Agnes Vernon

Agnes Vernon (1895 – 1948) was an American film actress of the silent era. While still in her teens, she experienced a meteoric ascent from obscurity to box-office sensation. After turning twenty-three and a movie career fading away, she abandoned the silver screen forever. Vernon performed in over 90 films between 1913 and 1922. She completed most of her roles under contract with Universal Pictures.

Vernon was born into a pious Catholic household in La Grande, Oregon, on Friday, December 27, 1895. She attended convent schools in various cities, landing in Chicago while still a young schoolgirl. In 1913, while visiting a cousin in California, they took a tour of Universal Studios. While watching the filming of a motion picture, the film's director asked her to become an extra. At first, reluctant because she had no previous stage training, she finally agreed and took her early steps to film fame and fortune.

Murdock MacQuarrie took the young actress under his wing. Vernon rose from film extra to leading lady in 6 months. She would develop fan-favorite screen pairings with actors Franklyn Farnum and Herbert Rawlinson. 1916 became her watershed year, defined by her extensive film output and the number of leading roles.

In 1919, she traveled to Australia to make three films. She made her final return to America in 1922, having already married Director John K. Wells. Her rapid rise and fall all happened within a decade. She is hardly remembered today like so many actors of the silent period.

This golden-haired girl with those big brown eyes was born Agnes Vernon to an Irish Catholic family in La Grande, Oregon, on December 27, 1895. Vernon lamented "she has never received any birthday presents because her friends give them all to her on Christmas Day." Vernon also stated "there was nothing particularly interesting about her childhood. I was perfectly normal. I went to school, played with dolls, and had an occasional spanking to break that monotony of my life."

Vernon claimed her family moved around the country. They eventually landed in Chicago, where Vernon enrolled in a convent school. After some time, they moved to Kansas City, where she attended another convent school that instilled a strong sense of discipline. After she was "finished," she moved to California with her mother.

In an article published in the Sacramento Star dated January 6, 1917, Agnes Vernon, in her own words, wrote, "It happened that I was spending a summer in California with a girl whom I had known in Chicago. Universal City was one of the trips arranged for me. We were watching the making of a scene on the big stage. A Director discovered he needed one more girl for a small bit. He looked around at the visitors and asked if I would try the small part for him. At first, I declined and finally consented. As the cameraman began to grind and the Director called his instructions, I was fascinated. The lure of the game had caught me." As Edmunds points out in his book - BIG U - Universal in the Silent Days "Casting at Universal, before things became more businesslike, was somewhat casual. A passing face, a friend visiting the set, or an odd happening that caught a director's eye — all these, as well as direct applications — often led to successful movie careers. This was not unusual. The Gish sisters got their start because they dropped in to see Mary Pickford one day at Biograph."

Vernon had previously claimed, "I had always had a sneaking desire for the other side of the footlights." After her movie experience, Vernon acquired an intense desire to be in films, but her prim mother would not hear of it.