Anita Garvin

Anita Garvin (born Anna Frances Garvin; February 11, 1906 – July 7, 1994) was an American stage performer and film actress who worked in both the silent and sound eras. Before her retirement in 1942, she reportedly appeared in over 350 shorts and features for various Hollywood studios. Her best known roles are as supporting characters in Hal Roach comedies starring Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase.

Early life and stage career Anna Frances Garvin was born in 1906 in New York City, the middle child of three children of Anne (née Donovan) and Edward J. Garvin, a native of North Carolina.

The 14-year-old performer recreated the poses of women in seven different paintings by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. For each simulated artwork, she was able to change costumes on stage by means of a curtain suspended between two columns. In its April 16, 1920 review of the act, the widely read trade paper Variety states, "Miss Garvin is a stunning looking brunet [sic] who has a corking figure, and is ideally suited for the act." She performed in that show for two seasons, opting in 1924 to remain in California when the tour left the state for other scheduled venues.

In Hollywood, Garvin began working for Christie Film Company's comedies. She recalled her co-star Bobby Vernon dropping butter on the floor onto which she stepped and tumbled, cementing her career as a comedian. In a 1978 interview for an article in the Los Angeles Times, she reflects on her frequent work with Stan Laurel during that period:One thing about Stan—with apologies to a lot of directors—they thought they were directing him. And they thought they were directing the picture. But Stan was the one...He was very clever about it. The director was never cognizant of the fact that he was not doing all the directing. Stan's mind was going all the time, always thinking of gags and things to do. The script didn't mean a thing.

Personal life and death On March 15, 1926 in Ventura, California, Garvin married Clement Beauchamp, a film actor and assistant unit director for Fox Film. They divorced in 1930, and the Los Angeles Times covered the related court proceedings. A witness for Garvin, according to the newspaper, testified that "she knew that Mrs. Beauchamp had to support herself" due to the lack of spousal assistance. Quoting Garvin herself, the newspaper in an August 6 new item shares her main reason for ending the four-year marriage:"I had to make a living for both of us," said Mrs. Beauchamp. "My husband was supposed to be an actor, but he didn't act much at getting a job. I worked all the time we were married." During the first decade of their marriage, Garvin continued to perform in films, but by 1942 she retired from acting to devote more time to raising the couple's two children.

Five years after her last appearance before The Sons of the Desert, Garvin died at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

She is buried in section E of San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.

Partial filmography

The Last Man on Earth (1924) The Sleuth (1925) Raggedy Rose (1926) Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl (1926) Why Girls Love Sailors (1927) With Love and Hisses (1927) Sailors Beware (1927) Hats Off (1927) The Valley of Hell (1927) The Battle of the Century (1927) From Soup to Nuts (1928) Their Purple Moment (1928) The Play Girl (1928) Fandango (1928) Night Watch (1928) Feed 'Em and Weep (1928, co-starred with Marion Byron) A Pair of Tights (1929, co-starred with Marion Byron) Going Ga-Ga (1929, co-starred with Marion Byron) Trent's Last Case (1929) Red Hot Rhythm (1929) Modern Love (1929) The Charlatan (1929) Blotto (1930) Whispering Whoopee (1930) Be Big! (1931) Los calaveras (1931) Yoo-Hoo (1932) Show Business (1932) Swiss Miss (1938) A Chump at Oxford (1940) Cookoo Cavaliers (1940)

References and notes