Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag. Eneret, no. 454.
French postcard in the Les vedettes de cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 25. Photo: Paramount.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 371. Photo: Paramount-Film. Lois Wilson in Monsieur Beaucaire (Sidney Olcott, 1924).
British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 45.
WAMPAS Baby Star of 1922
Lois Wilson was born in 1894 in Pittsburgh, Penn., and grew up in Alabama. In 1915, she won a beauty contest, set up by Universal Studios.
She came into contact with acting and got small roles in films such as The Dumb Girl Of Portici (Lois Weber, 1916). Under the guidance of Weber, she grew as an actress and moved to Los Angeles.
Wilson acted in films from different studios, before getting a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1919. Her contract did not expire until 1927. In 1922 she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars and all in all she played in about 150 films, but many of her films got lost, especially the ones from before the mid-1920s.
Wilson played the title role in two remarkable still-existing films by William C. de Mille. The first was Midsummer Madness (William C. De Mille, 1920), with Jack Holt and Conrad Nagel.
The other film was the silent comedy-drama Miss Lulu Bett (William C. de Mille, 1921), about a once-timid young woman who gains newfound confidence after a failed marriage, much to the chagrin of her miserable family. The latter film co-starred Milton Sills, Theodore Roberts and Mabel van Buren.
Spanish collectors card in the series 'Los artistas cinematograficos en la intimidad' by Amatller, Barcelona, Series A. Left to right: Thomas Meighan, Jeanie MacPherson, Lois Wilson, Cecil B. DeMille, Conrad Nagel, and Gloria Swanson. The photo was made during a visit to Nagel's villa, part of one of the biggest acacia plantations in California.
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 237.
Spanish postcard in the Estrellas del cine series by Editorial Grafica, Barcelona, no. 91. Photo: Columbia Pictures.
An apocalyptic Science-Fiction film
Lois Wilson appeared as Molly Wingate opposite J. Warren Kerrigan in the epic Western The Covered Wagon (James Cruze, 1923) and as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (Herbert Brenon, 1926), the latter is a lost film.
Wilson played against big names, including Richard Dix in three silent films: To the Last Man (Victor Fleming, 1923), The Call of the Canyon (Victor, Fleming 1923), and The Vanishing American (George B. Seitz, 1925). Of the latter, film historian Kevin Brownlow wrote: "The problem of the Indian and his betrayal by the government was more clearly etched in this picture than in any other silent film."
Wilson also co-acted with silent stars Rudolph Valentino in Monsieur Beaucaire (Sidney Olcott, 1924), and John Gilbert in One Dollar Bid (Ernest C. Warde, 1918). She was often cast as the romantic woman and 'the marrying kind', though she didn't marry in real life.
The transition to the sound film seemed promising for Wilson. She starred in films such as Lovin' the Ladies (Melville Brown, 1930) with Richard Dix, Seed (John Stahl, 1931) with John Boles and Genevieve Tobin and was the co-star in the apocalyptic Science-Fiction film Deluge (Felix Feist, 1933).
Wilson's parts became smaller after the early 1930s, working for Universal and B-movie companies like Republic. She became disappointed and eventually retired in 1941. After this, she did mainly theatre work, including Broadway, and television. From 1954 to 1955 she was seen in the soap opera Guiding Light. In 1988 Lois Wilson died of pneumonia at the Riverside Hospital for Skilled Care in Reno, Nevada at the age of 93.
Danish postcard by J.Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 453.
British Real Photograph postcard.
Danish postcard by Stenders Kunstforlag, no. 32. Photo: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 91b.
Sources: Wikipedia (English, German and Dutch) and IMDb.
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