Laura La Plante

Laura La Plante
Born	Laura LaPlant November 1, 1904(1904-11-01) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 14, 1996(1996-10-14) (aged 91) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1921–1934
Spouse	William A. Seiter (m.1926-1934; divorced) Irving Asher (m.1934-1985; his death)

Laura La Plante (November 1, 1904 – October 14, 1996) was an American actress, best known for her roles in silent films.

Early acting career

Born as Laura LaPlant, La Plante made her acting debut at the age of 15, and in 1923 was named as one of the years WAMPAS Baby Stars. During the 1920s she appeared in more than sixty films. Among her early film appearances were Big Town Round-Up (1921), with cowboy star Tom Mix, and the serials Perils of the Yukon (1922) and Around the World in Eighteen Days (1923).

The majority of her films (i.e. from 1921 to 1930) were made for Universal Pictures. During this period she was the studio's most popular star, "an accomplishment duplicated only by Deanna Durbin years later." ^[1] One of her earliest surviving films is Smouldering Fires (1925) directed by Clarence Brown and costarring Pauline Frederick. Her best remembered film is arguably the silent classic The Cat and the Canary (1927), although she also achieved acclaim for Skinner's Dress Suit (1926), with Reginald Denny, the part-talkie The Love Trap (1929), directed by William Wyler, and the 1929 part-talkie film version of Show Boat (1929), adapted from the novel of the same name by Edna Ferber.

Although this last film was an adaptation of the novel, and not of the famous musical play that the novel was based on, some songs from the play were tossed into the film as box-office insurance. La Plante, however, did not actually sing in the movie; her singing was dubbed by Eva Olivetti, one of the first instances in which this was done in a motion picture. Quite unusual for its day, a scene of La Plante in Show Boat was broadcast on early British television.^[2]

Transition to "talking films"

The advent of 'talkies' effectively shortened her career. Only in her mid-twenties, La Plante proved to be a quite natural and appealing presence in early talkies but the huge wave of new stars in those years overshadowed her. She made her last appearances for Universal in the Technicolor musical extravaganza King of Jazz (1930).

For a while she free-lanced, appearing in God's Gift to Women (Warner Bros., 1931), directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starring Frank Fay, and Arizona (Columbia, 1931), co-starring a young John Wayne.

Later career

La Plante subsequently went to England where she appeared in several "quota quickies", including Man of the Moment (1935), with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. La Plante was briefly considered to replace Myrna Loy in the Thin Man series when Loy thought about leaving, but Loy stayed as "Nora Charles"^{[citation needed]}, and La Plante's career never rebounded.

She retired from the screen in 1935, making only two later films, 1957's Spring Reunion being her last. Her younger sister, actress Violet La Plante, never achieved her sister Laura's level of fame, but, like Laura, was herself named as a "WAMPAS Baby Star", with her "WAMPAS" title coming in 1925. In 1954 Laura La Plante made a guest appearance (as herself, Mrs. Laura Asher) on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life. [Her partner was 18 year old Henry Aaron (B. 1936), a senior at Fairfax High School.] She talked about her husband, Irving Asher, who had just lost 25 lbs. and completed "Elephant Walk" with Elizabeth Taylor in "Ceylon". Mrs. Asher asked that her winnings, if any, go to the Motion Picture Relief Fund. They got three out of four questions correct to win $215. ^[3]

In the mid 1980s, a wheelchair bound La Plante was brought on stage to wave to the crowd at the "Night of a 100 Stars" event.

Death

She died in Woodland Hills, California from Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 91. There is a Laura La Plante Road in Agoura Hills, California.

Partial filmography

• Perils of the Yukon (1922) (15 episode serial)
• Around the World in Eighteen Days (1923) (12 episode serial)
• Dead Game (1923)
• Shootin' for Love (1923)
• Out of Luck (1923)
• The Ramblin' Kid (1923)
• The Thrill Chaser (1923)
• Ride for Your Life (1924)
• Smouldering Fires (1925)
• The Teaser (1925)
• Dangerous Innocence (1925)
• The Cat and the Canary (1927)
• The Last Warning (1929)
• Show Boat (1929)
• King of Jazz (1930)
• Stout Hearts and Willing Hands (1931)
• Arizona (1931), with John Wayne
• Her Imaginary Lover (1933)
• The Girl in Possession (1934)
• Man of the Moment (1935), co-starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Laura La Plante

• Laura La Plante photo gallery
• Laura La Plante at the Internet Movie Database
• Laura La Plante at Find a Grave
• Laura La Plante(NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection)
• Laura La Plante at Virtual History