Lila Lee
Acting • Born 1905-07-25 – Died 1973-11-13
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lila Lee (born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel, July 25, 1905 – November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras. In 1918, she was chosen for a film contract by Hollywood film mogul Jesse Lasky for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount Pictures. Her first feature, The Cruise of the Make-Believes, garnered the teenaged starlet much public acclaim and Lasky quickly sent Lee on an arduous publicity campaign. Critics lauded Lila for her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts. Lee quickly rose to the ranks of leading lady and often starred opposite such matinee heavies as Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, and Rudolph Valentino. Lee bore more than a slight resemblance to Ann Little, a former Paramount star and frequent Reid co-star who was leaving the film business and at this stage in her career an even stronger resemblance to Marguerite Clark. In 1922 Lee was cast as Carmen in the enormously popular film Blood and Sand, opposite matinee idol Rudolph Valentino and silent screen vamp Nita Naldi; Lee subsequently won the first WAMPAS Baby Stars award that year. Lee continued to be a highly popular leading lady throughout the 1920s and made scores of critically praised and widely watched films. As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, Lee's popularity began to wane and Lee positioned herself for the transition to talkies. She is one of the few leading ladies of the silent screen whose popularity did not nosedive with the coming of sound. She went back to working with the major studios and appeared, most notably, in The Unholy Three, in 1930, opposite Lon Chaney Sr. in his only talkie. However, a series of bad career choices and bouts of recurring tuberculosis and alcoholism hindered further projects and Lee was relegated to taking parts in mostly grade B movies.
Filmography
98 credits
Broken Hearts
Movie • 1926
Ruth Esterin
The Little Wild Girl
Movie • 1928
Marie Cleste
The Unholy Three
Movie • 1930
Rosie O'Grady
War Correspondent
Movie • 1932
Julie March
Ebb Tide
Movie • 1922
Ruth Attwater
Rent Free
Movie • 1922
Barbara Teller
Fascinating Youth
Movie • 1926
Lila Lee
Another Man's Wife
Movie • 1924
Helen Brand
Coming Through
Movie • 1925
Alice Rand
A Trip to Paramountown
Movie • 1922
Self
Male and Female
Movie • 1919
Tweeny, the scullery maid
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Movie • 1936
Miss Prentiss, Bradford's Receptionist
Lone Cowboy
Movie • 1933
Eleanor Jones
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Movie • 1961
Self (archive footage)
The People's Enemy
Movie • 1935
Katherine Carr
Blood and Sand
Movie • 1922
Carmen
The Lottery Man
Movie • 1919
Polly
The Charm School
Movie • 1921
Elsie
Hollywood
Movie • 1923
Lila Lee
Radio Patrol
Movie • 1932
Sue Kennedy
Exposure
Movie • 1932
Doris Corbin
Officer Thirteen
Movie • 1932
Doris Dane
The Secret Garden
Movie • 1919
Mary Lennox
The Midnight Girl
Movie • 1925
Anna
Flight
Movie • 1929
Elinor
I Can't Escape
Movie • 1934
Mae Nichols
Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
Movie • 1967
Viola Zickafoose
In Love with Life
Movie • 1934
Sharon
The Adorable Cheat
Movie • 1928
Marion Dorsey
Country Gentlemen
Movie • 1936
Louise Heath
Unholy Love
Movie • 1932
Jane Bradford
Whirlpool
Movie • 1934
Helen
False Faces
Movie • 1932
Georgia Rand
Midsummer Madness
Movie • 1921
Daisy Osborne
Top Sergeant Mulligan
Movie • 1928
The girl
The Night of June 13
Movie • 1932
Trudie Morrow
The Show of Shows
Movie • 1929
Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
The Intruder
Movie • 1933
Connie Wayne
Love, Live & Laugh
Movie • 1929
Margharita
The New Klondike
Movie • 1926
Evelyn Lane
Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
Movie • 1919
Princess Irma
The Emperor's New Clothes
Movie • 1966
Wringmouth
Drag
Movie • 1929
Dot
The Gorilla
Movie • 1930
Alice Denby
Face in the Sky
Movie • 1933
Sharon Hadley
The Dollar-a-Year Man
Movie • 1921
Peggy Bruce
Gasoline Gus
Movie • 1921
Sal Jo Banty
Crazy to Marry
Movie • 1921
Annabelle Landis
The Fast Freight
Movie • 1922
Elsie
The Black Pearl
Movie • 1928
Eugenie Bromley
Terror Island
Movie • 1920
Beverly West
Million Dollar Mystery
Movie • 1927
Florence Grey
The Iron Master
Movie • 1933
Janet Stillman
The Argyle Case
Movie • 1929
Mary Morgan
Those Who Dance
Movie • 1930
Nora Brady
Two Wise Maids
Movie • 1937
Ethel Harriman
Nation Aflame
Movie • 1937
Mona Franklin Burtis
Double Cross Roads
Movie • 1930
Mary Carlyle
Honky Tonk
Movie • 1929
Beth
Misbehaving Ladies
Movie • 1931
Princess Ellen
Queen of the Night Clubs
Movie • 1929
Bea Walters
The Ghost Breaker
Movie • 1922
Maria Theresa, a Spanish Heiress
Just Married
Movie • 1928
Victoire
The Ne'er-Do-Well
Movie • 1923
Chiquita
Woman-Proof
Movie • 1923
Louise Halliday
The Soul of Youth
Movie • 1920
Vera Hamilton
Woman Hungry
Movie • 1931
Judith Temple
After the Show
Movie • 1921
Eileen
One Increasing Purpose
Movie • 1927
Elizabeth Glade
Second Wife
Movie • 1930
Florence Wendell Fairchild
The Dictator
Movie • 1922
Juanita
Homeward Bound
Movie • 1923
Mary Brent
The Sacred Flame
Movie • 1929
Stella Taylor
The Wampas Baby Stars of 1922
Movie • 1922
Self
Love's Whirlpool
Movie • 1924
Molly
Wandering Husbands
Movie • 1924
Diana Moreland
Dark Streets
Movie • 1929
Katie Dean
One Glorious Day
Movie • 1922
Molly McIntyre
Stand Up and Cheer!
Movie • 1934
Zelda
The Prince Chap
Movie • 1920
Claudia (age 18)
Back Home and Broke
Movie • 1922
Mary Thorne
Jane Goes A-Wooing
Movie • 1919
Lila
Puppy Love
Movie • 1919
Gloria O'Connell
The Easy Road
Movie • 1921
Ella Klotz
Is Matrimony a Failure?
Movie • 1922
Margaret Saxby
Old Home Week
Movie • 1925
Ethel Harmon
Black Butterflies
Movie • 1928
Norma Davis
Such a Little Pirate
Movie • 1918
Patricia Wolf
A Daughter of the Wolf
Movie • 1919
Annette Ainsworth
Rustling a Bride
Movie • 1919
Emily
The Cruise of the Make-Believes
Movie • 1918
Bessie Meggison
The Heart of Youth
Movie • 1919
Josephine Darchat
Murder Will Out
Movie • 1930
Jeanne Baldwin
Champagne for Breakfast
Movie • 1935
Natalie Morton
The Marriage Bargain
Movie • 1935
Helen Stanhope
The Man in Hobbles
Movie • 1928
Ann Harris
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Mrs. McLean
Panic!
TV • 1957