also worked on the radio. In 1936, she played a mother in a mystery film. Clara retired from acting in 1941. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Clara Kimball Young was a famous star of the silent film era. She was a leading lady who many people loved to watch. Her talent helped her become one of the most popular actresses of her time. Even after her fame faded, she stayed in the acting world for many years. Today, her legacy lives on through her work in early cinema. She even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Clara learned how to act from a very young age. Her parents were traveling stock actors who performed in many different places. She actually made her stage debut when she was only three years old. As a child, she traveled with her parents' theater company. Later, she worked in small town theaters across the United States. She even attended the St. Francis Xavier Academy in Chicago. This early training prepared her for the big screen.

Her journey into movies began in the early 1910s. In 1912, she and her husband, James Young, signed contracts with Vitagraph Studios.

At first, she played roles in short films called one- and two-reel roles. She often played the part of a virtuous heroine. By 1913, she was ranked number 17 in a popularity poll. In 1914, she starred in a big hit called My Official Wife. This success helped her become a major star in the film industry.

Clara's career had many highs and many difficult moments. She was once as popular as famous stars like Mary Pickford.

She even had her own business called the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation. However, she faced hard times with business partners and legal issues. She once wrote in her 1921 diary about feeling great pressure. She also worked with Harry Garson, but his lack of experience hurt her career. These struggles made it hard for her to stay at the top.

As movies changed, Clara continued to work in different ways. She performed in vaudeville during the late 1920s. When movies began to have sound, she appeared in several roles.

She appeared in bit parts and extra roles in many films. One of her notable later roles was in the 1936 mystery, The Rogues Tavern. She eventually retired from acting in 1941. Clara died in 1960 in Woodland Hills, California. She is remembered as a pioneer of the motion picture industry.

Clara Kimball Young was a prominent American actress during the silent film era. Born Edith Matilda Clara Kimball on September 6, 1890, in Chicago, she became a central figure in early motion pictures. Her career spanned several decades and included stage acting, silent films, vaudeville, and sound films. She is remembered for her immense popularity and her contributions to the growing film industry. Today, her legacy is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6513 Hollywood Blvd.

Young's path to stardom began with a childhood spent in the theater. Both of her parents, Edward and Pauline Kimball, were traveling stock actors. She made her stage debut at the age of three and traveled with her parents' theater company. After attending St. Francis Xavier Academy in Chicago, she joined a stock company herself. This role required her to travel extensively through the United States, performing in various small-town theaters. This early immersion in professional acting provided the foundation for her future film career.

Her transition to motion pictures occurred in the early 1910s through Vitagraph Studios. In 1912, Young and her husband, Broadway actor James Young, both received yearly contracts with the studio.

Initially, she was cast in one- and two-reel roles, which were short films. She often portrayed the virtuous heroine, a type of character that audiences found compelling. By 1913, she had risen to become one of Vitagraph's most popular leading ladies. A public poll from that year ranked her at number 17 in popularity.

Success increased significantly following the 1914 release of the drama My Official Wife. Directed by James Young and starring Earle Williams, the film featured Clara as a Russian revolutionary. Although this film is now considered a lost film, its enormous success propelled Young to first place in popularity polls. This achievement led to a contract with the pioneering film mogul Lewis J. Selznick. By 1915, Young's fame was comparable to other legendary stars such as Mary Pickford and the Gish sisters.

Despite her professional triumphs, Young faced complex personal and business challenges. Her relationship with Selznick led to a highly publicized divorce suit in 1916 involving allegations of alienation of affection. James Young obtained a final divorce decree on April 8, 1919, on the grounds of desertion. Later, Selznick formed the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation, but the business relationship eventually soured. Young accused Selznick of defrauding her of profits through dummy corporations and excluding her from business decisions.

In 1917, Young entered a business venture with Harry Garson. However, Garson's lack of experience in the motion picture industry caused her career to sputter. During this period, Young faced press attacks regarding her personal and professional life. In her 1921 diary, she expressed the intense pressure she felt, writing that she felt as though her head was on a block. By 1925, her era of superstardom began to fade, and she performed in vaudeville for the remainder of the decade. She married Dr. Arthur Fauman in 1928.

The arrival of sound films provided a brief revival for her career. She appeared in several roles for RKO Radio Pictures and Tiffany Pictures, though these were often modest bit parts or extra roles.

One of her more significant later roles was in the 1936 murder mystery The Rogues Tavern, where she played a motherly woman with a secret. She eventually retired from the acting profession in 1941. After a period of declining health following minor surgery in 1960, she died of a stroke on October 15, 1960, at the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, California.