in a play, c. 1904 Arvidson's first professional role was on stage at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco in a 1904 adaptation of
The Christian by British novelist
Hall Caine. In this production, she portrayed one of the fisher girls and earned a weekly wage of three dollars and 40 cents for her performances. One experience called up after another as Arvidson performed in a variety of recitals across San Francisco's great concert halls. She appeared as a servant boy in the play
Fedora. It was on this production where she met David Wark Griffith, a supporting actor and her future husband, who at that time worked under the stage name Lawrence Griffith. Through the next few months in which Arvidson and Griffith were together, Arvidson spent time performing small roles in productions at the Burbank Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Orpheum.
Film career In 1906, Arvidson and Griffith moved to New York, where they began rehearsals for playwright Rev. Thomas Dixon's play
The Other Woman. As the two settled into the New York theatre scene, Griffith learned about the Biograph Company and the American Mutoscope and their work with moving pictures. Griffith encouraged Arvidson to introduce herself there.
When Knights Were Bold, Arvidson's first picture at Biograph, was directed by
Sidney Olcott and included Griffith in the cast as well, marking the couple's only appearance together on screen. frame of Linda Arvidson in
The Scarlet Letter (1913). In 1908, Griffith rose to directing
The Adventures of Dollie, his first picture for Biograph, in which Arvidson played the leading female character. In her memoir, Arvidson described most of the characters she played in her early film career as "the sympathetic, the wronged wife, the too-trusting maid...waiting for the lover who never came back." At the time, the studio did not want the women in their films to be identified, so the leading women they featured like Arvidson, Mary Pickford, and Florence Lawrence were all known as the Biograph Girls. During their days on set, the women spent time getting ready with elaborate makeup for the camera while Griffith as a director would take only the men out to lunch. As more actors began to emerge into this new medium, the old timers like Arvidson had their salaries doubled, accumulating up to $10 per day. On October 4, 1909,
Pippa Passes, Arvidson and Griffith's biggest picture at the time, was released. The film was the first of their productions to attract the attention of
The New York Times and to receive a favorable review from this newspaper. Around 1912–1913, she worked for the
Kinemacolor Company of America. As they grew more experienced with acting on camera and more in tune with the people at Biograph, Griffith still wanted to leave for a summer and do a summer stock theatre show, yet Arvidson convinced him to stay and continue his relationship with the company. Arvidson served as the leading person who supported Griffith's success in his budding film career, first as an actor, then writer, then director. Griffith wondered about the stories that would unfold if public spectators witnessed them together and how that would affect the work they created together. As of 1909, those at Biograph were unaware of Arvidson and Griffith's marriage. The two kept their relationship confidential because personal and business matters were not known to intermingle and was deemed "unprofessional." The couple separated around 1912, and finally divorced on March 2, 1936, when Griffith wished to remarry. == Partial filmography ==