Kitty Gordon | |
---|---|
![]() Gordon, early 1900s | |
Born | Constance Minnie Blades 22 April 1878 Folkestone, Kent, U.K. |
Died | 26 May 1974 96) Brentwood, New York, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actor |
Spouse(s) | Maxwell James Michael Levenston (Dec 10, 1903–Mar 29, 1904) (his death) Captain Henry Beresford (Oct. 1904 – 1924. his death) Ralph Ranlet (1932 – ?) |
Kitty Gordon (born Constance Minnie Blades; 22 April 1878 – 26 May 1974) was an English stage and silent film actress.
Constance Minnie Blades was born in Folkestone, Kent, to Col. Blades of the Royal Artillery. [1] [2] Her first professional stage appearance was at the Princes Theatre in Bristol in 1901 in the touring production of San Toy. [3] She appeared in The Duchess of Dantzic in 1903, the operetta Véronique in 1904 and The Three Kisses in 1907. In 1909 she moved to New York City, where she became a regular on the New York stage.
She made her first film appearance in 1916 in As in a Looking Glass. During the next three years she made twenty-one films. On 19 October 1911, she starred in the debut of composer Victor Herbert's musical The Enchantress at the New York Theatre. [4] She continued her stage work from 1919 onwards. She also made television appearances.
Her first husband was Maxwell James with whom she had a child, Vera. [5] [ self-published source? ] After his death, she married theatre manager Michael Levenston on 10 December 1903. He died on 29 March 1904 , and in October 1904, Kitty married Captain Henry "Harry" Horsley-Beresford (1876– 1924), a son of the 3rd Baron Decies. [6] Kitty's child became Cynthia Vera Beresford, who became an actress. In 1932 Kitty married Ralph Ranlet. [7] Kitty's daughter Vera died in 1945. [8]
Kitty Gordon died in a nursing home in Brentwood, New York in 1974. [9]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1916 | As in a Looking Glass | Lila Despard | |
1916 | Her Maternal Right | Nina Seabury | |
1916 | The Crucial Test | Thanya | |
1917 | Vera, the Medium | Vera | |
1917 | Forget Me Not | Stefanie Paoli | |
1917 | The Beloved Adventuress | Juliette La Monde | |
1917 | Her Hour | Rita Castle | |
1917 | National Red Cross Pageant | Bruges | Flemish episode |
1917 | Diamonds and Pearls | Violetta D'Arcy | |
1917 | The Volunteer | Herself, Cameo Appearance | |
1918 | The Divine Sacrifice | Madeline Spencer | |
1918 | The Wasp | Grace Culver | |
1918 | The Purple Lily | Marie Burguet | |
1918 | Stolen Orders | Felicia Gaveston | |
1918 | The Interloper | Jane Cameron | |
1918 | Tinsel | Princess Sylvia Carzoni | *her only surviving film |
1918 | Merely Players | Nadine Trent | |
1919 | Adele | Adele Bleneau | |
1919 | Mandarin's Gold | Betty Cardon | |
1919 | The Unveiling Hand | Margaret Ellis | |
1919 | The Scar | Cora | |
1919 | Playthings of Passion | Helen Rowland | (final film role) |
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.
Dame Alice Ellen Terry,, known professionally as Ellen Terry, was a renowned English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Dame Mary Susan Etherington,, known professionally as Marie Tempest, was an English singer and actress.
Minnie Maddern Fiske, but often billed simply as Mrs. Fiske, was one of the leading American actresses of the late 19th and early 20th century. She also spearheaded the fight against the Theatrical Syndicate for the sake of artistic freedom. She was widely considered the most important actress on the American stage in the first quarter of the 20th century. Her performances in several Henrik Ibsen plays widely introduced American audiences to the Norwegian playwright.
Constance Collier was an English stage and film actress and acting coach.
Edna May Pettie, known on stage as Edna May, was an American actress and singer. A popular postcard beauty, May was famous for her leading roles in Edwardian musical comedies.
Minnie Tittell Brune (1875–1974) was an American actress. Although little known in her own country, she became a major figure in the history of the Australian stage, achieving the peak of her career during an Antipodean tour from 1904 to 1909. She is also notable for being the only known link between two notable acting families of different centuries, having worked in 19th-century America with Junius Brutus Booth Jr. of the Booth family, and in 20th century Australia with Roy Redgrave, founder of the Redgrave family. Although having no previous family acting background, Minnie's own two sisters Esther and Charlotte also pursued careers on the stage.
Emily Stevens was a stage and screen actress in Broadway plays in the first three decades of the 20th century and later in silent movies.
Laura Nelson Hall was an actress in theater and vaudeville stock companies in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Conway Tearle was an American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.
Constance Emmeline Carpenter was an English-born American film and musical theatre actress.
The Terry family was a British theatrical dynasty of the late 19th century and beyond. The family includes not only those members with the surname Terry, but also Neilsons, Craigs and Gielguds, to whom the Terrys were linked by marriage or blood ties.
Constance Crawley was an English actress best known for leading roles in Shakespeare tragedies. She gained notice on the American stage at the start of the 20th century, and later starred in and wrote several silent films.
The Divorcee is a 1919 American society drama starring Ethel Barrymore in her last silent film. The film is based on a 1907 play, Lady Frederick by young Somerset Maugham, which had starred Barrymore on Broadway. The play was already quite dated when this film was made, but the actress was always comfortable with this kind of soap-operish melodramatic material. Herbert Blaché directed, and June Mathis wrote the scenario based on Maugham's play. The film was produced and distributed by the Metro Pictures company.
Jane Peyton was an American lead and supporting actress whose career did not commence until she was nearly 30. During her time on stage, she appeared in several long-running Broadway plays and successful road tours. Peyton was perhaps best remembered for performances in The Ninety and Nine, The Earl of Pawtucket, The Heir to the Hoorah, The Three of Us, and The Woman. Once the wife of actor Guy Bates Post, Peyton retired after 14 years on stage, when she married the writer Samuel Hopkins Adams.
Vera Michelena was an American actress, contralto prima donna and dancer who appeared in light opera, musical comedy, vaudeville and silent film. She was perhaps best remembered for her starring roles in the musicals The Princess Chic, Flo Flo and The Waltz Dream, her rendition of the vampire dance in the musical Take It from Me and as a Ziegfeld Follies performer.
Vera Pogorelsky Gordon was a Russian-born American stage and screen actress.
Fred de Gresac, born Frédérique Rosine de Grésac, was a French librettist, playwright and screenwriter. She was the wife of opera singer Victor Maurel.
Clementine de Vere, also known by her stage name Ionia, was the most influential female magician in the first half of the 20th century. A British magician and illusionist she was also known as Clementine Weedon and Princess Clementine Eristavi Tchitcherine, she was a British citizen, although she was born in Belgium and lived in France for a long period. She performed with the stage name "Ionia - the Enchantress" or the "Goddess of Mystery".
Minnie Walton was an Australian-American singer and actress. She began her career in Australia in 1867, moving to California in 1868, where she played the title role in The Colleen Bawn, among others. She performed in the United States until 1874, when she appeared for a season in England playing Mary in Our American Cousin, among other roles. She then made appearances in Australia before returning to California, where she died in 1879.
![]() | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kitty Gordon . |