Ruth Chatterton | |
|---|---|
 Ruth Chatterton in 1930 | |
| Born | (1892-12-24)December 24, 1892 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 24, 1961(1961-11-24) (aged 68) Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Beechwoods Cemetery |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, novelist |
| Years active | 1908–1953 |
| Spouses | |
Ruth Chatterton (December 24, 1892 – November 24, 1961) was an American stage, film, and television actress, aviator and novelist. She was at her most popular in the early to mid-1930s, and in the same era gained prominence as anaviator, one of the few female pilots in the United States at the time. In the late 1930s, Chatterton retired from film acting but continued her career on the stage. She had several TV roles beginning in the late 1940s and became a successful novelist in the 1950s.
Chatterton was born in New York City on December 24, 1892 to Walter, an architect, and Lillian (née Reed) Chatterton.[1] She was of English and French extraction. Her parents separated while she was young. Chatterton attended Mrs. Hagen's School in Pelham, New York.[1]
In 1908, Chatterton and her friends were attending a play in Washington, D.C. Chatterton later criticized the acting of the lead actress to her friends, who challenged her to become a stage actress herself or "shut up". Chatterton accepted the challenge, and a few days later, joined the chorus of the stage show.[2] She soon dropped out of school to pursue a stage career.[1] Aged 16, Chatterton joined the Friend Stock Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she remained for six months.[2][3]
In 1911, Chatterton made her Broadway stage debut inThe Great Name. Her greatest success onstage came in 1914, when she starred in the playDaddy Long Legs, adapted from the novel byJean Webster.[4]
Chatterton married her first husband, actorRalph Forbes, on December 19, 1924, in Manhattan.[5] They moved to Los Angeles. With the help ofEmil Jannings, she was cast in her first film role inSins of the Fathers in 1928. That same year, she was signed to a contract byParamount Pictures. Chatterton's first film for Paramount was also her first sound film,The Doctor's Secret, released in 1929. Chatterton was able to make the transition from silents to sound because of her stage experience.[6]
Later in 1929, Chatterton was loaned toMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she starred inMadame X. The film was a critical and box-office success, and effectively launched Chatterton's career. For her work in the film, Chatterton received her first nomination for anAcademy Award for Best Actress.[7] The following year, she starred inSarah and Son, portraying an impoverished housewife who rises to fame and fortune as an opera singer. The film was another critical and financial success, and Chatterton received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Later that year, Chatterton was voted the second female star of the year, behind onlyNorma Shearer, in a poll conducted by the West Coast film exhibitors.[6]
In 1933, Chatterton starred in the successfulPre-Code comedy-dramaFemale, in which she plays the head of an automobile factory who uses handsome men in her employ for sex and then drops them. When she leftParamount Pictures, her initial home studio, forWarner Bros., along withKay Francis andWilliam Powell, the brothers Warner were said to then need an infusion of "class". Chatterton's last picture for Warner Brothers was the 1934 dramaJournal of a Crime, co-starringAdolphe Menjou andClaire Dodd. In this late pre-Coder, Chatterton plays a jealous wife who murders her husband's mistress. Chatterton is well-remembered for the types of roles that came to an end with implementation of the Production Code in July 1934, but she went on to co-star in the filmDodsworth (1936), forSamuel Goldwyn. This is widely regarded as her finest film, with what many considered an Oscar-worthy performance, although she was not nominated. Due to her age and the studios' focus on younger, more bankable stars, she moved to England and made only two more pictures, ending withA Royal Divorce (1938). She came back in 1948 to do television until 1953.
By 1938, Chatterton had tired of motion picture acting and retired from films. She moved back to the Eastern United States, where she lived with her third husband, Barry Thomson. In 1940 she returned to the Broadway stage to star inJohn Van Druten'sLeave Her to Heaven. She continued acting in Broadway productions and appeared in the London production ofThe Constant Wife, for which she received good reviews. Chatterton also raised French poodles and began a successful writing career.[8] Her first novel,Homeward Borne, was published in 1950 and became a best seller. She went on to write three more novels:The Betrayers (1953),The Pride of the Peacock (1954), andThe Southern Wild (1958).
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In 1947 she narrated a four-sided 78 rpm disc set,The Revolt of the Alphabet, written by John Byrne, with music by Vladimir Selinsky.[9]
Chatterton came out of retirement in the 1950s, and appeared on U.S. television in several plays, including a TV adaptation ofDodsworth onPrudential Playhouse, alongsideMary Astor andWalter Huston.[10] Her last television appearance was asGertrude in a 1953 adaptation ofHamlet, withMaurice Evans in the title role, on the anthology seriesHallmark Hall of Fame.
Chatterton was one of the few woman aviators of her era, and was good friends withAmelia Earhart.[11][12] She flew solo across the U.S. several times, and served as sponsor of the Sportsman Pilot Mixed Air Derby and the annual Ruth Chatterton Air Derby during the 1930s; she also opened the National Air Races in Los Angeles in 1936.[13][14]She taught British film and stage actorBrian Aherne to fly, an experience he described at length in his 1969 autobiographyA Proper Job.[15]
Chatterton was married three times and had no children. In 1924, she married British actorRalph Forbes, who starred opposite her that same year inThe Magnolia Lady, a musical version of the A.E. Thomas andAlice Duer Miller hitCome Out of the Kitchen.[16][17] Their divorce was finalized on August 12, 1932. The following day, August 13, Chatterton marriedGeorge Brent, herThe Rich Are Always with Us andThe Crash co-star, in Harrison, New York.[18][19] The couple separated in March 1934 and were divorced in October 1934.[17][20]
Chatterton married actor Barry Thomson in 1942.[21] They remained married until his death in 1960.[22]
After the death of her third husband in 1960, Chatterton lived alone in the home they shared in Redding, Connecticut. On November 21, 1961, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while friends were visiting her home.[22] She was taken to Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, where she died on November 24, aged 68.[23] She was cremated and is interred in a niche in the Lugar Mausoleum (Section 11, Lot 303) atBeechwoods Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.[24]
For her contribution to the motion-picture industry, Ruth Chatterton has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, at 6263 Hollywood Blvd.[25] She is also a member of theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.[26]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Sins of the Fathers | Greta Blanke | Lost film |
| 1929 | The Doctor's Secret | Lillian Garson | Lost film |
| 1929 | The Dummy | Agnes Meredith | |
| 1929 | Madame X | Jacqueline | Alternative title:Absinthe Nominated:Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1929 | Charming Sinners | Kathryn Miles | |
| 1929 | The Laughing Lady | Marjorie Lee | |
| 1930 | Sarah and Son | Sarah Storm | Nominated: Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1930 | Paramount on Parade | Floozie (The Montmartre Girl) | |
| 1930 | The Lady of Scandal | Elsie | |
| 1930 | Anybody's Woman | Pansy Gray | |
| 1930 | The Right to Love | Brooks Evans / Naomi Kellogg | |
| 1931 | Unfaithful | Lady Fay Kilkerry | |
| 1931 | The Magnificent Lie | Poll | |
| 1931 | Once a Lady | Anna Keremazoff | |
| 1932 | Tomorrow and Tomorrow | Eve Redman | |
| 1932 | The Rich Are Always with Us | Caroline Grannard | |
| 1932 | The Crash | Linda Gault | |
| 1932 | Frisco Jenny | Frisco Jenny Sandoval | |
| 1933 | Lilly Turner | Lilly "Queenie" Turner Dixon | |
| 1933 | Female | Alison Drake | |
| 1934 | Journal of a Crime | Francoise Moliet | |
| 1936 | Lady of Secrets | Celia Whittaker | |
| 1936 | Girls' Dormitory | Professor Anna Mathe | |
| 1936 | Dodsworth | Fran Dodsworth | |
| 1937 | The Rat | Zelia de Chaumont | |
| 1938 | A Royal Divorce | Josephine de Beauharnais |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Episode: "Suspect" | |
| 1950 | Prudential Family Playhouse | Fran Dodsworth | Episode: "Dodsworth" |
| 1951 | Celanese Theatre | Kit Marlowe | Episode: "Old Acquaintance" |
| 1952 | Pulitzer Prize Playhouse | Alison Stanhope | Episode: "Alison's House" |
| 1952 | Kraft Television Theatre | Episode: "Paper Moon" | |
| 1953 | Hamlet | Gertrude | Television film, (final film role) |
