Marguerite Clark

Helen Marguerite Clark (February 22, 1883 – September 25, 1940) was an American stage and silent film actress. As a movie actress, at one time Clark was second only to Mary Pickford in popularity. With a few exceptions and some fragments, most of Clark's films are considered lost.

Early life

Born in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio on February 22, 1883, she was the third child of Augustus "Gus" James and Helen Elizabeth Clark. She had an older sister, Cora, and an older brother named Clifton. Clark's mother Helen died on January 21, 1893. Her father worked in his self-owned successful haberdashery located in downtown Cincinnati before his death on December 29, 1896. Following his death, Clark's sister Cora was appointed her legal guardian and removed her from public school to further her education at Ursuline Academy.

Stage career (1899–1914) Marguerite Clark finished school at age 16, decided to pursue a career in the theatre, making her first stage appearance as a member of the Strakosch Opera Company in 1899.

She made her Broadway debut in 1900. The 17-year-old performed at various venues. In 1903, she was seen on Broadway opposite hulking comedian DeWolf Hopper in Mr. Pickwick. The Hopper dwarfed the "petite and daintly" Clark who stood four-foot-ten-inches (1.5 meters). She starred opposite Hopper again in Happyland in 1905. Several adventure-fantasy roles followed. In 1909, Clark starred in the whimsical costume play The Beauty Spot, establishing the fantasy stories which would soon become her hallmark. In 1910, Clark appeared in The Wishing Ring, a play directed by Cecil B. DeMille which was later made into a motion picture by Maurice Tourneur. That same 1910 season had Clark appearing in Baby Mine, a popular play produced by William A. Brady.

In 1912, Clark performed in a lead role with John Barrymore, Doris Keane and Gail Kane in an English adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's play Anatol, which was later made into the film The Affairs of Anatol by Clark's future movie studio Famous Players–Lasky and directed by DeMille. That same year, she starred in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The classic tale was adapted for the stage by Winthrop Ames (writing under the pseudonym Jessie Braham White), who closely oversaw its production at his Little Theatre in New York and personally selected the lead actress.

Marguerite Clark's emergence as an outstanding film actor was acknowledged by 1915, when Moving Picture World, in a review of The Goose Girl, based on a 1909 best-selling novel by Harold MacGrath, reported that Clark "conquers her audience in an instant."

According to film historian Paul O'Dell, the competition was evidenced primarily by the apparent hostility between Pickford's mother Charlotte and Clark's mother Helen and older sister, Cora. The rivalry became explicit in 1918 when Motion Picture Magazine conducted a poll among movie fans that garnered Pickford 158,199 votes to Clark's 138,852 (53% to 47%).

As to Pickford's narrow margin of success over Clark in popularity, film producer Samuel Goldwyn, writing in his 1923 memoir Behind the Screen, provides this assessment:

Personal life On August 15, 1918, Clark married New Orleans, Louisiana, plantation owner and millionaire businessman—then a US Army Lieutenant—Harry Palmerston Williams, a marriage that ended with the death of Williams on May 19, 1936 in an aircraft crash. After his death, Clark owned Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation, which had built and flown air racers, along with other aviation enterprises, until sold in 1937.

Death After the death of her husband, Clark moved to New York City where she lived with her sister Cora. On September 20, 1940, she entered LeRoy Sanitarium where she died five days later of pneumonia. A private funeral was held at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on September 28. She was cremated and buried with her husband in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Marguerite Clark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6304 Hollywood Boulevard.

Broadway credits Date Production Role September 24 – November 10, 1900 The Belle of Bohemia Rosie Mulberry October 7 – November 30, 1901 The New Yorkers Mary Lamb May 5 – August 30, 1902 The Wild Rose Lieutenant Gaston Gardennes January 19 – May 1903 Mr. Pickwick Polly June 22 – July 18, 1903 George W. Lederer's Mid-Summer Night Fancies Dorothy October 2, 1905 – June 2, 1906 Happyland Sylvia December 3, 1908 – January 16, 1909 The Pied Piper Elviria April 10 – August 7, 1909 The Beauty Spot Nadine, General Samovar's daughter January 10 – January 22, 1910 The King of Cadonia Princess Marie January 20, 1910 – Closing date unknown The Wishing Ring May 10 – June 1910 Jim the Penman August 23, 1910 – Closing date unknown Baby Mine Zoie Hardy October 14 – December 1912 The Affairs of Anatol Hilda November 7, 1912 – Closing date unknown Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White May 1 – May 1913 Are You a Crook? Amy Herrick October 27, 1913 – Closing date unknown Prunella Prunella

Filmography + Film Year Title Role Notes 1914 Wildflower Letty Roberts Lost film 1914 The Crucible Jean Lost film 1915 The Goose Girl Gretchen Lost film 1915 Gretna Green Dolly Erskine Lost film 1915 The Pretty Sister of Jose Pepita Lost film 1915 The Seven Sisters Mici Lost film 1915 Heléne of the North Heléne Dearing Lost film 1915 Still Waters Nesta Lost film 1915 The Prince & the Pauper Prince Edward/Tom Canty Lost film 1916 Mice and Men Peggy Lost film 1916 Out of the Drifts Elise Lost film 1916 Molly Make-Believe Molly Lost film 1916 Silks and Satins Felicite 1916 Little Lady Eileen Eileen Kavanaugh Lost film 1916 Miss George Washington Bernice Somers Lost film 1916 Snow White Snow White 1917 The Fortunes of Fifi Fifi Lost film 1917 The Valentine Girl Marion Morgan Lost film 1917 The Amazons Lord Tommy Lost film 1917 Bab's Diary Bab Archibald Lost film 1917 Bab's Burglar Bab Archibald Lost film 1917 Bab's Matinee Idol Bab Archibald Lost film 1917 The Seven Swans Princess Tweedledee Lost film 1918 Rich Man, Poor Man Betty Wynne Lost film 1918 Prunella Prunella Incomplete film 1918 Uncle Tom's Cabin Little Eva St. Clair/Topsy Lost film 1918 Out of a Clear Sky Countess Celeste de Bersek et Krymm Lost film 1918 The Biggest and the Littlest Lady in the World The Little Lady Lost film; a short about war bonds 1918 Little Miss Hoover Ann Craddock 1919 Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Lovey Mary 1919 Three Men and a Girl Sylvia Weston Lost film 1919 Let's Elope Eloise Farrington Lost film 1919 Come Out of the Kitchen Claudia Daingerfield Lost film 1919 Girls Pamela Gordon Lost film 1919 Widow by Proxy Gloria Grey Lost film 1919 Luck in Pawn Annabel Lee 1919 A Girl Named Mary Mary Healey Lost film 1920 All of a Sudden Peggy Peggy O'Hara Lost film 1920 Easy to Get Molly Morehouse Lost film 1921 Scrambled Wives Miss Mary Lucille Smith Lost film

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