Clara Kimball Young

Edith Matilda Clara Kimball was born in Chicago on September 6, 1890, the only child to Edward Kimball and Pauline Madeline Kimball (née Garrette, 1860–1919), both of whom were traveling stock actors. She made her stage debut at the age of three, and throughout her early childhood traveled with her parents and acted with their theater company. She attended St. Francis Xavier Academy in Chicago. Afterward, she was hired into a stock company and resumed her stage career, traveling extensively through the United States and playing in various small town theaters. Early in her career, she met and married a fellow stock company and known Broadway actor named James Young. Young's previous wife had been the songwriter/lyricist Rida Johnson Young. After sending a photograph to Vitagraph Studios, Clara Kimball Young, as she was then known, and her husband were both offered yearly contracts in 1912. == Career ==

'', 1915 In the new medium of motion pictures, and without much screen competition, Young's star at Vitagraph rose quickly. Young was predominantly cast in one- and two-reel roles as the virtuous heroine. By 1913, she had become one of the more popular leading ladies at Vitagraph and placed at number 17 in a poll of public popularity. Many of Young's films from her early period with Vitagraph are now lost. In 1914, Vitagraph released the drama My Official Wife, which starred Young as a Russian revolutionary and was directed by her husband James Young and co-starred the popular leading man Earle Williams. The film, which is now lost, was an enormous success and launched Young and Earle Williams into first place in the popularity polls, and Young immediately was signed to a contract with pioneering mogul Lewis J. Selznick. She became involved in a much publicized affair with Selznick, culminating in a 1916 divorce suit accusing her of alienation of affection. James Young finally obtained a final decree on April 8, 1919, on grounds of desertion. Selznick quickly formed the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation, installing himself as president, and formed Selznick Productions to distribute her films and those of some other independent producers. After only four films with Selznick however, the personal and business relationship began to sour, and Young struggled to extricate herself from all business arrangements with Selznick, accusing him of defrauding her of her profits through a series of dummy corporations and by electing himself president of her company while not permitting her any input in her business affairs. '' for Equity Pictures (1921) She began suffering a series of press attacks for her business dealings and personal relationship with Garson. By 1925, her stardom began to fade, and she made her last silent film Lying Wives. Young spent the remainder of the 1920s performing in vaudeville, and in 1928 quietly married Dr. Arthur Fauman. The advent of sound briefly revived her career, and she appeared in several featured roles for RKO Radio Pictures and Tiffany Pictures with only modest success, appearing only in bit parts including a Three Stooges short, and extra roles in mostly lower budget pictures and having a stint on radio. One of her bigger roles is in the murder mystery The Rogues Tavern (1936) where she plays a sweet but fussy motherly woman who is hiding a very big secret. She retired from acting in 1941. == Death ==

Young underwent minor surgery to correct a chronic bronchial problem in March 1960. She did not recover her health after the surgery, and became increasingly frail. Young died of a stroke at the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, California on October 15, 1960. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Young was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6513 Hollywood Blvd. == Selected filmography ==

Short subjects Features == Gallery ==

File:Trilby (1915) - 2.jpg|Trilby (1915) File:The Common Law 2.jpg|The Common Law, 1916 File:The Common Law adv.jpg|Advertisement, 1916 File:The Dark Silence.jpg|The Dark Silence, 1916 File:The Foolish Virgin.jpg|The Foolish Virgin, 1916 File:The Rise of Susan.jpg|The Rise of Susan, 1917 File:Clara Kimball Young adv 1917.jpg|Advertisement, 1917 File:Clara Kimball Young adv 1917 2.jpg|Advertisement, 1917 File:Clara Kimball Young adv 1917 3.jpg|Advertisement, 1917 File:Clara Kimball Young adv 1917 4.jpg|Advertisement, 1917 File:Clara Kimball Young 1917.jpg|Advertisement, 1917 File:The Price She Paid.jpg|The Price She Paid, 1917 File:The Marionettes.jpg|The Marionette, 1918 File:Shirley Kate.jpg|Shirley Kate, 1918 == References ==