German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 555/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Freulich / Unfilman.
German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 555/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Freulich / Unfilman.
America's most beautiful blonde
Miss DuPont was born Patricia Hannon in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1894. Sometimes she is credited as Patty DuPont.
Although Erich von Stroheim is credited with discovering her, she had already made several films before they met. In 1919, she made her film debut as ‘Patricia Hannan’ (sic), in Lombardi, Ltd. (Jack Conway, 1919) with Bert Lytell. Then she acted in the drama The Day She Paid (Rex Ingram, 1919), starring Francelia Billington.
She was announced as America's most beautiful blonde when she played the lead in the drama The Rage of Paris (Jack Conway, 1921).
She had her breakthrough as a wealthy and naive American woman seduced by Erich von Stroheim's odious count in Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922). During the filming, she jumped from a tower and nearly drowned in a lake. She later said about it: "Put not your trust in directors. Mr. von Stroheim intimated that I should have to jump only a few feet, so I didn't worry. And when the time came, I had to climb over that railing and jump into that net or be burned up. He went first, so there was no one to argue with. But it wasn't so bad as being in the boat, for I can't swim, and the water came in and covered my face, and when Mr. von Stroheim lifted me, he stepped in a hole, and we both went down fourteen feet to the bottom."
When released in 1922, Foolish Wives was the most expensive film made at that time, and billed by Universal Studios as the 'first million-dollar movie' to come out of Hollywood. It reflected an industry-wide trend toward elaborate productions in a bid to lure audiences with spectacle, melodrama and sex. Foolish Wives became the eighth most popular film of 1922 in North America.
American postcard by M.B.S.C. Co. Photo: Universal - Super Jewel. Miss DuPont in Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922).
Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 2, for Chocolate Guillèn. Erich von Stroheim in Foolish Wives (Von Stroheim, 1922). The lady depicted is not Mae Busch but Miss Dupont.
A string of films that are considered lost
After Foolish Wives, Miss DuPont starred in a string of films that are considered lost. She starred in Sidney Franklin's The First Wife (1923), with Monte Blue and Marie Prevost.
She played the second female lead in the drama One Night in Rome (Clarence G. Badger, 1924), starring stage legend Laurette Taylor. She had the female lead in the adventure crime drama Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (King Baggot, 1925) starring House Peters.
The following year, she had a supporting part in the comedy Mantrap (Victor Fleming, 1926) starring Clara Bow and Percy Marmont.
Her final two films were the comedy Hula (Victor Fleming, 1927) with Clara Bow and Clive Brook, in which she was credited as ‘Patricia Dupont’, and The Wheel of Destiny (Duke Worne, 1927), starring Forrest Stanley and Georgia Hale.
Miss DuPont retired when she became the second wife of Sylvanus Stokes. They had met while he was travelling in Los Angeles shortly after his 1926 divorce from his first wife, Margaret Fahnestock Stokes. They were married in January 1928. The couple was later living in Palm Beach, Florida, near the Palm Beach Country Club. Miss DuPont died in Palm Beach in 1973. She was 78.
German postcard by Ross Verlag. Photo: Universal / Super Jewel. Miss DuPont in Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922).
French postcard in the Les vedettes de cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 10. Photo: Universal Film.
Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.
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