Lilyan Tashman

Lilyan Tashman (October 23, 1896 – March 21, 1934) was an American stage, silent film, and sound film actress.

Born Lillian Tashman in 1896 in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family, Tashman was the youngest of eight children, born to Morris Tashman, a manufacturer of children's clothes, and his wife, Rose Cook Tashman. Her grandparents were Isaac and Rose Schlomowitz Tashman, and her siblings were named Bertha, Kitty, Jennie, Annie, Sarah, Gustav and Hattie. She attended high school in Brooklyn and later graduated from a finishing school.^{[citation needed]}

Tashman worked as a model. Her blonde hair and a unique type of beauty appealed to artists, who employed her. From her earliest recollections she yearned to appear on the stage. By 1914, she had also starting working in vaudeville, on a bill that included the up and coming double act Eddie Cantor and Al Lee. Tashman and Lee were married in 1914, separated in 1920, and divorced in 1921. Cantor and Lee broke up, with Cantor going on to a successful solo career, Lee going on to become a manager for George White's Scandals and Tashman trying out for whatever Broadway show she could find.

In 1913, Tashman was in chorus of Her Little Highness. She appeared in the 1916 and 1917 Ziegfeld Follies as well a series of other Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. musical productions, including The Century Girl (1916), Dance and Grow Thin (1917), and Miss 1917 (1917). Tashman also appeared in a number of stage comedies, including The Gold Digger (1930).

Later in 1919, she was given a job by the producer David Belasco in a comedy called The Gold Diggers starring Ina Claire. The show was a success, and ran for two years and in addition to her own supporting role, Tashman acted as Claire's understudy.

In 1921, she made her first film Experience with Richard Barthelmess and Nita Naldi. After a period of misfortune in New York in which one show closed, and she was fired from another, Tashman decided to move to Hollywood to further her film career.

On coming to Hollywood, Lilyan was cast in a supporting role in a Mabel Normand film, Head Over Heels (1922). When The Garden of Weeds (1924) came into production. Her part in the stage play secured for Lilyan the same place in the film. From then on Tashman appeared in many motion picture roles and became a prominent figure in the world of film. At first, she worked for independent film companies but later, she was featured in productions being made by the largest organizations in the industry.

It was while acting in the film Ports of Call (1925) that the actress met her soon-to-be husband Edmund Lowe. By this time she and Al Lee had divorced. She married Lowe on 21 September 1925. The wedding occurred before the release of the film and the two made their home in Hollywood. Edmund and Lilyan resided in an Art Deco home thought to have been designed by Tashman. Both maintained their acting careers.