French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 35. Photo: Film Paramount.
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 144. Photo: Northland Studio.
Cecil B. DeMille and William C. deMille
Wanda Hawley was born Selma Wanda Pittack in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1895. Her family moved to Seattle, Washington, when she was a child. She received her education in Seattle. She entered the stage with an amateur group in Seattle and later toured the United States and Canada as a singer. Due to her petite status, she billed herself as Wanda Petit for a brief period in her career till her marriage to Allen Burton Hawley in 1916 and adopted his surname professionally.
She made her screen debut with the Fox Film Corporation in the drama The Heart of a Lion (Frank Lloyd, 1917) starring William Farnum. In 1918 she moved to Famous Players-Lasky and appeared as the leading lady in the Douglas Fairbanks comedy Mr. Fix-It (Allan Dwan, 1918). At Famous Players/Paramount, she was the leading lady of William S. Hart in the Western The Border Wireless (Willam S. Hart, 1918) and of Charles Ray in the comedy Greased Lightning (Jerome Storm, 1919).
She co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in The Young Rajah (Phil Rosen, 1922). It was one of Valentino's most commercially and critically unsuccessful films. The film is best remembered today for its elaborate and suggestive costumes, designed by Valentino's wife Natacha Rambova. With Bryant Washburn, she costarred in the films The Gypsy Trail (Walter Edwards, 1918), The Way of a Man with a Maid (Donald Crisp, 1918), The Poor Boob (Donald Crisp, 1919), The Six Best Cellars (Donald Crisp, 1920) and Mrs. Temple's Telegram (James Cruze, 1920).
Wanda Hawley also played opposite idol Wallace Reid in the comedies You're Fired (James Cruze, 1919), The Lottery Man (James Cruze, 1919) also with Harrison Ford, Double Speed (Allan Dwan - in his debut, 1920) and Thirty Days (James Cruze, 1922). Thirty Days was Wallace Reid's last film. Reviews of the film claimed the dating daredevil looked tired and haggard throughout the production and the film garnered generally bad reviews. On 18 January 1923, Reid died from influenza in a sanatorium, aged 31, while attempting to recover from a morphine addiction. Like many other films with Reid - and Hawley - Thirty Days is now considered a lost film.
Cecil B. DeMille directed her in Old Wives For New (1918) with Elliott Dexter, We Can't Have Everything (1918), For Better, for Worse (1919) with Gloria Swanson, and The Affairs of Anatol (1921) starring Swanson and Wallace Reid. She also worked with Cecil's brother William C. deMille on the drama The Tree of Knowledge (William C. deMille, 1920) starring Robert Warwick. In 1919, she also worked with William C. deMille on the film Peg O'My Heart, but it was never released because of a dispute with the author of the novel on which the film was based, J. Hartley Manners. In 1922 Metro Pictures (the future MGM) would release a version with Laurette Taylor in the title role. In 1933, MGM released a sound version with Marion Davies.
British postcard in the 'Pictures' Portrait Gallery series by Pictures Ltd., London, no. 9/191. Sent by mail in 1922.
A dispute at Paramount
In 1923 Wanda Hawley left Paramount, after having acted there in 8 to 10 films a year in the years 1918-1922. IMDb mentions there was a dispute. That year, Hawley acted in the British-American adventure film Fires of Fate/Desert Sheik (Tom Terriss, 1923) with Nigel Barrie and adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle, and the British drama Lights of London (Charles Calvert, 1923), again with Barrie.
When she returned to Hollywood, Hawley worked for various companies: Vitagraph, Fox, MGM, First National, Universal and smaller companies. By the mid-1920s Hawley alternated supporting parts in films with stars such as Graustark (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1925) starring Norma Talmadge and Smouldering Fires (Clarence Brown, 1925) starring Pauline Frederick with female leads in Westerns and aviation stunt films with William Farnum and stunt man and pilot Richard Grace.
The last female lead Hawley had in Eyes of the Totem (W.S. Van Dyke, 1927) with Tom Santschi, shot in and around the city of Tacoma. The plot of the - still-surviving - film deals with the wife of a miner, who moves to the city (Tacoma) when her husband has sold his claim. Upon reaching the city, the man is murdered and the cash is stolen by a mysterious steely-eyed stranger. Left penniless with a small child to care for, Mariam becomes a beggar. Over the years she becomes a respectable member of society, but she always keeps a watch for the eyes of the murderer. A chance encounter reveals his identity, leading to a violent confrontation.
With the advent of sound, Hawley's film career largely ended. Her last film was The Crooked Road (?, 1932). By late 1931, she was working for a cosmetic company. Later, she demonstrated and sold dresses in a department store in Tacoma, Washington.
Wanda Hawley married Allen Burton Hawley in 1916. After Hawley died in 1925, Wanda married the same year to Jay Wilkinson, but left him in 1928, when he refused to continue touring as an actor with her. They divorced in 1933. In 1938, Hawley married Jack Richey in Roosevelt County, New Mexico. She and Jack were travelling in Boise when he died of a heart attack in 1957. Wanda Hawley died in 1963 in Los Angeles. She is interred in the Abbey of Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA.
American postcard. Photo: Paramount. Wanda Hawley in Burning Sands (George Melford, 1922).
Spanish collector card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 13. Photo: Paramount. Rudolph Valentino and Wanda Hawley in The Young Rajah (Phil Rosen, 1922).
Sources: Hawley Society, Silent Era, Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.
No comments:
Post a Comment