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'Colleen Moore', born 'Kathleen Morrison' (August 19 1900 – January 25 1988) was an American film actress, and one of the most fashionable stars of the silent film era.

Contents

Early life

Career

Talkies

Colleen Moore Dollhouse

Later life and career

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Further reading

External links

Early life

Born in Port Huron, Michigan, Moore made her first film appearance in 1918 and for the next few years appeared in small, supporting roles gradually attracting the attention of the public. She was named as a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1922 in recognition of her growing popularity. Moore has credited her uncle, Walter Howey with setting up her introduction into films. Howey was an important newspaper editor in the publishing empire of William Randolph Hearst, and he was the inspiration for Walter Burns, the fictional Chicago newspaper editor in the play and the film ''The Front Page''.

Career

Her first major success was the 1923 film ''Flaming Youth'' opposite actor Milton Sills. Moore's vivacious flapper caused a sensation and made her one of the most talked about actresses of her day. Moore and Louise Brooks were seen as the people who epitomized the young adult society of their day, they also shared the same hairstyle. Moore's career grew over the next few years. As she continued to play similar characters in successful films such as ''Flirting With Love'' and ''The Perfect Flapper'', Moore's bobbed hairstyle was widely copied throughout the world. By the late 1920s she had progressed to more important roles in films such as ''So Big'' and was also well received in light comedies such as ''Irene''. Fortunately for Colleen, the cameras didn't pick up that she had one brown
eye and one blue one.

Talkies

With the advent of talking pictures in 1929, Moore took a hiatus from acting. During this interim, Moore was briefly married to a prominent New York-based stockbroker, Albert Parker Scott, one of her four husbands. She and Scott lived at that time in a lavish home in Bel Air, where they hosted parties for and were supporters of the U.S. Olympic team, especially the yachting team, during the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. In 1933, Moore, by then divorced, returned to work in Hollywood. She appeared in three films. None of these were successful, and Moore retired. She later married the widower Homer Hargrave and raised his children (she never had children of her own) from a previous marriage, with whom she maintained a life-long close relationship. Throughout her life she also maintained close friendships with other colleagues from the silent film era, such as King Vidor and Mary Pickford.

Colleen Moore Dollhouse

In 1928, inspired by her father and with help from her former set designer, Horace Jackson, Moore constructed an 8-foot tall miniature "fairy castle" which toured the United States. The interior of "The Colleen Moore Dollhouse," designed by Harold Grieve, is a classic example of the Art Deco Style, complete with miniature bear skin rugs and streamlined furniture and art. Moore's dollhouse has been a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois since the early 1950s, where, according to the museum it is seen by 1.5 million people each year. Moore continued working on it, and contributing artifacts to it, until her death.

Later life and career

In the 1960s she formed a television production company with King Vidor with whom she had worked in the 1920s. She also published two books in the late 1960s, her autobiography ''Silent Star: Colleen Moore Talks About Her Hollywood'' (1968) and ''How Women Can Make Money in the Stock Market'' (1969), a subject she had proved herself well-qualified to discuss.
At the height of her fame, Moore was earning $12,500 per week. She was an astute investor, and through her investments remained wealthy for the rest of her life. In her later years she would frequently attend film festivals, and was a popular interview subject always willing to discuss her Hollywood career. She was a participant in the 1980 documentary series ''Hollywood'', providing her recollections of Hollywood's silent film era.
Moore died from cancer in Paso Robles, California, aged 87. Her contribution to the motion picture industry has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1551 Vine Street.

Quote

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of her: "I was the spark that lit up ''Flaming Youth,'' Colleen Moore was the torch. What little things we are to have caused all that trouble."

Further reading

★ Jeanine Basinger (1999), chapter on Moore in ''Silent Stars,'' (ISBN 0-8195-6451-6).

External links

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★ Colleen Moore research/history project page

★ Colleen Moore Image Gallery

★ Article: "Loveable and Sweet:Colleen Moore" (with photographs)

★ The Jazz Age - Flapper Culture (discusses mainly Louise Brooks)

★ The Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry

★ Detailed information about the Fairy Castle, its construction and its history

★ Images and articles

★ Colleen Moore and the Making of HER WILD OAT