European Film Star Postcards: Constance Worth

23 August 2021

Constance Worth

Constance Worth (1892–1973) was a British stage actress who had a short career in European silent cinema between 1919 and 1923. She is not to be confused with her Australian namesake who had a career in 1930s Hollywood.

British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite, no. CM-61.

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. A 298/2, hand-coloured.

British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite Ltd. London, no. CM-423 F. Caption: Film Favourite.

An artist framing a parson for poisoning his wife

Constance Worth was born in 1892 in Rawdon, West Yorkshire, England as Constance Emsley Wadsworth.

Worth debuted in the British Lion film A Non-conformist Parson (A.V. Bramble, 1919), about an artist framing a parson for poisoning his wife. She immediately had the female lead in the film.

Worth remained with British Lion for The Starting Point (Edwin J. Collins, 1919) and Wisp o' the Woods (Cecil M. Hepworth, Louis Willoughby, 1919).

In 1920 she worked for the Anglo-Hollandia company, where she had the female lead in the Dutch-British coproduction Fate's Plaything/Wat eeuwig blijft (Maurits Binger, B.E. Doxat-Pratt, 1920), distributed by Butcher.

The plot is about a woman (Worth) who on the eve of her engagement runs away with a dancer (Adelqui Migliar). When pregnant, she runs away from him when he gets brutal, and finds refuge with a hunchback bachelor (Hector Abbas). Years after, a doctor saves the life of her child and he proves to be her ex-fiancée (Bruce Gordon). They reunite.

British postcard in the Cinema Chat series. Photo: Dolson / Grangers Exclusives.

British postcard by "Pictures" Portrait Gallery, London, no. 52. Photo: Claude Harris Ltd.

A lieutenant who plants a baby on a retired captain

Constance Worth then did a range of films with James Knight and Marjorie Villis for the Harma company, The Education of Nicky (Arthur Rooke, 1921), Love in the Welsh Hills (Bernard Dudley, 1921), and No. 7 Brick Row (Fred W. Durrant, 1922), distributed by Walturdaw.

Rooke directed her again in A Bachelor's Baby (Arthur Rooke, 1922), distributed by the company Granger (so the card above may refer to that film). The story of the latter is about a lieutenant (Malcolm Tod) who plants a baby on a retired captain (Tom Reynolds) to promote his romance with a neighbour's niece (Worth).

Worth's last part was in the Franco-Austrian film La maison dans la forêt/Das Haus im Walde/The House in the Forest (Jean Legrand, 1922), also with Jean Angelo and Gerald Ames.

Constance Worth died age 80 in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1973. She was married to Alfred Herbert Taylor who worked under the stage name Dan Rolyat (1915-1924) and to Frano Petrinovic from 1927 till his death in 1951. They had one child.