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Juanita Hansen
Hansen in 1920
Born	Juanita Cecilia Hanson (1895-03-03)March 3, 1895 Thor,Iowa, U.S.
Died	September 26, 1961(1961-09-26) (aged 66) Los Angeles,California, U.S.
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
Occupations	Actress author speaker
Years active	1915–1933

Juanita Hansen (bornJuanita Cecilia Hanson; March 3, 1895 – September 26, 1961)^[1] was an American actress who performed insilent films. She became one of theSennett Bathing Beauties and appeared in a variety ofserials through the late 1910s. She was well known for her troubled personal life and struggle with addiction to cocaine and morphine. In 1934, she became clean and traveled lecturing on the dangers of drugs. She wrote a book about addiction and started her own charity to help raise awareness about drug abuse.^[2]

Juanita Cecilia Hanson was born in Thor, Iowa to Henry George Hanson, who was originally from Wisconsin,^{[citation needed]} and Johanna Sophia Peterson (or Pederson) on March 3, 1895 or March 5, 1895 (sources differ).^[1][3] Alternatively, her birthplace has been given asDes Moines and her birth year as 1897.^{[citation needed]} The family moved to California when Juanita was a young girl, and she attendedLos Angeles High School, where she dropped out after completing 9th grade.^{[citation needed]}

She began acting in films when she was 16,^[4] and she secured her first acting job withL. Frank Baum's Oz Film Manufacturing Company. She took on the name Juanita Hansen, and appeared inThe Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914), a film based on Baum's book, in a minor role as the bell ringer. Hansen next appeared inThe Magic Cloak of Oz, an adaptation ofQueen Zixi of Ix.

Early in her career the actress was also associated withFamous Players–Lasky and acted withJack Pickford. In 1915, Hansen appeared in six films. One of her early feature roles was inThe Secret of the Submarine. The following year, her good looks landed her work as one of theSennett Bathing Beauties doing comedy shorts atKeystone/Triangle Studios. Although she told reporters she liked working forMack Sennett, she wanted to do more thanslapstick comedy.

After Hansen left Keystone, she soon began playing serious roles forUniversal Studios. She starred in the 18-episode serialThe Brass Bullet. The actress made seven films in 1919. Soon she was cast in the starring role of Princess Elyata in the 15-episode serialThe Lost City, which was produced byWilliam Selig,Harry Warner,Jack L. Warner, andSam Warner. The serial was edited to seven reels and re-released in the form of the feature-length filmThe Jungle Princess. However, during this time, Hansen's increasingly reckless lifestyle led to acocaine addiction that quickly overwhelmed her life.

Hansen's performance in the Universal productions led to a 1920 deal withPathé to star withWarner Oland andWilliam Bailey in the 15-episode serialThe Phantom Foe. She made a second Pathé serial,The Yellow Arm (1921).^{[citation needed]} In 1928, Hansen retired from movies after she was scalded in a bathroom accident in theHotel Lincoln in New York City.^[4] She was awarded $109,269 in damages and interest following a long legal battle.^[5]

When she returned to work, behavioral problems caused by her drug addiction disrupted filming and ended her relationship with Pathé. She appeared in secondary roles in two more films, but by 1923 her film career was over at the age of 28.

In 1923, Hansen wrote a nationally syndicated "lengthy account of her journey through addiction".^[6] She attributed her recovery to treatment by Dr. John Baker at Oakland Sanitarium.^[6] She also spent a year on thePantages vaudeville circuit speaking about the dangers of addiction to drugs.^[7]

Her life became a series of constant ups and downs fighting her addictions. Hansen andAnna Luther were named as two co-respondents in a divorce suit brought byEvelyn Nesbit against Jack Clifford. Clifford left Nesbit in 1918, and she divorced him in 1933.^[8][9]

She began working in live theatre, appearing as The Lady in Black in the Broadway productionThe High Hatters (1928).^[10] Ten years after her last film in 1923, she was given a secondary role in theMonogram Pictures B-movieSensation Hunters (1933). This, her firsttalkie, was her last film, and the ensuing years were marked by continual struggles with her drug addiction. In 1934, Hansen tried a comeback in movies but it was unsuccessful.

At one point, she attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She survived, and the experience helped turn her around. Although her acting career was long over, and her drug habit had left her penniless, she took a job as a clerk for a railroad company. She also worked in theWorks Progress Administration during theGreat Depression. In 1940, she was living inChicago at the Lorraine Hotel.^{[citation needed]}

Eventually, the former actress went public with her story. She created the Juanita Hansen Foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs. She was jailed in 1937 on anarcotics charge but was cleared when she testified that tablets that police found in her purse were prescribed to her for medical purposes. She went on a lecture tour, crusading against traffic in illegal drugs.

In 1938 she wrote the bookThe Conspiracy of Silence, arguing that drug addicts should be sent to specialized medical institutions for treatment instead of being sent to prison.

Hansen died in 1961 at her home in West Hollywood, California, of heart failure. Her residence was 858 Hilldale Avenue. Her body was found by her maid, Pearl Edwards, who told deputy sheriffs the actress was suffering from a heart ailment.^{[citation needed]} She was interred atHoly Cross Cemetery^[1] in Culver City, California. In the years before her death, she resided in a neighborhood only a few miles from where she once made motion pictures.^{[citation needed]}

• Michael G. Ankerich (2010).Dangerous Curves atop Hollywood Heels: The Lives, Careers, and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen. BearManor.ISBN 978-1-59393-605-1.

• "Arrest Noted Film Actress As Hop User."Davenport Democrat and Leader. January 12, 1923, Page 19.
• "Star of Silent Films Juanita Hansen Dies."Los Angeles Times. September 27, 1961, Page 2.
• "Juanita Hansen, 66, Film-Serials Star."New York Times. September 28, 1961, Page 41.
• Hansen, Juanita and Preston Langley Hickey.The Conspiracy of Silence. Educational Associates. 1938.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJuanita Hansen.

• Juanita Hansen atIMDb
• Juanita Hansen atFind a Grave
• 1923 Autobiographical account of her drug addiction: Part I,Part II

• 1895 births
• 1961 deaths
• American film actresses
• American silent film actresses
• American stage actresses
• Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
• Actresses from Des Moines, Iowa
• 20th-century American actresses
• Film serial actresses
• American vaudeville performers

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