Barbara La Marr

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Barbara La Marr
Barbara La Marr, circa 1920
Born	Reatha Dale Watson July 28, 1896(1896-07-28) Yakima, Washington
Died	January 30, 1926 (aged 29) Altadena, California
Other name(s)	Barbara La Marr Deely
Occupation	Actress, cabaret artist, screenwriter
Years active	1920-1926
Spouse(s)	Jack Lytell (1913-1914) Lawrence Converse (1914) Phil Ainsworth (1916-1918) Ben Deeley (1918-1921) Jack Dougherty (1923-1926)

Barbara La Marr (July 28, 1896 – January 30, 1926) was an American stage and motion picture actress, cabaret artist and screenwriter.

Early life

Originally christened Reatha Dale Watson, Barbara La Marr was born to William Wallace and Rosana "Rose" Watson in Yakima, Washington, in 1896. Her father, born in 1857 in Illinois, was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother, born in Oregon in 1858, was previously married. Rose had a son, Henry, born in 1878, and a daughter, Violet, born in February 1881, from her first marriage. The couple wed some time during 1884, and they had William Watson, Jr., born in June 1886 in Washington. He would later, in the 1920s, become a semi-famous vaudeville comedian under the stage name of "Billy Devore". The Watsons lived in various locations during La Marr's formative years. By 1900, 3-year-old Reatha was living with her parents in Portland, Oregon, with her brother William, her half-sister Violet Ross, and Violet's husband Arvel Ross. As a child, La Marr also performed in a few stage productions in Tacoma, Washington.

By 1910, La Marr was living in Fresno, California, with her parents. Some time after 1911, the family moved to Los Angeles, and later settled at 220 San Jose Street in Burbank, California. In January 1913, La Marr's half-sister, now going by the name of Violet Ake, took her then 16-year-old sister on a three-day automobile excursion with a man named C.C. Boxley. They drove up to Santa Barbara, California, from Los Angeles, but after a few days La Marr felt that they were not going to let her return home to Los Angeles. Ake and Boxley finally let La Marr return to Los Angeles after they realized that there were warrants issued for their arrests accusing them of abduction. This episode was published in several newspapers, and La Marr even testified against her sister, but nothing came of the case. The prosecution team, lead by District Attorney Vietch, could not prove that La Marr was taken against her will. It also came out during the pre-trial that La Marr had posed nude for several local artists, and she was known for having a fantastic physique.

Having the flair for drama, La Marr's name would be kept constantly in newspaper headlines during the next few years. Therefore, at the tender age of 16, La Marr had already earned herself a scandalous reputation. In November 1913, La Marr came back from Arizona and announced that she was the newly-widowed wife of a rancher named Jack Lytell, and that they were supposedly married in Mexico. As legend goes, Lytell became enamored of La Marr's devastating beauty as he saw her one day riding in an automobile while he was out on horseback. He rode up to her car and swept her on his horse and rode off with her. They were married the next day. She also stated that she loathed the name Reatha and preferred to be called by the childhood nickname "Beth".

Career

After marrying and moving with her husband to New York City, La Marr found employment writing screenplays and her association with movie makers led to her returning to Los Angeles and making her film debut as an actress in 1920. Over the next few years she acted frequently in films, and was widely publicised as "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World". With this, she rapidly shot to stardom.

La Marr made the successful leap from writer to actress in Douglas Fairbanks' The Nut (1921), appeared in over thirty films, wrote seven successful screenplays for United Artists and Fox studios, and danced in musical comedies on Broadway. She is also said to have filmed dancing shorts in New York City, Chicago, and in Los Angeles, with such diverse partners as Rudolph Valentino and Clifton Webb.

Among La Marr's most important films are The Prisoner of Zenda and Trifling Women, both 1922 releases directed by Rex Ingram. Trifling Womenis of particular interest, perhaps, because of certain similarities -- an ape, a dark-haired, overpowdered vamp, chiaroscuro lighting (as seen in photos; Trifling Women is now lost) -- to Billy Wilder's 1950 gothic film noir Sunset Boulevard. Additionally, cinematographer John F. Seitz shot both films.

Personal life

La Marr married for the first time at the age of seventeen, and was ultimately married five times. At the time of her death she was married to the actor Jack Dougherty. Some years after her death, it was revealed that she had mothered an illegitimate son by a man whose name has never been released. The child, Marvin Carville La Marr, was adopted after her death by the actress ZaSu Pitts and her husband, film executive Tom Gallery. The child was renamed Don Gallery and grew up to become an actor and a sometime boyfriend of Elizabeth Taylor; he now lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

After the death of La Marr, William Watson gave a newspaper interview stating that his daughter was born in Washington and that she was a child actress. He also stated that she went to school in Portland, Oregon, and in Fresno, California.

Later years and death

Although her film career flourished, she also embraced the fast-paced Hollywood nightlife, remarking in an interview that she slept no more than two hours a night, as life was too short to waste on sleep.

During this time she became addicted to heroin, and her addiction, combined with her busy social life and grueling work commitments, took a toll on her health. She died suddenly from tuberculosis and nephritis in Altadena, California and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The newspapers of the day referred to her as "The Girl Too Beautiful To Live" and "The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful", a slight variation on the title that had been closely associated with her.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Barbara La Marr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1621 Vine Street.

Filmography

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2009)

• In the 1930s, Louis B. Mayer named the actress Hedy Lamarr after Barbara La Marr, who had been one of his favorite actresses.
• She was known as "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful", after a Hearst newspaper feature writer, Adela Rogers St. Johns, saw a judge sending her home during the police beat in Los Angeles because she was too beautiful and young to be on her own.
• La Marr said that she had been adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Watson of Yakima, Washington. Depending on her mood, La Marr Barbara claimed to be of different exotic ancestries. Some film historians, however, believe that this was a tall tale to glamorize herself, when, in fact, she was the biological child of the Watsons.
• Her former dance partner, Robert Hobday (stage name Robert Carville), was named as her alleged lover by her former third husband Phil Ainsworth in his divorce suit. Hobday's sister, Virginia, had been La Marr's manager and friend, who later went on to marry Jules Roth, manager of the Hollywood Memorial Cemetery, and La Marr's former lover.
• La Marr is referred to in the Flanagan and Allen song "Underneath the Arches" during the break when Ches Allen reads out the headlines from a 1926 newspaper.

References

• 1900 United States Federal Census, Portland Ward 7, Multnomah County, Oregon, June 1, 1900, Enumeration District 66, Sheet 1B.
• 1910 United States Federal Census, Fresno, Township 3, California, April 22, 1910.
• Duluth, Minnesota The Duluth News Tribune, "Stolen Twice, Is Now Widow", November 17, 1913.
• Oakland, California Oakland Tribune, "Two Are Accused Of Kidnapping Girl", January 5, 1913, Page 39.
• Los Angeles, California Los Angeles Times, "Serious Charge Against Couple. Child Stealing Complaint Issued", January 5, 1913, p.11.
• Los Angeles, California Los Angeles Times, "Alleged Child Stealers Surrender Themselves.", January 7, 1913, p.3.
• Los Angeles, California Los Angeles Times, "Girl Missing: Warrants Out. Absent Maid's Father Takes Drastic Action.", January 3, 1913, p. 13.

External links

• Barbara La Marr at the Internet Movie Database
• Barbara La Marr photo gallery
• Some quotes

• Barbara La Marr at Find A Grave