Ethel Borden | |
|---|---|
.jpg) circa 1915–1917 | |
| Born | Ethel Borden Harriman December 11, 1897 New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 4, 1953(1953-07-04) (aged 55) New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, author |
| Spouse | |
| Parent(s) | J. Borden Harriman Florence J. Harriman |
Ethel Borden Harriman (December 11, 1897 – July 4, 1953) was an American heiress, actress, and author who worked as a screenwriter atMGM andRKO during the 1930s.
Ethel Harriman was born into a wealthy New York family in 1897. Her father,J. Borden Harriman, was a banker, and her mother,Florence "Daisy" Hurst, was a suffragist and diplomat who served as theMinister to Norway after her father's death.[1][2]
Her paternal grandparents were Laura (née Low) Harriman and bankerOliver Harriman. Her maternal grandparents were Caroline Eliza (née Jaffray) Hurst andF. W. J. Hurst, who became wealthy in the cross-Atlantic shipping business.[3]
Ethel served with the Women's Ambulance Service in France duringWorld War I, and afterward spent two years as an actress in a theatrical stock company.[4][5]
She played Grace Torrence in a 1933 production of Design For Living and began writing screenplays after being encouraged to do so by playwrightNoël Coward.[4] She published a comedic book,Romantic, I Call It, in 1926, and took on writing assignments in Hollywood at MGM, penning films likeThey Wanted to Marry andI Live My Life under the name Ethel Borden.[a][7][8] She continued to act in the 1930s, appearing in productions such as theZiegfeld Follies.[6] She is credited by the Broadway Internet Database as translatingHedda Gabler in 1942,[9] and writingAnne of England in 1941. Ancestry census records for 1940 show her living with the 46 year old Mary Cass Canfield (author of the one act playLackeys of the Moon) in Nassau, New York, and they were both hired by Broadway producer Gilbert Miller, so the 2 women probably collaborated onAnne of England and other works for Miller.
In 1918 Ethel married stockbroker Henry Potter Russell (1893–1943) in theAmerican Cathedral in Paris on theAvenue de l'Alma.[10] The "quiet wartime ceremony" was only attended by a few "intimate friends, among themAmbassador and Mrs. Sharp,Mr. andMrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, and General Lewis.Mrs. Vincent Astor of New York served as matron of honor and Lieutenant Minot was best man." Henry was a son of Charles H. Russell of New York.[11] Before their divorce in 1925, they were the parents of:[1][2]
Later in her life, Borden was in a long-term relationship with the British novelistPamela Frankau.[14][15]
She died of leukemia on July 4, 1953, aged 55, in New York City.[16][3]
Media related toEthel Borden at Wikimedia Commons
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