Ruth Roland
Ruth Roland | |
---|---|
![]() Photographic portrait, c. 1920 | |
Born | |
Died | September 22, 1937 | (aged 45)
Occupation(s) | Actress, producer |
Years active | 1911–1936 |
Spouses |
Ruth Roland(August 26, 1892 – September 22, 1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer.[1]
Early life and career
[edit]Roland was born inSan Francisco,California to Elizabeth Lillian Hauser and Jack Roland. Her father managed atheatre,and she became achild actresswho went on to work invaudeville.At age 12, she was the youngest student atHollywood High School,having attended the school around 1904 or 1905 (there is debate on this date). Roland was Hollywood High School's first homegrownmovie star.[2]
She was hired by directorSidney Olcottwho had seen her on stage in New York City. She appeared in her first film,A Chance Shot,forKalem Studiosin 1911, becoming theleading actressof their new West Coast studio.[3]
Roland left Kalem and went on to even more fame atBalboa Films,where she was under contract from 1914 to 1917. In 1915 she appeared in a 14-episodeadventure filmserialtitledThe Red Circle.A shrewd businessperson, she established her ownproduction company,Ruth Roland Serials, and signed adistributiondeal withPathéto make seven new multi-episode serials that proved very successful.[citation needed]
Between 1909 and 1927, Roland appeared in more than 200 films. She appeared in an earlycolor feature filmCupid Angling(1918) made in the Natural Color process invented byLeon F. Douglass,and filmed in theLake Lagunitasarea ofMarin County, California.[citation needed]
Roland worked the film business until 1930 when she made her firsttalkie.Although her voice worked well enough on screen, now entering her forties she returned to performing inlive theatre,making only one more film appearance in 1936.[citation needed]
Personal life and death
[edit]Roland was married to Lionel T. Kent on May 16, 1917.[4]The marriage was short-lived: they separated on September 2, 1918, and divorced on April 2, 1919.[5][6]
On February 14, 1929, she married fellow actorBen Bard,who also had a stage acting background, and ran aHollywoodacting schoolafter they married.[7]They were together until the end of Roland's life.
Ruth Roland died ofcancerin 1937, aged 45, in Hollywood and is interred near her husband in theForest Lawn Memorial Park CemeteryinGlendale, California.[8]
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ruth Roland received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fameat 6220Hollywood Boulevardon February 8, 1960.[9][10]In 1979, a concrete box containing Roland's personal film collection was discovered buried in the backyard of Roland's house, and donated to the UCLA Film Archives by her heirs in 1980.[11]
Selected filmography
[edit]-
A Matrimonial Martyr(1916)
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The Sultana(1916)
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The Neglected Wife(1917)
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Hands Up(1918)
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The Tiger's Trail(1919)
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The Timber Queen(1922)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Theredcircle1915-poster.jpg/150px-Theredcircle1915-poster.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Ruth_Roland_1916_2.jpg/140px-Ruth_Roland_1916_2.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Ruth_Roland_on_the_cover_of_Motion_Picture_Classic%2C_January_1922%2C_cover_by_Benjamin_Eggleston..jpg/140px-Ruth_Roland_on_the_cover_of_Motion_Picture_Classic%2C_January_1922%2C_cover_by_Benjamin_Eggleston..jpg)
- A Chance Shot(1911)
- He Who Laughs Last(1911)
- Ruth Roland, the Kalem Girl(1912)
- Pulque Pete and the Opera Troupe(1912)
- The Girl Bandits' Hoodoo(1912)
- The Raiders from Double L Ranch(1913)
- The Sheriff of Stone Gulch(1913)
- Gertie Gets the Cash(1914)
- The Deadly Battle at Hicksville(1914)
- The Pursuit of Pleasure(1915)
- The Girl Detective(1915)
- Who Pays?(1915)
- The Red Circle(1915)
- Comrade John(1915)
- A Matrimonial Martyr(1916)
- The Sultana(1916)
- The Devil's Bait(1917)
- The Neglected Wife(1917)
- The Fringe of Society(1917)
- Hands Up(1918)
- Cupid Angling(1918)
- The Tiger's Trail(1919)
- The Adventures of Ruth(1919)
- Ruth of the Rockies(1920)
- The Avenging Arrow(1921)
- White Eagle(1922)
- The Timber Queen(1922)
- Haunted Valley(1923)
- Ruth of the Range(1923)
- Dollar Down(1925)
- Where the Worst Begins(1925)
- The Masked Woman(1927)
- Reno(1930)
- From Nine to Nine(1936)
References
[edit]- ^Staff writer (September 28, 1937). Morrison, John L. (ed.)."Ruth Roland, Serial Star, Left Real Estate Fortune".The Record-Argus.Vol. 89, no. 227.Greenville, Pennsylvania:Advance Argus Company. p. 3 – viaNewspapers.
- ^silent-movies Ruth Roland profileArchivedOctober 20, 2006, at theWayback Machine,silent-movies; accessed May 6, 2014.
- ^Staff writer (1924).Stars of the Photoplay.Chicago, Illinois: Photoplay Magazine. p. 206 – viaInternet Archive.
- ^Staff Writer (June 7, 1917)."Ruth Roland".Detroit Free Press.Vol. 82, no. 253.Detroit,Michigan. p. 8 – viaNewspapers.
- ^Staff Writer (April 2, 1919)."Ruth Roland is Divorced from Lieut. Kent".Los Angeles Evening Herald.Vol. 44, no. 130 (Night ed.). Los Angeles, California. pp. 1, 7.
- ^Staff Writer (April 19, 1919)."Picture Patter".The Seattle Star.Vol. 22, no. 51. Seattle, Washington. p. 3 – via Newspapers.
- ^Staff Writer (February 11, 1929)."Ruth Roland and New Hubby-to-Be".The News Journal.Vol. 62, no. 36. Wilmington, Delaware. p. 20 – via Newspapers.
- ^Ellenberger, Allan R. (May 1, 2001).Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory.McFarland. p. 68.ISBN978-0-7864-0983-9.
- ^"Ruth Roland".Hollywood Walk of Fame.Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.RetrievedFebruary 4,2014.
- ^"Ruth Roland".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedJune 26,2016.
- ^Staff writer (March 14, 1980)."UCLA Acquires Roland Films".The Indianapolis Star.Vol. 77, no. 283. p. 32 – viaNewspapers.
- ^Platnick, Norman I. (February 2017)."Lady of Mystery: A Collector's Guide to Edward Eggleston version 3.5".p. 5.
those Motion Picture Classic covers, published from at least July, 1921 through August, 1922, were actually done by Benjamin Eggleston...
Bibliography
[edit]- Balboa Films – A History and Filmography of the Silent Film StudioISBN0-7864-0496-5
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Ruth RolandatIMDb
- Literature on Ruth Roland,virtual-history. Accessed April 2, 2024.
- 1892 births
- 1937 deaths
- American child actresses
- American film actresses
- Film producers from California
- American silent film actresses
- American stage actresses
- Film serial actresses
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
- Actresses from San Francisco
- American stunt performers
- American vaudeville performers
- Deaths from cancer in California
- Actresses from the San Francisco Bay Area
- 20th-century American actresses
- American women film producers