Helen Gilmore Explained
Helen Gilmore |
Birth Name: | Antoinette Field |
Birth Date: | 04 January 1862 |
Birth Place: | Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.[1] [2] |
Death Date: | 16 November 1936 |
Death Place: | New York, New York, U.S.[3] [4] [5] [6] |
Nationality: | American |
Occupation: | Actress |
Years Active: | 1894–1932 |
Helen Gilmore (born Antoinette A. Field, c. 1872 - April 1936) was an American actress of the stage and silent motion pictures from Louisville, Kentucky. She appeared in over 140 films between 1913 and 1932.
Early life and career
In approximately 1872, Gilmore was born to Richard Field and Mary Cilia Daniels.[2] In 1894, she toured with comic actor Stuart Robson's company, even substituting, on at least one occasion, for Mrs. Robson—the temporarily unavailable May Waldron—in the role of Adriana in Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors.[7] It was during that tour that Gilmore met and married fellow cast member (and fellow Kentuckian), Joseph B. Zahner, hurriedly tying the knot at New York's City Hall on Friday, July 13.[1] Scarcely five years later, Zahner, then 33, suffered a fatal heart attack.[8]
Between 1910 and 1913, Gilmore appeared on Broadway in 4 musical revues: Deems Taylor's The Echo, Manuel Klein's Around the World and Under Many Flags (both at the New York Hippodrome), and Oscar Straus's My Little Friend.[9] [10] Shortly thereafter, she made her screen debut in A Female Fagin.
As Mrs. Hobbs in A Petticoat Pilot (1918), Gilmore was commended for her careful character study. The Paramount Pictures film was directed by Rollin S. Sturgeon and was based on the novel by Evelyn Lincoln.[11] She played the head nurse in Too Much Business (1922). This was a comedy which originated with a Saturday Evening Post story by Earl Derr Biggers. In it Gilmore was cast with Elsa Lorimer and Mack Fenton.[12] Her final motion picture credit is for the role of a motorist in the Laurel and Hardy short Two Tars (1928).
Theatre performances
Year | Play | Author | Character | Venue or Company | Notes |
---|
1893 – 1894 | The Comedy of Errors | Shakespeare | Phryne, the reigning beauty of Ephesus; Adriana, wife to Antipholus of Ephesus (standby for May Waldron) | | September 18, 1893[13] [14] [15] - July 7, 1894[16] |
1910 | The Echo | Deems Taylor | Chorus | Globe Theatre | August 17, 1920 – October 1, 1920; 53 performances.[17] |
1911 – 1912 | Around the World | Manuel Klein | | New York Hippodrome | September 2, 1911 – May 18, 1912; 445 performances.[18] |
1912 – 1913 | Under Many Flags | Manuel Klein | | New York Hippodrome | August 31, 1912 – May 17, 1913; 445 performances.[19] |
1913 | My Little Friend | Oscar Straus | Baroness DuBois | New Amsterdam Theatre | May 19 – June 24, 1913; 24 performances.[20] | |
Filmography
Further reading
- "Married a Louisville Actress". The Louisville Courier-General. July 15, 1894. p. 6
- Von Harleman, G.P. (February 3, 1917). "News of Los Angeles and Vicinity". The Moving Picture World. Vol. 31. p. 693
- "Stories of the Films; Vim: 'Life Savers,' 'Comrades'". The Moving Picture World. August 19, 1916. p.1296
- "Current Feature Photoplays Passed in Review: 'Tom Sawyer'". Dramatic Mirror of Motion Pictures and the Stage. December 15, 1917. p. 18
- "Notes: The Helen Gilmore-Bert Baker Litigation". Variety. November 8, 1918. p. 16
- "News of the Films". The Billboard. March 3, 1922. p. 43
- Russell, Marion (May 20, 1922). "Too Much Business". The Billboard. p. 98
- "It Doesn't Always Pay to Get Thin". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 5, 1930. p. 13
Notes and References
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90053449/7131894-helen/ "Actors Rush to the Altar"
- "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24CZ-6JM : 10 February 2018), Joseph Zahner and Antoinette Field, 13 Jul 1894; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,493,121.
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90088358/the-courier-journal/ "Actress, Formerly of Louisville, Found Dead"
- Associated Press (April 13, 1936). "Body of Actress Found". The Cincinnati Enquirer.
- https://www.nytimes.com/1936/04/12/archives/woman-is-found-dead-body-of-former-actress-discovered-in-apartment.html "Woman Is Found Dead; Body of Former Actress Discovered in Apartment by Friend"
- https://archive.org/details/variety122-1936-04/page/n189/mode/2up?q=%22helen+gilmore+35%22+%22found+dead%22 "Obituaries: Helen Gilmore"
- https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=90053632 "The Two Dromeos"
- https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=90205615 "Promising Career Cut Short by Death"
- https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/helen-gilmore-42230 "Helen Gilmore"
- Hines, Dixie; Hanaford, Harry Prescott (1914). Who's Who in Music and Drama. New York : H.P. Hanaford. p. 443.
- "A Petticoat Pilot". Daily Kennebec Journal. March 14, 1918, p. 3.
- "Movies". Constitution Tribune. June 12, 1923. p. 5
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90528136/the-evening-world/ "At the Brooklyn Theatres"
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90529672/the-brooklyn-citizen/ "For Playgoers: Notable Productions on the Local Stage Last Night"
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90514915/the-new-york-times/ "News of the Theatres; Notes of the Stage"
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90530457/star-tribune/ "The Theaters"
- https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-echo-7161 "'The Echo': About This Production"
- https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/around-the-world-7331 "'Around the World': About This Production"
- https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/under-many-flags-7006 "'Under Many Flags': About This Production"
- https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/my-little-friend-6900 "'My Little Friend': About This Production"