Renée Adorée

Renée Adorée (; born Jeanne de la Fonte ; 30 September 1898 – 5 October 1933) was a French stage and film actress who appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s. She is best known for portraying the role of Melisande, the love interest of John Gilbert in the melodramatic romance and war epic The Big Parade. Adorée's career was cut short after she contracted tuberculosis in 1930. She died of the disease in 1933 at the age of 35.

Early life Born in Lille as Jeanne de la Fonte, Adorée was the daughter of circus artists and performed regularly with her parents as a child. She performed as an acrobat, dancer and bareback rider throughout Europe. She adopted the stage name Renée Adorée (French for "reborn" and "adored", both in the feminine form), and established a reputation for her dancing skills in countries including Belgium, France, Germany and Sweden. She was performing in Brussels when World War I began.

Career Adorée went to New York City in 1919, where she was cast in a vaudeville-style musical called Oh, Uncle.

In all, Adorée made nine films with Gilbert and appeared in four with leading Hollywood actor Ramón Novarro. She starred with Lon Chaney in 1927's Mr. Wu. In 1928, Ruth Harriet Louise photographed Adorée, for Eve: The Lady's Pictorial .

In 1928, The Mating Call, a film produced by Howard Hughes, Adorée had a very brief swimming scene in the nude. In 1930, Alfred Cheney Johnston photographed Adorée, in the nude.

Personal life While in New York City on New Year's Eve 1921, she met Tom Moore, who was fifteen years her senior. Moore and his brothers were Irish immigrants who had become popular Hollywood actors. Six weeks after their meeting, on 12 February 1921, Adorée married Moore at his home in Beverly Hills, California. The marriage ended in divorce in 1926. In June 1927, Adorée married again, this time to William Sherman Gill whom, in 1929, she also divorced.

Illness and death

With the advent of sound in film, Adorée was one of the fortunate stars whose voice met the film industry's new needs, appearing in two all-talking films before her death. She is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Adorée left an estate valued at $2,429, equivalent in value to $62,223.51 in 2026. The only heir was her mother, who lived in England. No will was found. For her contributions to the film industry, Adorée has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street.

Filmography Year Title RoleNotes 1918 £500 Reward Irene 1920 The Strongest Claudia Lost film 1921 Made in Heaven Miss Lowry Lost film 1922 Day Dreams The Girl Incomplete film Honor First Moira Serern Lost film Mixed Faces Mary Allen Sayre Lost film Monte Cristo Eugenie Danglars, her daughter A Self-Made Man Lost film West of Chicago Della Moore Lost film 1923 The Six-Fifty Hester Taylor Lost film The Eternal Struggle Andrée Grange 1924 The Bandolero Petra Lost film Defying the Law Lucia Brescia Lost film A Man's Mate Wildcat Lost film Women Who Give Becky Keeler 1925 Exchange of Wives Elise Moran Excuse Me Francine Lost film Man and Maid Suzette Lost film Parisian Nights Marie The Big Parade Melisande 1926 Blarney Peggy Nolan Lost film The Flaming Forest Jeanne Marie La Bohème Musette The Blackbird Mademoiselle Fifi Lorraine The Exquisite Sinner Silda, a gypsy maid Lost film Tin Gods Carita Lost film 1927 Back to God's Country Renee DeBois Heaven on Earth Marcelle Lost film Mr. Wu Wu Nang Ping On Ze Boulevard Musette The Show Salome 1928 A Certain Young Man Henriette Lost film The Cossacks Maryana Forbidden Hours Marie de Floriet The Mating CallCatherine Show PeopleHerself Cameo The Michigan KidRose Morris The Spieler Cleo d'Alzelle 1929 The PaganMadge Tide of EmpireJosephita Guerrero 1930 RedemptionMasha Call of the FleshLola