Kathlyn Williams
Acting • Born 1879-05-30 – Died 1960-09-23
Biography
Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams on May 31, 1879 in Butte, Montana, and the only child born to Joseph Edwin "Frank" Williams, a boarding house proprietor, and Mary C. Boe (1846–1908) of Welsh and Norwegian descent. Many biographies state her birth year as 1888; however, she is listed on the 1880 United States Census as being a year old. Williams displayed an early interest in becoming an actress in her youth which lead her to become a member of a community thespian group. She also joined the Woman's Relief Corps that allowed her to showcase her vocal prowess at local recitals. Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and made her first film in 1908 under the direction of Francis Boggs. By 1910, she was transferred to the company's Los Angeles film studio. Williams played "Cherry Malotte" in the first movie based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers in 1914, a role portrayed in subsequent versions by Betty Compson (1930), Marlene Dietrich (1942), and Anne Baxter (1955). In 1916, she starred in the thirteen episode adventure film serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn. She was busy throughout the silent film era but age and the advent of talkies saw her make only five sound films, the last in 1935. Kathlyn evolved from a comedian and serial player in silents to portraying character roles in the early 1930s. Williams was married three times. Although many biographies erroneously cite her first husband as being Victor Kainer, he was in fact named Otto H. "Harry" Kainer (1876–1952), who ran an import and export business on Wall Street in New York City. They were wed on October 2, 1903, and their son, Victor Hugo, was born in 1905. They supposedly divorced over Kainer's disapproval of his wife having an acting career, and Williams subsequently obtained a divorce from Kainer in 1909 in Nevada. On March 4, 1913, she married Frank R. Allen, also an actor, but the marriage was a failure from the start and lasted a little over a year. On June 30, 1914, she filed for divorce in Los Angeles and listed desertion as the reason as the failure of their marriage. She later married Paramount Pictures executive Charles Eyton on June 2, 1916, in Riverside, California. The Eytons eventually divorced in 1931. On December 29, 1949, Williams was involved in a deadly automobile accident, which claimed the life of her friend, Mrs. Mary E. Rose, while they were returning home from a social engagement in Las Vegas. As a result of the accident, Williams lost her right leg. On April 8, 1950, Williams sued the estate of Rose for $136,615, citing negligence and claiming that the automobile had inefficient brakes. In June 1951, Williams accepted the offer of $6,500 dollars from the Rose estate. Kathlyn Williams died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California in 1960. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Kathlyn Williams has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7038 Hollywood Blvd. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Filmography
91 credits
A Single Man
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Cottrell
Morals
Movie • 1921
Judith Mainwaring
We Can't Have Everything
Movie • 1918
Charity Coe Cheever
The Cost of Hatred
Movie • 1917
Elsie Graves / Sarita Graves
Three Bags of Silver
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Flight of the Crow
Movie • 1913
Edwina Washburn
The Wheels of Justice
Movie • 1911
Alice Hazen
Dad's Girls
Movie • 1911
Rose
In Old California When the Gringos Came
Movie • 1911
The Man from the East
Movie • 1911
Elsie Dean
Our Dancing Daughters
Movie • 1928
Ann's Mother
Thou Shalt Not Covet
Movie • 1916
My Neighbor's Wife
Honeymoon Flats
Movie • 1928
Mrs. Garland
The Best People
Movie • 1925
Mrs. Lenox
The Two Ordeals
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Unwelcome Throne
Movie • 1913
Kathlyn Hare
The House of His Master
Movie • 1912
Mrs. Robert Steem
The Royal Slave
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
A Colonel in Chains
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Garden of Brides
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Cruel Crown
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Spellbound Multitude
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Warrior Maid
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The Forged Parchment
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
The King's Will
Movie • 1914
Kathlyn Hare
Into the Primitive
Movie • 1916
Jennie Leslie
The Thing We Love
Movie • 1918
Margaret Kenwood
The Adventures of Kathlyn
Movie • 1916
Kathlyn Hare
Clarence
Movie • 1922
Mrs. Wheeler
The Single Standard
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Glendenning
Redeeming Love
Movie • 1916
Naomi Sterling
Locked Doors
Movie • 1925
Laura Carter
The Whispering Chorus
Movie • 1918
Jane Tremble
The U.P. Trail
Movie • 1920
"Beauty" Stanton
Unholy Love
Movie • 1932
Mrs. Bradford
Daddy Long Legs
Movie • 1931
Mrs. Paula Pendleton
Conrad in Quest of His Youth
Movie • 1920
Mrs. Adaile
Trimmed in Scarlet
Movie • 1923
Cordelia Ebbing / Madame de laFleur
The Adventures of Kathlyn
Movie • 1913
Kathlyn Hare
Road to Paradise
Movie • 1930
Mrs. Wells
Blood Money
Movie • 1933
Nightclub Woman Wearing Monocle (uncredited)
The World's Applause
Movie • 1923
Elsa Townsend
Big Timber
Movie • 1917
Stella Benton
Souls for Sale
Movie • 1923
Self - Celebrity Actress in Commisary
A Private Scandal
Movie • 1921
Carol Lawton
Wanderer of the Wasteland
Movie • 1924
Magdalene Virey
Broadway Gold
Movie • 1923
Jean Valjean
Rendezvous at Midnight
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Arthur Dewey
Forbidden Fruit
Movie • 1921
Mrs. Mallory
The Witch of the Everglades
Movie • 1911
Dora - the Witch
Back to the Primitive
Movie • 1911
Helen Wilton
The Spanish Dancer
Movie • 1923
Queen Isabel of Bourbon
The Rose of Old St. Augustine
Movie • 1911
Dolores, the Rose of St. Augustine
The Two Orphans
Movie • 1911
Henriette
The Girl at the Cupola
Movie • 1912
Jessie Wilson
Captain Kate
Movie • 1911
Captain Kate
Lost in the Jungle
Movie • 1911
Meta Kruga
Thor, Lord of the Jungles
Movie • 1913
Gene Brant
The Spoilers
Movie • 1914
Cherry Malotte
Hush
Movie • 1921
Isabel Dane
The Wanderer
Movie • 1925
Huldah
The Enemy Sex
Movie • 1924
Mrs. Massingale
Her Kingdom of Dreams
Movie • 1919
Penelope Warren
Life on the Border
Movie • 1911
The Pioneer Wife
1861
Movie • 1911
Sally in Our Alley
Movie • 1927
Mrs. Gordon Mansfield
Morals
Movie • 1921
Thou Shalt Not
Movie • 1910
Just a Wife
Movie • 1920
Eleanor Lathrop
Chip of the Flying U
Movie • 1914
Della Whitmore - the 'Little Doctor'
Sweet Alyssum
Movie • 1915
Daisy Brooks
We Americans
Movie • 1928
Mrs. Bradleigh
A Man's Home
Movie • 1921
Frances Osborn
The Leopard's Foundling
Movie • 1914
Balu
The Valiants of Virginia
Movie • 1916
Shirley Dandridge
Wedding Rings
Movie • 1929
Agatha
The Carpet from Bagdad
Movie • 1915
Fortune Chedsoye
The Better Wife
Movie • 1919
Lady Beverly
Lines of White on a Sullen Sea
Movie • 1909
Extra
When a Girl Loves
Movie • 1924
Helen - Michael's Wife
The Tree of Knowledge
Movie • 1920
Belle
Her Husband's Women
Movie • 1929
The Prince Chap
Movie • 1920
Alice Travers
The City That Never Sleeps
Movie • 1924
Mrs. Kendall
The Painted Flapper
Movie • 1924
Isabel Whitney
A Girl Named Mary
Movie • 1919
Mrs. Jaffrey
Single Wives
Movie • 1924
Dorothy Van Clark
A Virginia Courtship
Movie • 1921
Constance Llewellyn
Her Purchase Price
Movie • 1919
Diana Vane
Out of the Wreck
Movie • 1917
Agnes Aldrich
The Highway of Hope
Movie • 1917
Lonely Lou