Lina Basquette

Lina Basquette (born Lena Copeland Baskette; April 19, 1907 – September 30, 1994) was an American actress. She is noted for her 75-year career in entertainment, which began during the silent film era. Talented as a dancer, she was paid as a girl for performing and gained her first film contract at age nine. In her acting career, Basquette may have been best known for her role as Judith in The Godless Girl. The film was based on the life of Queen Selections Silver, a 1927 Hollywood High School student who started an atheist society, a 20th-century child prodigy, and feminist and socialist orator, accused of leaving atheist pamphlets in student lockers at Hollywood High School in 1927.

Basquette also was noted for her several marriages, including her first, to the much older noted producer, Sam Warner, a co-founder of Warner Bros. film studio. When her film career declined, she returned for a period to dancing and stage performances. After she retired from the entertainment world, in 1947 Basquette moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where she became a noted breeder of Great Danes; her dogs won numerous professional show prizes. She wrote several books on dog breeding as well. Later living in West Virginia, she also served as a judge for the American Kennel Club, and wrote a column.

Early years Basquette was born on April 19, 1907, as Lena Copeland Baskette, to parents Frank E. Baskette, a drugstore owner, and his wife Gladys Lee (née Rosenberg) Baskette in San Mateo, California. She began dancing as a child. A Victor Talking Machine Company representative saw her dancing to a record in her father's store. He hired her at the age of eight (through her parents) to advertise Victrolas at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco. Basquette later began studying ballet.

Baskette secured her first film contract at the age of nine in 1916 with Universal Studios in Los Angeles for the silent film series Lena Baskette Featurettes.

Career

Early success In 1923, Baskette and her mother traveled across the country by train to New York City, so that the girl could audition for John Murray Anderson. Anderson urged her to change the spelling of her surname from "Baskette" to "Basquette". Producer Charles Dillingham changed the spelling of her first name from "Lena" to "Lina" saying, "Lena is a cook, Lina is an artiste."

The Godless Girl In 1929, she starred in the partial-sound film, The Godless Girl, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. This is the role for which she is best known. Basquette plays the title character Judith, who is based on Queen Silver, a child prodigy who early made speeches as a socialist activist. Judith is the leader of a high school atheist society; she forces members to renounce the Bible while placing a hand on the head of a live monkey.

In the film's climactic scene, DeMille insisted on realism while filming the reformatory going up in flames. During the filming, Basquette's eyelashes and eyebrows were burned. The Godless Girl was not a box office success in the United States, but it did well in Austria and Germany. Basquette later recalled that she received a fan letter from Adolf Hitler (before he achieved his political power) saying that she was his favorite movie star.

In January 1937, Basquette was offered a contract with the Universum Film AG studio in Germany after the Nazi Party had taken power. After arriving in Germany, she was driven to Berchtesgaden, where she met Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, and Joseph Goebbels. She later claimed that Hitler made a pass at her, and she kicked him in the groin.

As her career in films continued to decline, Basquette returned to dancing. She performed in nightclubs and on the vaudeville circuit. In 1939, Basquette and her fifth husband, English actor Henry Mollison, appeared on stage together in Idiot's Delight, which toured in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. After appearing in 1943's A Night for Crime, Basquette retired from films.

In 1947, Basquette used money from a trust fund left to her by her first husband, Sam Warner, and purchased a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In 1950, she and her sixth husband Warner Gilmore opened Honey Hollow Kennels; they began breeding and showing Great Danes. Basquette became the single biggest winner of Great Dane breed shows and was known as a noted dog breeder. She also wrote several books on the subject of dog breeding.

She retired from dog handling in 1983. Basquette moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, after her retirement. She continued to judge dog shows for the American Kennel Club and wrote a monthly column for Kennel Review. It was her final film role.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Basquette was married 8 times. Basquette's first marriage was to Sam Warner, film producer and co-founder of Warner Bros. studio. The two were married on July 4, 1925, despite Warner's family's disapproval because Basquette was Catholic and not Jewish. They had a daughter, Lita (named after Charlie Chaplin's wife Lita Grey) in October 1926. After suffering severe headaches and a sinus infection aggravated by several abscessed teeth, Warner was admitted to California Lutheran Hospital in September 1927. Doctors discovered that he had developed a mastoid infection that was spreading to his brain. After four surgeries to remove the infection, Warner slipped into a coma. He died of pneumonia caused by sinusitis as well as epidural and subdural abscesses on October 5, 1927.

In January 1929, Basquette married cinematographer Peverell Marley. Shortly after the marriage, Harry Warner, Sam Warner's older brother, asked Basquette give up custody of her daughter Lita. He was concerned that she would raise Lita as a Roman Catholic like her rather than in the Jewish faith. Basquette said that she and Sam Warner had agreed to raise any female children they had as Catholic and any male children as Jewish. Harry Warner and his wife offered Basquette large amounts of money to relinquish custody but she refused. Basquette quickly regretted her decision and tried to regain custody of her daughter. Marley and Basquette were divorced in September 1930. Basquette and her daughter reconnected in 1977 when Basquette backed a lawsuit that Lita brought against her uncle Jack L. Warner's estate.

In her autobiography, Basquette said that, while she and Hayes were separated, she had an affair with Jack Dempsey. Dempsey ended the affair in July 1932 after which Basquette attempted suicide a second time. She and Hayes eventually reconciled and remarried in 1934. They had a son, Edward Alvin Hayes, in April 1934. The following year, they divorced in December 1935.

In April 1937, Basquette married British actor Henry Mollison in London. They separated in 1940, and divorced in October 1944.

Filmography