Ruth Chatterton (December 24, 1892 – November 24, 1961) was an American stage, film, and television actress, aviator and novelist. She was at her most popular in the early to mid-1930s, and in the same era gained prominence as an aviator, one of the few female pilots in the United States at the time. In the late 1930s, Chatterton retired from film acting but continued her career on the stage. She had several TV roles beginning in the late 1940s and became a successful novelist in the 1950s.
Early life
Chatterton was born in New York City on December 24, 1892 to Walter, an architect, and Lillian (née Reed) Chatterton. She was of English and French extraction. Her parents separated while she was young. Chatterton attended Mrs. Hagen's School in Pelham, New York. She soon dropped out of school to pursue a stage career.
Career
thumb|left|[[Ullrich Haupt (actor, born 1887)|Ullrich Haupt and Chatterton in Madame X (1929)]]
In 1911, Chatterton made her Broadway stage debut in The Great Name. Her greatest success onstage came in 1914, when she starred in the play Daddy Long Legs, adapted from the novel by Jean Webster.
Chatterton married her first husband, actor Ralph Forbes, on December 19, 1924, in Manhattan. They moved to Los Angeles. With the help of Emil Jannings, she was cast in her first film role in Sins of the Fathers in 1928. That same year, she was signed to a contract by Paramount Pictures. Chatterton's first film for Paramount was also her first sound film, The Doctor's Secret, released in 1929. Chatterton was able to make the transition from silents to sound because of her stage experience.
Later in 1929, Chatterton was loaned to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she starred in Madame X. The film was a critical and box-office success, and effectively launched Chatterton's career. For her work in the film, Chatterton received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. The following year, she starred in Sarah and Son, portraying an impoverished housewife who rises to fame and fortune as an opera singer. The film was another critical and financial success, and Chatterton received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Later that year, Chatterton was voted the second female star of the year, behind only Norma Shearer, in a poll conducted by the West Coast film exhibitors. Her first novel, Homeward Borne, was published in 1950 and became a best seller. She went on to write three more novels: The Betrayers (1953), The Pride of the Peacock (1954), and The Southern Wild (1958).
left|thumb|Ruth Chatterton ad from [[The Film Daily, 1932]]
In 1947 she narrated a four-sided 78 rpm disc set, The Revolt of the Alphabet, written by John Byrne, with music by Vladimir Selinsky.
Chatterton came out of retirement in the 1950s, and appeared on U.S. television in several plays, including a TV adaptation of Dodsworth on Prudential Playhouse, alongside Mary Astor and Walter Huston. Her last television appearance was as Gertrude in a 1953 adaptation of Hamlet, with Maurice Evans in the title role, on the anthology series Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Flying
Chatterton was one of the few woman aviators of her era, and was good friends with Amelia Earhart. She flew solo across the U.S. several times, and served as sponsor of the Sportsman Pilot Mixed Air Derby and the annual Ruth Chatterton Air Derby during the 1930s; she also opened the National Air Races in Los Angeles in 1936.
She taught British film and stage actor Brian Aherne to fly, an experience he described at length in his 1969 autobiography A Proper Job.
Marriages
Chatterton was married three times and had no children. In 1924, she married British actor Ralph Forbes, who starred opposite her that same year in The Magnolia Lady, a musical version of the A.E. Thomas and Alice Duer Miller hit Come Out of the Kitchen. Their divorce was finalized on August 12, 1932. The following day, August 13, Chatterton married George Brent, her The Rich Are Always with Us and The Crash co-star, in Harrison, New York. The couple separated in March 1934 and were divorced in October 1934.
Chatterton married actor Barry Thomson in 1942. They remained married until his death in 1960.
Death
thumb|The Lugar Mausoleum where Chatterton's remains are interred
After the death of her third husband in 1960, Chatterton lived alone in the home they shared in Redding, Connecticut. On November 21, 1961, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while friends were visiting her home. She was cremated and is interred in a niche in the Lugar Mausoleum (Section 11, Lot 303) at Beechwoods Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.
Honors
For her contribution to the motion-picture industry, Ruth Chatterton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. She is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1928
| Sins of the Fathers
| Greta Blanke
| Lost film
|-
| 1929
| The Doctor's Secret
| Lillian Garson
| Lost film
|-
| 1929
| The Dummy
| Agnes Meredith
|
|-
| 1929
| Madame X
| Jacqueline
| Alternative title: Absinthe<br/>Nominated: Academy Award for Best Actress
|-
| 1929
| Charming Sinners
| Kathryn Miles
|
|-
| 1929
| The Laughing Lady
| Marjorie Lee
|
|-
| 1930
| Sarah and Son
| Sarah Storm
| Nominated: Academy Award for Best Actress
|-
| 1930
| Paramount on Parade
| Floozie (The Montmartre Girl)
|
|-
| 1930
| The Lady of Scandal
| Elsie
|
|-
| 1930
| Anybody's Woman
| Pansy Gray
|
|-
| 1930
| The Right to Love
| Brooks Evans / Naomi Kellogg
|
|-
| 1931
| Unfaithful
| Lady Fay Kilkerry
|
|-
| 1931
| The Magnificent Lie
| Poll
|
|-
| 1931
| Once a Lady
| Anna Keremazoff
|
|-
| 1932
| Tomorrow and Tomorrow
| Eve Redman
|
|-
| 1932
| The Rich Are Always with Us
| Caroline Grannard
|
|-
| 1932
| The Crash
| Linda Gault
|
|-
| 1932
| Frisco Jenny
| Frisco Jenny Sandoval
|
|-
| 1933
| Lilly Turner
| Lilly "Queenie" Turner Dixon
|
|-
| 1933
| Female
| Alison Drake
|
|-
| 1934
| Journal of a Crime
| Francoise Moliet
|
|-
| 1936
| Lady of Secrets
| Celia Whittaker
|
|-
| 1936
| Girls' Dormitory
| Professor Anna Mathe
|
|-
| 1936
| Dodsworth
| Fran Dodsworth
|
|-
| 1937
| The Rat
| Zelia de Chaumont
|
|-
| 1938
| A Royal Divorce
| Josephine de Beauharnais
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1948
| The Philco Television Playhouse
|
| Episode: "Suspect"
|-
| 1950
| Prudential Family Playhouse
| Fran Dodsworth
| Episode: "Dodsworth"
|-
| 1951
| Celanese Theatre
| Kit Marlowe
| Episode: "Old Acquaintance"
|-
| 1952
| Pulitzer Prize Playhouse
| Alison Stanhope
| Episode: "Alison's House"
|-
| 1952
| Kraft Television Theatre
|
| Episode: "Paper Moon"
|-
| 1953
| Hamlet
| Gertrude
| Television film, (final film role)
|}
See also
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
Works
- Homeward Borne: A Novel (1950)
- The Betrayers (1953)
- The Pride of the Peacock (1954)
- The Southern Wild (1958)
- Lady's Man (1961)
Footnotes
References
Further reading
- O'Brien, Scott. Ruth Chatterton: Actress, Aviator, Author. Bear Manor Media, 2013. ISBN 1593932480
- Ruth Chatterton Papers, 1893-1961, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
External links
- Photographs of Ruth Chatterton
- Ruth Moesel Collection of Ruth Chatterton Materials, 1909-1974, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- New York Public Library Blog on Ruth Chatterton