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The daughter of actress Billie Brockwell, Brockwell first appeared on the stage at the age of three. She made her screen debut in Philadelphia for the Lubin Company in 1913, later working with D.W. Griffith. Joining Fox Studios, Brockwell was one of the busiest actresses in town and easily made the transition to sound films. Married to director Robert Broadwell, she was also married for a brief period to Harry Edwards, former husband of actress Louise Glaum. On June 27, Brockwell was a passenger in a car with her boyfriend, advertising man Thomas Stanley Brennan, when the car plunged over a 75 foot embankment in Calabasas. Brockwell was pinned under the car and sustained compound fractures to her jaw, a fractured skull and several other serious injuries Brennan was seriously hurt and survived his injuries. While hospitalized, Brockwell received four blood transfusions and died from peritonitis which developed as a result of her several injuries. Brennan stated that dust and cinders blew into his eyes causing him to lose control of the vehicle, he was exonerated of blame by the coroner's jury.

Jeanne Eagels, one of the most intriguing stars of late silent films and the early talkies, was born Amelia Jean Eagles on June 26, 1890 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Edward and Julia Sullivan Eagles. Young Jean was part of an impoverished family of eight, with three brothers and two sisters. She likely stopped going to school when she was 11 years old.

As a girl, she decided to become an actress after appearing in a Shakespearen play. Of that performance, she said, "I played the grave-digger in 'Hamlet,' first, at the age of seven. They gave me the chance to play Shakespeare because nobody else of the tender age of seven would do so. They wouldn't say the rather amazing words...the other kiddies. I took it all quite seriously and said ALL the words without a quiver. Once I had begun I could not be stopped. I was ill when I was not on the stage. It seemed to me I couldn't breathe in any other atmosphere."

She followed up the experience up by playing bit parts in local theatrical productions. When she was 12 years old, she became a member of the Dubinsky Brothers' traveling stock company, appearing at first as a dancer, but eventually working her way into speaking roles. Eagels soon was playing leading roles in the stock company's repertory, including "Camille," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Later, a myth arose that Eagels' began her career as a circus performer. The 1957 biographical film "The Jeanne Eagels Story" erroneously depicts Eagels' beginning as a hootchie-kootchie dancer in a carnival. The Dubinsky Brothers did use a tent to put on their shows, but they did not present carnival acts but performed popular comedies, musicals, and dramas. The tent was only used during the spring and summer months, while during the colder months, the company performed in theaters and halls in the Midwest.

Jeanne Eagels married the scion of the Dubinsky family, Morris, the oldest of the brothers. She was likely in her teens, and probably had a baby by Morris. Stories about Eagels' past diverge, and in one account, the child was adopted by family friends, while in another, Eagels' baby boy died in infancy, triggering a nervous breakdown for the bereft mother. Eagels and Dubinky separated, likely due to his infidelity. Jeanne eventually left the Dubinksy company and joined another touring stock company, which eventually brought her to New York City.

Eagels decided to make herself over in New York as she fought her way up in the fiercely competitive theatrical world. A brunette, Eagels dyed her hair blonde and said that she was of Spanish and Irish lineage, and that her surname was originally "Aguilar," which loosely translates into English as "eagle." She changed the spelling of her name from "Eagles" to "Eagels," reputedly as she thought it looked better on a marquee. Eliminating her past, she presented herself as an ingÃffÃ'©nue rather than as a divorced woman and mother of a dead infant. She also adopted an English accent as David Belasco, the legendary theatrical impresario, had commented that she spoke like an "earl's daughter."

She began her climb up the greasy pole of Broadway stardom by appearing as a chorus girl. She even served a stint as a Ziegfield girl, but Eagels was determined to establish herself as a dramatic roles, wining bit parts in the plays "Jumping Jupiter" and "The Mind the Paint Girl."

Eagels took a trip to Paris, where she likely studied acting with Beverly Sitgreaves, an expatriate American actress who had appeared with Sarah Bernhardt, Eagels' idol. After Jeanne Eagels' death, there arose a myth that she was a "raw," untrained talent who just happened to have the spark of genius on stage. This is demonstrably false as she had a thorough grounding in technique in her six-year apprenticeship in regional stock companies. She also studied acting with Sitgreaves and with acting coaches in New York. The myth likely is rooted in the biography of Eagels' stage co-star Leslie Howard that was written by his children. Howard was of the opinion that Eagels was untrained, but that likely was rooted in English snobbery vis-ÃffÃ' -vis America actors as he had the same opinion of the great Bette Davis. What Howard likely meant that the emotionally erratic Eagels was undisciplined rather than untrained. George Arliss, considered one of the great stage actors at the time he appeared on Broadway with Eagels, would hardly have chosen her to appear in three of his productions if she were not trained and up to giving a fine performance. Arliss was full of praise for Eagels.

In Paris, Eagels attracted the attention of Julian Eltinge, the famous Broadway female impersonator, though they were not introduced. Ironically, when he returned to New York, Eltinge found out that Eagels was to be his co-star in what turned out to be a long tour of the play "The Crinoline Girl." The two became good friends.

Eagels won the role of a prostitute who becomes a faith-healer in the touring company of the play "Outcast" by modeling herself after the play's star, Elsie Ferguson, for her audition. She won the part, and also won great reviews during the tour's swing through the South. When the touring company returned to New York for an off-Broadway engagement, some critics were there to see if Eagels actually did live up to the road reviews of her "Outcast" performance. She did, and the critics were suitably impressed.

The Thanhouser Film Co. cast Eagles in the film of "Outcast" in 1916, which was entitled The World and the Woman (1916) upon its release. Eagels was working during the daytime in films and at night on the stage. Suffering from fatigue and insomnia, she sought treatment and likely became hooked on drugs during this period. With the aid of physician-prescribed dope, Jeanne Eagels continued her hectic dual-career of making movies during the day while acting on stage at night. The routine continued until 1920. Suffering from chronic sinusitis and other maladies, Eagels descended the slippery slope of self-medicating her ills, an unfortunate situation exacerbated by her fondness for drink.

Eagels received great reviews when she starred with George Arliss in the Broadway hit "The Professor's Love Story" in 1917. She followed up their joint triumph with two more co-starring ventures with Arliss, "Disraeli" and the even-more-popular play "Hamilton." Of his co-star, Arliss said that each of the three distinctly different parts she acted were "played with unerring judgment and artistry."

In 1918, she appeared in Belasco's production of "Daddies," an original play about the plight of war orphans starring George Abbott. She quit the hit show either due to exhaustion or because, as rumor had it, she was fed up with Belasco's sexual harassment, though she praised him as a producer.

"Often in the theater there is a feeling of commercialism in every detail; it may not touch one directly, but it is there, and the consciousness that the financial success of the play is perhaps of first importance is decidedly unpleasant. Now, Mr. Belasco puts acting, like every other element of a production, upon an artistic basis. He makes you feel that a thing is important artistically or not at all. Money seems never to be a consideration, yet the making of it follows as a result of making the production as nearly perfect as possible.... That point of view on the producer's part means a great deal to the actor; it leaves him free to do so much, and is an incentive to work toward a faithful portrayal of character. To me everything about Mr. Belasco's theater points toward that one ideal of his -- perfection."

She next appeared in the comedy "A Young Man's Fancy" (1919), followed up by "The Wonderful Thing" (1920). By the time she appeared in the latter, a modest success that played for 120 performances, she had become a true Broadway diva, having to wait for the applause to die down after her entrance before she could deliver her lines. She had her own distinctive ideas on how to give a fresh impression to the audience for each performance:

"Audiences mean as much to an actress as the acoustics of a concert hall mean to a musician. The musician must vary his playing according to his acoustics--according to the sort of room in which his concert is given.... A sort of sixth sense enables me to discern the character of an audience within a few minutes after I have begun to play, and it is only the people for whom I am making this lovable girl live at that one performance that matter. Former audiences are swept from my thought as though they had never been. As far as the audience of the moment is concerned others have never been. What I have done, or have not done, for them doesn't matter to the folk who have come to see the play to-night. I am so very conscious of this that I am able to play to them as though I were creating the part for the first time... I do wrong in speaking of 'playing to an audience,' however. A true artist never 'plays to the audience.' Rather he or she keeps his or her own vision true, and the creation evolves itself."

Her next Broadway appearance, "In the Night Watch" (1921), was another modest success, but she soon was to appear in the play that would make her lasting reputation. The opportunity came her way when another actress turned down the role of the prostitute Sadie Thompson in the theatrical adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's short story "Rain."

On the road in Philidelphia, the play received discouraging reviews, necessitating a rewrite of the second act. By the time the rewritten "Rain" debuted on Broadway on November 7, 1922, at Maxine Elliott's Theatre, all the kinks had been worked out, and the play was a smash, running for 256 performances. When the company returned to Broadway after the road show, re-opening at the Gaiety Theatre on September 1, 1924, "Rain" starring Jeanne Eagels ran for another 648 performances, transferring to the New Park Theatre on December 15, 1924. "Rain" elevated Jeanne Eagels into the pantheon of American theater greats.

John D. Williams, the director of "Rain" said, "In my score of years in the theater Miss Eagels was one of the two or three highest types of interpretive acting intelligences I have met. To work with her on a play was once more to feel one's self in the theater when it was in its finest estate; when a play was not a 'show,' nor even a performance, but a work, which because it had something to say that might clarify life, was a living thing and simply demanded to be heard. It was then that somebody, known or unknown, wrote something that deserved fanatically true fulfillment--and somebody else of magic touch acted it.... Miss Eagels had that touch of magic in character interpretation- the quick exchange of ideas as to the sense of the scene. And then would come the superbly tragic entrance, for example, of Sadie Thompson in the last act of 'Rain,' with its flawless blend of bitter disillusionment, irony, revenge, terror."

Eagels' great performance was acknowledged as responsible for the great success of the play, and although Gloria Swanson had some success playing Sadie in the silent movie version of the play in 1928, Joan Crawford did less well in the role in the 1931 talkie version. Both Swanson and particularly Crawford were upstaged by their leading men, Lionel Barrymore and Walter Huston, respectively. Rita Hayworth's version in 1953, opposite José Ferrer, is barely remembered. Sadie Thompson belonged to Jeanne Eagels, and the touring company of "Rain" toured for four years.

In 1917, Eagels had said, "I am timid and afraid of men and far too busy to become well acquainted with them. My work fills my life, and I should not care to fall in love or marry before I am very, very old -- about thirty-five -- because a woman gives too much of herself when she loves, and that would interfere with her career."

By the time Eagels married her second husband, the stockbroker Edward H. Coy, in 1925 at the age of 35, she had developed a reputation as a temperamental actress who was a hard drinker. Coy had achieved Ivy League gridiron immortality as a 6-foot, 195-pound fullback at Yale, where he was named an All-American in 1908 and 1909 but had turned to the sauce for solace now that the cheers had faded. The incompatibility between the two did nothing to ameliorate her problems with her mood swings or with drink.

After "Rain," she took time off, either turning down offers such as the role of Roxie Hart in "Chicago" (1926) or quitting plays she did sign up for during rehearsals. Finally, she made her Broadway return in the George Cukor-directed light comedy "Her Cardboard Lover" (1926) opposite Leslie Howard. Broadway critics and audiences had grown accustomed to Eagels in more substantial fare, and on opening night, it was Leslie Howard whom the audience cheered, calling for Howard to take curtain calls. Controversially, Eagels took Howard's curtain calls, thanking the audience "on behalf of my Cardboard Lover." The critics, too, wound up praising Howard rather than Eagels.

Eagels fondness for medicating herself and for drink caused problems during the run of the show. Her on-stage behavior could be egregious, as when she stepped out of character and, thirty for the sauce, asked Howard's character for a drink of "water." This caused the stage manager more than once to bring down the curtain during a performance, and Howard left the stage in a huff at one point.

About bad acting, Eagels blamed it on "...[N]ot being a good listener. So few people are. For instance, when you and I are talking here and I say 'no' very deeply and quietly, your reply will be 'yes' with something of a rising inflection, a lighter modulation. You have listened to me and have made a correct tonal reply. On the stage, most of the actors and actresses know their cue words and take their cues, but they haven't listened to the speech preceding their own. The result is a correct enough answer as to word, but not as to tone. There is not tonal intelligence in the reply. Good listeners...so rare."

John D. Williams, her director in "Rain," attributed her greatness on the stage to her great ability to listen while on stage.

"First off, she knew to perfection, and adhered to as to a religion, the art of listening in acting. At every performance, whether the first, or the hundredth, the speeches of the character addressing her were not merely heard but listened to. Hence there was always thought and belief and conviction behind every speech and scene of her own-- the essence of theater illusion."

The drink and drugs apparently were eroding that greatness. However, despite her on-stage antics, "Her Cardboard Lover" was another modest success, playing for 152 performances. After shooting the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Man, Woman and Sin (1927) with John Gilbert, she toured with the play in the large cities.

Eagels' behavior during the filming of Man, Woman and Sin (1927) was atrocious. Gilbert, whom she reportedly had an affair with, said Eagels was the most temperamental actress he had ever worked with. She would appear late at the studio, and once, she disappeared for several days. The Hollywood trade press credited Eagels disappearance to a drink binge, and at one point, she took off on a two-week vacation to Santa Barbara without informing her director, Monta Bell. Bell asked studio management to terminate Eagels' contract, which they did. Fortunately, there was enough footage so Bell could salvage the film without re-shooting.

John Gilbert said of Eagels, "She seemed to hate the movies for a popularity they could not give her....[The] blind, unreasoning adulation of the movie fans was a type of popularity she spurned. Fundamentally, Jeanne was much superior to us. Movie actors are crazy to be worshiped. Jeanne Eagels wanted to be understood and appreciated."

When the film was released, Eagels' performance received mixed reviews, but the picture was a failure primarily due to the poor reviews garnered by Gilbert. Critics rejected the great lover playing a naive mama's boy in this film. Gilbert's career was salvaged shortly thereafter by the release of his second film with Great Garbo, Love (1927), which was a smash hit at the box office.

When Eagels began touring the East Coast in "Her Cardboard Lover," the Boston engagement was cut in half to one week as Eagels reportedly was ill. After the play moved to Chicago with a revivified Eagels, she divorced Coy in 1928, citing physically abuse and accusing him of breaking her jaw. Eagels claimed that Coy had threatened to wreck her budding movie career by ruining her face. Coy, a heavy boozer like his soon-to-be ex-wife, pleaded no contest and the divorce was granted.

The Mid-Western tour of "Her Cardboard Lover" moved on to Milwaukee, but Eagels was a no-show at both the Milwaukee and the subsequent St. Louis performances. She claimed that she was suffering from ptomaine poisoning, but eye-witness accounts placed her in Chicago on a long boozing binge when she was supposed to have been in Milwaukee. Her indefensible and unprofessional behavior brought her an 18-month suspension from Actor's Equity, which banned her from performing on stage with any other Equity actor for the length of the suspension. The ban essentially ended her stage career in New York and the rest of the country, although it could not stop her from appearing by herself on stage in non-Equity venues. Eagels hit the vaudeville circuit, performing scenes from "Rain." She also appeared in movies as producers were desperate for trained stage people with the advent of sound, and she eventually made more money from the film industry and vaudeville than she ever had from the "legitimate" stage.

Ironically, it was Monta Bell, now working at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York, who hired Jeanne Eagels for her film comeback. In 1929, Bell announced that even though Equity didn't want Eagels, he wanted her, for she had been the consummate professional during the making of Man, Woman and Sin (1927). The man who had urged the MGM brass to fire her now told the press that he had actually urged MGM to sign Eagels to long-term contract for more pictures.

The first movie Eagels made for Paramount was the Monta Bell-produced The Letter (1929), which reunited Eagels with W. Somerset Maugham. Katharine Cornell had had a Broadway hit with Maugham's play as the murderous adulteress, and Eagels delivered an electrifying, legendary performance in the role on film. After Eagels received rave reviews for her The Letter (1929), Paramount took Bell's advice and signed her to a contract for two more pictures, Jealousy (1929) and The Laughing Lady (1929).

She began shooting "Jealousy" (1929) with the English actor Anthony Bushnell, whom she had hand-picked to be her leading man, but during filming it was apparent that Bushnell's voice was not registering well on the sound equipment. Bushnell was replaced by the up-and-coming star Fredric March, who later said Eagels was "great" to work with, but that the movie they made together was a "stinker." There were rumors that Eagels had suffered a nervous breakdown while filming "Jealousy", but Paramount denied there had been any trouble with their new diva. However, Eagels asked to be let out of her contract for "The Laughing Lady" on the grounds that she was either ill or because she didn't like the script, and the studio obliged, replacing her with Ruth Chatterton.

About her management of her personal affairs, Eagels said, "I cannot bear to transact any of my own business or make any of my own professional arrangements. I have an aversion to it I cannot overcome. I can't read the papers, either. Mention of my personal life, even tho I expect it, acts terribly on my nerves. I suppose I'm an odd person."

It was reported that now that the Actors Equity ban was due to expire in the fall of 1929, Eagels was preparing to return to Broadway. In September, Eagles underwent successful surgery to treat ulcers on her eyes, a condition was caused by her sinusitis. Two weeks after surgery, on the night of October 3, 1929, as Eagels was preparing for a night out on the town, she fell ill and was taken to a private 5th Avenue hospital. In the hospital waiting room, she suffered a convulsion and died.

Three autopsies were conducted over the following three months and reached three different conclusions as to the cause of her death, which was variously attributed as an overdose of alcohol, the tranquilizer chloral hydrate, and heroin in the successive autopsy reports. All three substances likely were in her system when she died, and it was suggested that the unconscious Eagels had received a sedative from the first doctor to treat her, and that subsequently a second doctor, not knowing she had already been sedated, had unknowingly given the unconscious actress a second shot, thus causing the overdose that killed her.

When her estate went through probate, it was worth an estimated $52,000 (approximately $562,000 in 2005 dollars) after her debts and funeral costs were deducted. Dying intestate, the estate went to her mother. A wake was held at Campbell's funeral home in New York City, the same establishment that had handled Rudolph Valentino's funeral. Reportedly, her movie "Jealousy" was playing across the street from the funeral home as she lay in her casket, finally at peace. Her body was sent to Kansas City, where a Catholic mass and requiem was held, and she was laid to rest with her father and a brother.

Eagels was posthumously nominated for a 1929 Best Actress Academy Award for her role in "The Letter," the first actor to be so honored. She lost out to superstar Mary Pickford, one of the founders of the Academy, who took the Oscar home to Pickfair for her performance in "Coquette," her first talkie.

Jeanne Eagels' life was limned in the 1957 film _Jeanne Eagels_, which starred Kim Novak. This film is fictionalized biography that whitewashed the truth about Eagels' life. In recent years, there have been rumors that Eagels enjoyed same-sex relationships with other women, but the rumors remain unsubstantiated. In her lifetime, she was romantically linked to many famous men, including the conductor Arthur Fiedler, the gambler "Nick the Greek" Dandalos, and the theater critic Ward Morehouse. She was pursued by producer David Belasco, theater owner Lee Shubert, and the Prince of Wales, the future Duke of Windsor.

About actors, Jeanne Eagels was quoted as saying, "We are glorious, unearthly people, set above all others because of our genius, our capacity to sway others, to make them laugh and cry, or make them live a romance we but play." In the Academy Award-winning All About Eve (1950), writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz has the critic Addison DeWitt tell the great fictional diva Margo Channing (played by Leslie Howard's other great "untrained" co-star, Bette Davis), "Margo, as you know, I have lived in the theater as a Trappist monk lives in his faith. I have no other world, no other life -- and once in a great while I experience that moment of revelation for which all true believers wait and pray. You were one. Jeanne Eagels another."

The actor playwright Noël Coward said, "Of all the actresses I have ever seen, there was never one quite like Jeanne Eagels," while actress-playwright-Academy Award-nominated-screenwriter Ruth Gordon, a friend of Eagels, said of her, "Jeanne Eagels was the most beautiful person I ever saw and if you ever saw her, she was the most beautiful person YOU ever saw."

Kathleen Kennedy, her co-star in "Rain," said, "I sincerely doubt if Jeanne Eagels really knew, in spite of her pretensions, that she was a great actress. She was. Many times backstage I'd be waiting for my entrance cue and suddenly Jeanne would start to build a scene, and [we] would look up from our books at once. Some damn thing- some power, something- would take hold of your heart, you senses, as you listened to her, and you'd thrill to the sound of her."

John D. Williams, the director of "Rain," called her an acting genius. "Acting genius--that is, the power of enhancing a written character to a plane that neither author nor director can lay claim to -- Miss Eagels had at her beck and call, whether in tragedy or in comedy."

Wyatt Earp was a lawman, gambler, businessman, saloon owner and gunfighter of great repute in the American West. He had been a police officer in Wichita, KS, and later in Dodge City, KS, during the mid-1870s, after which he became a shotgun rider with Wells Fargo. In Tombstone, AZ, in the wake of a stagecoach robbery, Earp (who had been running for sheriff) became involved in the notorious gunfight at the OK Corral of October 26, 1881, which resulted in the death of suspects Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton and the wounding of Earp's brothers Morgan and Virgil and his friend "Doc" Holliday. The gunfight only caused more trouble, setting into motion a series of events that included the assassination of town marshal Morgan Earp and murder charges being filed against Wyatt and others for the shooting deaths of two suspects in that crime. Wyatt left for Colorado and points west, eventually retiring to San Francisco and later Los Angeles, CA, where he occasionally worked as a consultant on various early silent-era westerns (in the days before accurate credits were maintained, so it's not known exactly what films he worked on). He was close friends with another western icon, William Barclay 'Bat' Masterson, and later with cowboy actors William S. Hart and Tom Mix and, according to some accounts, he met and befriended a young John Wayne on the set of a silent western on which Wayne was an unbilled extra.

Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles on January 13, 1929, at age 80. Hart and Mix were pallbearers at his funeral.

Paul Leni was born on 8 July 1885 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was an art director and director, known for The Man Who Laughs (1928), Das Rätsel von Bangalor (1918) and The Last Warning (1928). He died on 2 September 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Segundo de Chomón became involved in film through his wife, who was an actress in Pathé films. In 1902 he became a concessionary for Pathé in Barcelona, distributing its product in Spanish-speaking countries and managing a factory for the coloring of Pathé films. He began shooting footage of Spanish locations for the company, then in 1905 moved to Paris where he became a trick film specialist. The body of work he created over five years was outstanding. Films such as The Red Spectre (1907), Kiri-Kis (1907), The Invisible Thief (1909) and A Panicky Picnic (1909) are among the most imaginative and technically accomplished of their age.

De Chomón created fantastical narratives embellished with ingenious effects, gorgeous color, innovative hand-drawn and puppet animation, tricks of the eye that surprise and delight, and startling turns of surreal imagination. It is curious why he is not generally known as one of the early cinema masters, except among the cognoscenti in the field. Perhaps it is because there is a smaller body of work than that created by Georges Méliès (his works can perhaps be described as a cross between that of Méliès and another who combined trickery with animation, Émile Cohl); perhaps it's because he was a Spaniard working in France for the key part of his film career that has meant that neither side has championed him as much as they might have done. De Chomón carried on as a filmmaker, specializing in trick effects, working for Pathé, Itala and others, and contributing effects work to two of the most notable films of the silent era, Giovanni Pastrone's Cabiria (1914) and Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927).

Strongheart, the German shepherd who was a canine superstar of American cinema, was born and raised in Imperial Germany, where he was trained to be a police dog and assigned to the German military during World War I. Called "Etzel von Oringer," the German shepherd was born on October 1, 1917, descended from a carefully bred line. Trained as an attack dog, the 125-pound (57 kilograms) Strongheart was fearless. American director Laurence Trimble, who was famous as an animal trainer, and his wife, Jane Murfin, a screenwriter, had been searching Europe for a dog that could appear in motion pictures. When Trimble came across the three-year-old Strongheart in 1920, he knew he had the makings of a canine star.

The major problem Trimble faced was that, trained as a police dog, Strongheart had not socialized much with human beings. Back in Hollywood, it took Trimble months to train the dog in order to de-emphasize his harsh police dog-style training. Trimble had the dog by his side virtually non-stop for months, continually rewarding him for good behavior. Eventually, Strongheart's prior police habits were broken as his Libra personality came to the fore, and he was turned into a magnificently trained animal. However, certain aspects of his flat-footed past remained with him: Blessed with great instincts, particularly regarding the moral character of strangers, the dog would track people of dubious morality.

There were many canine stars of silent movies, including Teddy, the Great Dane who co-starred with a young Gloria Swanson, the collie Jean at Vitagraph, and the English pit bull Luke. In the 1920's, a group of German shepherd dogs romped on-screen and became stars, with Strongheart and `Rin Tin Tin' the most prominent among them.

His first movie, "The Silent Call" (1921), bore Trimble's expectations out, making Strongheart a star, beloved by movie-goers of all ages. Strongheart was given the star treatment, traveling by train to make personal appearances, at which he was greeted by crowds of adoring fans. He was written up in newspapers and magazines, and even the radio proclaimed "Strongheart" a star. A dog food named after him became popular and is still being produced over three-quarters of a century later. In the ultimate accolade, J. Allen Boone wrote two books about the shepherd, "Letters to Strongheart" and "Kinship with All Life."

Strongheart appeared in "Brawn of the North" (1922), "The Love Master" (1924), "White Fang" (1925), "North Star" (1925) and "The Return of Boston Blackie" (1927). Love came his way when he was paired with Lady Jule, a female German Shepherd who co-starred with him. The happy canine couple produced many litters, including offspring who would sire pups who grew up to be movie stars themselves.

The Trimbles placed a plaque over Strongheart's bed that contained a quote from the Book of Job: "Ask the very beasts, and they will teach you."

Tragedy struck down Strongheart at the height of his career, when he slipped and was burned by a studio light. The burn rapidly turned into a tumor and claimed Strongheart's life on or around June 24, 1929.

Strongheart's grandson "Lightning" was a canine movie star in the the 1930's, appearing in "A Dog of Flanders," "Wings in the Dark," and "When Lightning Strikes." Another grandson, "Silver King," also appeared in the movies and made personal appearances as part of a safety program for children.

Myrna Darby was born on April 10, 1908 Connellsville, Pennsylvania. She attended business school and briefly worked as a stenographer. Myrna made her stage debut in a Pittsburgh production of Abie's Irish Rose. At the age of seventeen she moved to New York and won a beauty contest run by a newspaper. Florenz Ziegfeld saw Myrna and hired her to be in the Ziegfeld Follies. She starred in productions of Whoopee, Rio Rita, and Rosalie. Critics said she was the most beautiful woman ever to appear in the Follies. Myrna also posed nude and appeared in ads for Lucky Strike cigarettes. Unfortunately she struggled with her weight and she began exercising daily to stay thin. In 1927 Myrna fell in love with a married pianist named George A. Walsh. When George's wife found out about the affair she filed for divorce and accused Myrna of stealing her husband.

The story caused a scandal and some newspapers labeled Myrna a "home wrecker". She desperately wanted to marry George but instead he reconciled with his wife. During the Spring of 1929 Myrna became engaged to British millionaire. Sadly he broke her heart by marrying another woman. In July of 1929 Myrna was weakened by a severe sunburn. Over the next two months her health declined and she was hospitalized with a tonsil infection. Tragically Myrna died on September 26, 1929. She was just twenty-one years old. Her doctor said she had died from an inflammation of the heart caused by over-exercising. Myrna was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. After her death it was revealed that an admirer named Larry Fay had paid all her hospital bills.

Norman Trevor was born on 23 June 1877 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. He was an actor, known for The Wizard (1927), Beau Geste (1926) and Jane Eyre (1921). He died on 31 October 1929 in Norwalk, California, USA.

Helen Woodford Ruth was born on 20 October 1897 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was married to Babe Ruth. She died on 11 January 1929 in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA.

Marc McDermott was born Marcus Patrick McDermott in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, on July 24, 1871. His father Patrick James McDermott and mother Annie Massey McDermott were born in Ireland, and Marc later became an English citizen when he moved to London. His younger sister May, was born in Australia in 1881. He received his early education at a Jesuit school in Sydney. When Marc was 15, his father died suddenly. To support his mother and little sister, Marc joined a small local theater company. A year later, he was discovered by the famous Shakespearean actor George Rignold and made his first appearance on the stage in Sydney. He stayed with the company for several years, learning his craft. When Rignold's company departed for London, Marc quickly caught the eye of Charles Frohman, a New York agent and producer, whose clients included Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the first lady of the London stage. Tall with thick auburn hair and dark brown eyes, Marc cut an impressive figure. Mrs. Pat, as she was called, chose the 20-year-old to be her leading man. The company sailed to the US and landed in New York, where he played opposite her as Sir George Orreyed in "The Second Mrs. Tanqeray." The company returned to London, where he was hired by Frohman to play "Sherlock Holmes" in London for two years. For the next several years, Marc became a celebrated West End actor. In 1906, he accepted Frohman's offer to sail to New York and join the company of the great classical actor Richard Mansfield. He toured the US for several years, and in 1909 was approached by Charles Brabin, a fellow stage actor (and soon to be director) who was working at Thomas Edison's film studio in the Bronx. Marc was quickly hired to appear as a featured player, replacing Maurice Costello, who had moved to Vitagraph. His first film was Les Misérables (1909), followed by Lochinvar (1909) (Lochinvar was released first but he filmed "Les Miserables" prior to it). From 1909 through the summer of 1916, he starred in over 140 films for Edison, appearing frequently in popular early film magazines like Photoplay, Motion Picture, and Moving Picture World, voted as one of the most popular leading men during these years. In 1911, Marc costarred with Mary Fuller in Edison's first popular series "What Ever Happened to Mary?" Another favorite leading lady of Marc's was Miriam Nesbitt, who was eight years his senior. Their on-screen romance soon grew into a real-life love affair. On April 7, 1914, Marc made film history when he appeared in the first-ever "chapter" series; each chapter was a complete story in and of itself. The 10-chapter series was titled The Man Who Disappeared (1914), and was filmed on location in New York and New Jersey. Each printed chapter story was featured in "Popular Magazine" as each filmed chapter simultaneously appeared on the screen. As Marc told "Motion Picture" writer Gladys Roosevelt, he did all his own stunts, including driving an automobile into the icy East River, fighting a villain on top of a NYC skyscraper that was actually being built at the time, and being handcuffed to the railroad tracks. On April 20, 1916, Marc and Miriam married in Leonia, New Jersey. By this time, he had made more than 140 films. Later that year, Marc left the Edison Studio to join his best friends Charles Brabin and Ashley Miller at the Vitagraph Studio, where he starred in a number of films. In 1918, Marc moved to Fox Films in New York to star with Theda Bara in "Kathleen Mavourneen," directed by Charles Brabin, who would soon marry his star. Marc left Fox in 1920 to freelance, appearing with Norma Talmadge in "The New Moon." He then costarred with Estelle Taylor in "While New York Sleeps," with Brabin working as both writer and director. Another director friend from his Vitagraph days, John Robertson, directed him in "Footlights" (1921) with Elsie Ferguson. In 1922, his marriage began to unravel when Miriam discovered some love letters to actress Helen Gilmore and filed for a separation. The New York Times reported that he was arrested on August 11 and held in Ludlow Street Jail until he was released after paying $5,000 in bail. Marc left to visit his older brother's family, who had settled in Lowell, Massachusetts. After appearing in a vaudeville skit, he boarded a train in Boston and headed to Hollywood. Marc immediately went to work for Fox Films in "Hoodman Blind" directed by John Ford. At Warner Bros., he appeared in "Lucretia Lombard" with Irene Rich, Monte Blue, and Norma Shearer, which was produced by Harry Rapf. Marc next appeared with Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl, in "The Satin Girl." When M-G-M was formed in 1924, Marc was contracted to appear in their very first film, "He Who Gets Slapped." The cast included Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, and John Gilbert. Mary Pickford, an old friend from his New York days, cast him in "Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall" as Sir Malcolm Vernon. Another director friend, Marshall "Micky" Neilan, directed. Marc was in high demand at different studios for the next two years: "In Every Woman's Life" and "Siege" both with Virginia Valli; "This Woman" with Irene Rich, Ricardo Cortez, and Clara Bow in a minor role; and "The Sea Hawk" with Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery. At Universal Pictures in 1925, he appeared in "The Goose Woman" with Louise Dresser, Jack Pickford, and Constance Bennett. The film was directed by his friend Clarence Brown. Once again, Norma Talmadge cast him as the villain in "Graustark." In 1926, Marc was busy at M-G-M playing in both "The Temptress" with Greta Garbo and Antonio Moreno and "Flesh and the Devil" with Garbo and John Gilbert. One of his favorite costars was Greta Nissen, with whom he appeared in "The Love Thief" for Universal and "Lucky Lady" for Paramount. Norma Talmadge tapped his talent once again for "Kiki," a saucy little comedy with Ronald Coleman. During 1927, Marc starred in several M-G-M films, including "California" with Tim McCoy and Dorothy Sebastian, directed by W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke; and "Man, Woman and Sin" with Jeanne Eagels and John Gilbert, directed by Monta Bell. When the newly formed Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences held their first meeting at the Biltmore Hotel's Crystal Ballroom on May 11, 1927, Marc was among the 230 pioneer members in attendance. His name appears in the program listing of 102 actors. Later that year, his old friend John Robertson recruited him for "The Road to Romance" with Ramon Navarro and Marceline Day, and he also appeared in "Taxi Dancer" with Joan Crawford, as well as "Resurrection" with Rod La Rocque and Dolores Del Rio at United Artists. In 1928, during a vaudeville tour to Chicago, Marc became ill and returned to Hollywood to recuperate. His next film for M-G-M was "Under the Black Eagle" directed by Woody Van Dyke. For "Glorious Betsy" at Warner Bros., some Vitaphone talking sequences were included. The film starred Dolores Costello, the beautiful wife of John Barrymore and daughter of Maurice Costello, whom Marc had replaced at Vitagraph back in 1916. First National cast Marc in "The Yellow Lily" starring the lovely Bessie Dove. His last two films were "The Mysterious Island" shot in Technicolor with black and white sequences. Vitaphone sound sequences, a musical score, and sound effects were later added. Marc's old friend Charles Brabin directed him in his last film, "The Whip," which starred Dorothy Mackaill, Ralph Forbes, and Anna Q. Nilsson. During filming, Variety reported that Marc became very ill from ptomaine poisoning, lapsed into a three-month coma, and died from a gallbladder operation. However, Dr. E.F. Miller wrote on the death certificate that he had attended to Marc at home for eight months and then in the hospital from December 5, 1928 until his death at 5:20 a.m. on January 5, 1929. Further, he stated that no operation had preceded his death. The diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver was confirmed by clinical and laboratory tests performed on January 6. His body was cremated at the Hollywood Crematory, and his ashes were placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, where the brass plaque reads: Marcus McDermott, 1881-1929 (his correct birth date is 1871 according to his will and Australian birth records). His untimely death coincided with the death of silent films.

Mae Costello was born on 13 August 1882 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Diamond Cut Diamond (1912), The Joys of a Jealous Wife (1913) and Her Right to Live (1917). She was married to Maurice Costello. She died on 2 August 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Lily Langtry was born on 13 October 1853 in Jersey, Channel Islands. She was an actress, known for His Neighbor's Wife (1913). She was married to Sir Hugo de Bathe, Edward Langtry and Frederick Gebhardt. She died on 12 February 1929 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

American leading man of silent pictures who specialized in Westerns. His mother and father were, respectively, a singer and an actor, and he and his younger brother William Farnum were introduced to the theatre at an early age. Raised in Maine, Dustin attended the East Maine Conference Seminary, but left school to go on the stage at the age of fifteen. With his brother, he formed a vaudeville act consisting largely of tumbling and wrestling. He spent several years touring in stock companies before making a great success in the play "Arizona" in New York. After a number of Broadway hits, he went to Cuba in 1913 to star in a film, Soldiers of Fortune (1914). Soon thereafter, Cecil B. DeMille gave Farnum the leading role in the film version of one of Farnum's Broadway hits, "The Squaw Man." He followed this smash hit with a number of film versions of plays he had starred in on Broadway. His brother William had himself become a big star in pictures, and the two of them signed contracts with the Fox Film Corporation. Although Dustin Farnum played a wide variety of roles, he tended toward Westerns and became one of the biggest stars of the genre. At the age of fifty-two, Farnum retired from films and, but for a few stage roles, lived quietly with his third wife, actress Winifred Kingston for three years, until his death in 1929 from kidney failure.

Vladimir Fogel was born in 1902 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for By the Law (1926), The Adventures of the Three Reporters (1926) and Chess Fever (1925). He died on 8 June 1929 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].

Silent-film star William Russell was born in the Bronx, New York, in the late 1880s (various sources give it as 1884, 1886 and 1889). His mother, Clara, was a highly regarded stage actress. Russell studied law at Fordham University (and, some sources say, Harvard University). He started a law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it wasn't particularly successful. He tried a variety of other jobs--including bookmaker and boxing instructor--before deciding to give the stage a shot. He had actually been a fairly successful child actor on the stage, and after re-entering the profession as an adult, he found himself acting with Ethel Barrymore in "Cousin Kate" on Broadway. Russell kept busy as a stage actor, appearing with many of the top stars of the day, including Chauncey Olcott and Cathrine Countiss. He toured the country in various stock productions.

His film career began at Biograph in 1910 with "The Roman Slave", directed by D.W. Griffith. He stayed almost a year at Biograph, although he was used mostly in small parts. In 1910 he left Biograph for Thanhouser. There he became a star, and Thanhouser put him in quite a few of its productions. His brother Albert Russell also appeared in several of his films.

In 1913 Russell left Thanhouser to return to Biograph, but later that year he again left Biograph to go back to Thanhouser. He finally left Thanhouser and worked for a variety of studios, both major and minor, over the next several years. In 1917 he married actress Charlotte Burton, but it ended in divorce four years later. From 1916-20 he worked for American Film Co., appearing in The Torch Bearer (1916), The Strength of Donald McKenzie (1916) and The Man Who Would Not Die (1916), among others. In 1919 he formed his own production company, William Russell Productions, and produced and appeared in This Hero Stuff (1919), directed by Henry King. He freelanced at studios as varied as Fox Films and Victor. In the 1920s he decided to move to Hollywood after having spent much of his life in New York City. He married actress Helen Ferguson, and that marriage lasted until his death in Beverly Hills, California, on February 18, 1929, from pneumonia.

Frank was considered a "furniture actor" on stage. While on stage he was so often drunk that he had to lean on or hold onto furniture to keep from falling down. Known through the country for his stage work, he was ranked as one of the foremost stage artists prior to moving to Hollywood. Keenan's first wife of forty-four years, was watching him perform on stage when she suffered a stroke and died a few minutes later.

James Corrigan was born on 17 October 1867 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Her Reputation (1923), The Man from Wyoming (1924) and The White Sin (1924). He was married to Lillian Elliott. He died on 28 February 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Stanton Williams was born on 4 September 1912 in Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for The Forbidden Woman (1920) and A Woman Who Understood (1920). He died on 3 March 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Francis J. Grandon was born in 1879 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Lure of Heart's Desire (1916), When May Weds December (1913) and Miss Nobody (1920). He was married to Helen Grandon. He died on 11 July 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Albert Steinrück was born on 20 May 1872 in Wetterburg, Bad Arolsen, Hesse, Germany. He was an actor, known for Asphalt (1929), Helen of Troy (1924) and Der Richter von Zalamea (1920). He died on 10 February 1929 in Berlin, Germany.

Australian-born Lydia Yeamans came into the world aboard a ship going from Sydney to Melbourne. Both her parents were performers. Her mother, Annie Griffiths, appeared on the stage in Australia when she was ten years old. Annie joined the circus, and married a circus clown from New York named Edward Yeamans. The pair had three daughters: Lydia, Jennie, and Emily, all of whom became performers.

In her prime, Lydia performed in England. During a show for King Edward VII, she sang "Sally in Our Alley." The King was so impressed he presented her with a gold bar pin in which the first notes of the tune were shown in diamonds.

One of Lydia's famous acts was dressing as a baby, with a cap, bows of blue ribbons on her shoulders, and bare arms. She was one of the first vaudeville artists to have her own piano accompanist - he happened to be Fred Titus, her husband.

After her stage career, Lydia entered films and amassed quite a few credits. Late in life, she donated $5000 to the Motion Picture Actors' Relief Association. Ironically, her generosity would come in handy. In November of 1929, while strolling along Hollywood Boulevard, she suffered a stroke which left her paralyzed. She was cared for at a hospital run by the Association. She died on December 29, 1929. In accordance with her wishes, her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Monte Collins was born in 1856. He was an actor, known for Our Hospitality (1923), Tiger Love (1924) and The Man from Lost River (1921). He was married to Norma Wills. He died on 4 August 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

William Hauber was born on 20 May 1891 in Brownsville, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Passing the Buck (1919), Well, I'll Be (1919) and The Fly Cop (1920). He was married to Myrtle E. Crosthwaite. He died on 17 July 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

John Griffith Wray was born on 30 August 1881 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was a director and writer, known for The Gilded Butterfly (1926), Her Reputation (1923) and Human Wreckage (1923). He was married to Bradley King and Virginia Brissac. He died on 12 July 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Cliff Bowes was born on 14 November 1894 in Pueblo, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for The King of the Jungle (1927), Up in Mary's Attic (1920) and Hanging Fire (1926). He died on 6 July 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.