Helen Twelvetrees

Helen Marie Twelvetrees ( Jurgens; December 25, 1908 – February 13, 1958) was an American actress. She starred in Hollywood films in the sound film era from 1929 to 1939. Many of her roles were of "suffering women,” which reflected her tumultuous personal life. While attending AADA, she met actor Clark Twelvetrees, whom she married at age 19 in 1927. She adopted her husband's surname and used it as her professional name.

Career

With some stage experience, Twelvetrees went to Hollywood with a number of other actors to replace the silent stars who could not or would not make the transition to talkies. Her first job was with Fox Film Corporation, and she appeared in The Ghost Talks (1929). After three films with Fox, she was released from her contract. However, she was signed by Pathé shortly thereafter, and along with Constance Bennett and Ann Harding, Twelvetrees starred in several lachrymose dramas, not all of which were critically acclaimed.

When Pathé was absorbed by RKO Radio Pictures, she found herself at various times miscast in mediocre films. With the arrival of Katharine Hepburn at RKO, Twelvetrees left the studio to freelance (Harding and Bennett would also subsequently depart).

The 1930 film Her Man set the course of Twelvetrees' screen career, and she was cast in a series of roles portraying suffering women fighting for the wrong men. Later she appeared with Spencer Tracy in Now I'll Tell (also known as When New York Sleeps); with Donald Cook in The Spanish Cape Mystery; and with Maurice Chevalier in Paramount's A Bedtime Story. She also starred in two Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films, which prompted author John Douglas Eames to note that she "had a gift for projecting emotional force with minimal visible effort."

In 1936, Twelvetrees traveled to Australia to star in the Cinesound Studios production Thoroughbred, about the rise of a Melbourne Cup winning racehorse. The film was produced at Cinesound Studios in Bondi Junction. After filming completed, Twelvetrees returned home to Brooklyn, where she fell ill. After a slow recovery, she returned to acting in the USO production of The Man Who Came to Dinner. She made her final two films, Persons in Hiding and Unmarried, in 1939.

Twelvetrees left film in favor of summer stock and made her Broadway debut in Jacques Deval's Boudoir in 1941. The play folded after only 11 performances, and she largely retired after marrying for a third time. She continued to act occasionally, such as in the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire in summer stock in Sea Cliff, New York in August 1951.

Personal life Twelvetrees was married three times. She married her first husband, actor Clark Twelvetrees, son of illustrator Charles Twelvetrees, in February 1927. During the marriage, her husband attempted suicide in the middle of a dinner party by jumping out of a Manhattan hotel window. He struck two awnings before landing on a parked taxi and was hospitalized for several months. In March 1930, she filed for divorce, citing mental cruelty. During the divorce trial, Twelvetrees claimed that her husband was an alcoholic who was drunk when they married and beat her on four occasions. Their divorce became final in March 1931. In August 1938, Clark Twelvetrees was arguing with a woman and struck her; she fell to the ground. A passerby, 29-year-old painter James Paskovics, intervened, and in the struggle Twelvetrees hit his head on a curb and died of a skull fracture. Murder charges against Paskovics were filed but later dismissed.

Helen Twelvetrees married again in April 1931, this time to World War I Marine Corps veteran Frank "Jack" Bryan Woody. Woody was a Hollywood stuntman and realtor, who would later become a full-time actor and seasonal hunting guide in California's Sierra Nevada. who became a prominent US Fish and Wildlife biologist. Twelvetrees divorced Woody in 1936, stating that he was essentially unemployed and living off her earnings. Post-divorce, the pair looked to continue their respective Hollywood careers and sent their child to Brooklyn to be raised by Twelvetrees' relatives. The failed marriage was the basis for the plot of the film I’m Still Alive (1940).

She married for a third and final time to farmer and Air Force Captain Conrad Payne in 1947. She spent her remaining years traveling the world with her husband, who was stationed in the U.S. and Europe. She was taken to Olmstead Air Force Base Hospital in Middletown, where she died. According to the county coroner, Twelvetrees had been suffering from a kidney ailment for some time and took an overdose of sedatives. Her death was ruled a suicide.

In popular culture The play I'm Looking for Helen Twelvetrees explores Twelvetrees' life through the eyes of another actor who saw her perform on Long Island. Parallels are explored between the life of Helen Twelvetrees and the character whom the other actor played (Blanche DuBois).

The famed Sloppy Joe's Bar in Havana, Cuba sold a cocktail named after Helen Twelvetrees in the 1930s. Twelvetrees and her second husband were regulars at the establishment while filming Her Man (1930). The drink consists of one part Gordon's Dry Gin, two parts pineapple juice, and drops of parfait amour, shaken with cracked ice and served in a tall glass.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1929 The Ghost Talks Miriam Holt Lost film Blue Skies Dorothy May Episode 2 Words and Music Dorothy Blake 1930 The Grand Parade Molly Swing High Maryan Garner Her Man Frankie Keefe The Cat Creeps Annabelle West Lost film 1931 The Painted Desert Mary Ellen Cameron Clark Gable's first major role Millie Millicent "Millie" Blake Maitland A Woman of Experience Elsa Elsbergen Alternative title: Registered Woman Bad Company Helen King Carlyle 1932 Panama Flo Flo Bennett Young Bride Allie Smith Riggs State's Attorney June Perry Alternative title: Cardigan's Last Case Is My Face Red? Peggy Bannon Unashamed Joan Ogden 1933 Broken Hearts A Bedtime Story Sally Disgraced! Gay Holloway My Woman Connie Riley Rollins King for a Night Lillian Williams 1934 All Men Are Enemies Katha Now I'll Tell Virginia Golden Alternative titles: Now I'll Tell YouWhen New York Sleeps She Was a Lady Sheila Vane One Hour Late Bessie Dunn 1935 Times Square Lady Margo Heath She Gets Her Man Francine The Spanish Cape Mystery Stella Godfrey Frisco Waterfront Alice Alternative title: When We Look Back 1936 Thoroughbred Joan 1937 Hollywood Round-Up Carol Stevens 1939 Persons in Hiding Helen Griswold Unmarried Pat Rogers