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Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era and continued into the early sound film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped popularize the bobbed haircut.
Moore was a huge star in her day. She made 64 films in total; 30 are extant in their entirety, 7 are partially lost and 27 are completely lost. Moore donated prints of 15 of her films to the Museum of Modern Art for preservation. Unfortunately, the films were preserved so poorly that they disintegrated beyond restoration over the years, which deeply distressed her. Ten of those films survive in full, and another 3 were damaged but some parts remain; only 2 of the films were completely destroyed. Her first two talking pictures, Smiling Irish Eyes and Footlights and Fools, both from 1929, are lost, apart from the Vitaphone soundtrack disks. What was perhaps her most celebrated film, Flaming Youth (1923), is now mostly lost as well, with only one 11-minute reel surviving.
Moore took a hiatus from acting between 1929 and 1933, just as sound was being added to motion pictures. After she returned, her last four sound pictures, The Power and the Glory (1933), Social Register (1934), Success at Any Price (1934), and The Scarlet Letter (1934), were not financial successes. She then retired permanently from screen acting.
After her film career, Moore maintained her wealth through astute investments, becoming a partner of Merrill Lynch. She later wrote a "how-to" book about investing in the stock market.
Moore also nurtured a passion for dollhouses throughout her life and helped design and curate The Colleen Moore Dollhouse, which has been a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago since 1949. The dollhouse, measuring 9 square feet (0.84 m2), was estimated in 1985 to be worth $7 million, and it is seen by 1.5 million people annually.
Moore was born Kathleen Morrison on August 19, 1899 (according to the bulk of the official records; the date which she insisted was correct in her autobiography, Silent Star, was 1902), in Port Huron, Michigan. Moore was the eldest child of Charles R. and Agnes Kelly Morrison. The family remained in Port Huron during the early years of Moore's life, at first living with her grandmother Mary Kelly (often spelled Kelley) and then with at least one of Moore's aunts.
By 1905, the family had moved to Hillsdale, Michigan, where they remained for over two years. They had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, by 1908. They are listed at three different addresses during their stay in Atlanta (from the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library city directories): 301 Capitol Avenue in 1908, 41 Linden Avenue in 1909, and 240 N. Jackson Street in 1910. They then lived briefly—probably for less than a year—in Warren, Pennsylvania, and by 1911, they had settled in Tampa, Florida.
At the age of 15, she took her first step into Hollywood. Her uncle arranged a screen test with director D. W. Griffith. She wanted to be a second Lillian Gish, but instead, she found herself playing heroines in Westerns with stars such as Tom Mix.
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Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era and continued into the early sound film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped popularize the bobbed haircut.
Moore was a huge star in her day. She made 64 films in total; 30 are extant in their entirety, 7 are partially lost and 27 are completely lost. Moore donated prints of 15 of her films to the Museum of Modern Art for preservation. Unfortunately, the films were preserved so poorly that they disintegrated beyond restoration over the years, which deeply distressed her. Ten of those films survive in full, and another 3 were damaged but some parts remain; only 2 of the films were completely destroyed. Her first two talking pictures, Smiling Irish Eyes and Footlights and Fools, both from 1929, are lost, apart from the Vitaphone soundtrack disks. What was perhaps her most celebrated film, Flaming Youth (1923), is now mostly lost as well, with only one 11-minute reel surviving.
Moore took a hiatus from acting between 1929 and 1933, just as sound was being added to motion pictures. After she returned, her last four sound pictures, The Power and the Glory (1933), Social Register (1934), Success at Any Price (1934), and The Scarlet Letter (1934), were not financial successes. She then retired permanently from screen acting.
After her film career, Moore maintained her wealth through astute investments, becoming a partner of Merrill Lynch. She later wrote a "how-to" book about investing in the stock market.
Moore also nurtured a passion for dollhouses throughout her life and helped design and curate The Colleen Moore Dollhouse, which has been a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago since 1949. The dollhouse, measuring 9 square feet (0.84 m2), was estimated in 1985 to be worth $7 million, and it is seen by 1.5 million people annually.
Moore was born Kathleen Morrison on August 19, 1899 (according to the bulk of the official records; the date which she insisted was correct in her autobiography, Silent Star, was 1902), in Port Huron, Michigan. Moore was the eldest child of Charles R. and Agnes Kelly Morrison. The family remained in Port Huron during the early years of Moore's life, at first living with her grandmother Mary Kelly (often spelled Kelley) and then with at least one of Moore's aunts.
By 1905, the family had moved to Hillsdale, Michigan, where they remained for over two years. They had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, by 1908. They are listed at three different addresses during their stay in Atlanta (from the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library city directories): 301 Capitol Avenue in 1908, 41 Linden Avenue in 1909, and 240 N. Jackson Street in 1910. They then lived briefly—probably for less than a year—in Warren, Pennsylvania, and by 1911, they had settled in Tampa, Florida.
At the age of 15, she took her first step into Hollywood. Her uncle arranged a screen test with director D. W. Griffith. She wanted to be a second Lillian Gish, but instead, she found herself playing heroines in Westerns with stars such as Tom Mix.