Kathlyn Williams(1879-1960)
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Pioneer silver screen star Kathlyn Williams is primarily known as the
spry blonde of the very first Hollywood cliffhanger, The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913),
in which her real first name was used in the title. This accomplishment
has resulted in many reference works mistakenly referring to her as an adventurous
Pearl White-type silent serial queen. While
Kathlyn did, in fact, go on to perform in a few other adventure-type
pictures, including westerns, she was actually quite gentile and
dignified in nature and primarily graced heavier drama on the screen.
Having once been dubbed the
Sarah Bernhardt of the screen,
she never did appear in another serial.
She was born in Butte, Montana, on May 31, 1879 (most sources incorrectly list
1888) of Norwegian and Welsh descent, Kathlyn was born to Joseph E.
and Mary C. Williams. With early interest and experience as a vocal
recitalist, she eventually attended the Sargent School of Acting and
studied at Wesleyan University (1899). Following stage experience
in local stock and touring companies (from 1902) she began to develop a
solid name for herself in such plays as "When We Were Twenty One". Her
early career was generously sponsored by Sen. W.A. Clarke after
Kathlyn's family lost their fortunes. She eventually went to Hollywood
while performing with the Belasco Stock Company and began making films
as early as 1908 with
D.W. Griffith at the Biograph
Studio.
A popular star at the Selig Polyscope Company in 1910 (she was at first
publicized as "The Selig Girl"), she appeared in assorted jungle
adventures for the studio as well as a number of westerns opposite
cowboy star Tom Mix. She made history,
however, with the very first serial adventure, which contained a number
of wild animals, and it saved the faltering studio from bankruptcy. She
proceeded to remain a popular item after being handed the lead in the
Selig epic The Spoilers (1914), playing her
signature role of Cherry Marlotte.
Once the Selig Studio folded, Kathlyn signed with Paramount
Pictures following her marriage to Paramount executive Charles F. Eyton in
1916 (a former actor, he later became the studio's General Manager), and while there appeared as the star of several early dramas for both Cecil B. DeMille and
his brother William C. de Mille, including
The Whispering Chorus (1918),
We Can't Have Everything (1918),
The Tree of Knowledge (1920)
and
Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920).
Her numerous co-stars included veteran matinée idols
(Thomas Meighan,
Theodore Roberts,
Tyrone Power Sr.), young established
stars (Wallace Reid) and western heroes
(Roy Stewart.
Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and
matronly by the early 1920s and she moved swiftly into stately dramatic
efforts, backing up such celebrity femmes of the day as
May McAvoy,
Betty Compson,
Anita Page,
Greta Garbo and even
Joan Crawford before the advent of
sound. She retired from films in 1935 after only a handful of talkies
and, though comebacks were bantered about from time to time in the
gossip mill, nothing came of it. A tragic car accident in 1949 resulted
in the loss of a leg, ending any chances whatsoever of revitalizing her
career. She was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.
Married and divorced three times, her only child, Victor Hugo Kainer,
from her first marriage to import/export businessman Otto Kainer, was
born in 1905 but died a young teenager after developing influenza and
succumbing to septic poisoning in 1922. After a brief marriage to actor
Frank R. Allen, she married Eyton. That marriage ended in 1931.
Due to the loss of her leg, Kathlyn became a wheelchair-bound invalid in the last decade of
her life. She succumbed to massive heart attack in her Hollywood apartment
on September 23, 1960, at age 81. She was cremated and her ashes interred in the Deodora
Hall, South Columbarium in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los
Angeles.
spry blonde of the very first Hollywood cliffhanger, The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913),
in which her real first name was used in the title. This accomplishment
has resulted in many reference works mistakenly referring to her as an adventurous
Pearl White-type silent serial queen. While
Kathlyn did, in fact, go on to perform in a few other adventure-type
pictures, including westerns, she was actually quite gentile and
dignified in nature and primarily graced heavier drama on the screen.
Having once been dubbed the
Sarah Bernhardt of the screen,
she never did appear in another serial.
She was born in Butte, Montana, on May 31, 1879 (most sources incorrectly list
1888) of Norwegian and Welsh descent, Kathlyn was born to Joseph E.
and Mary C. Williams. With early interest and experience as a vocal
recitalist, she eventually attended the Sargent School of Acting and
studied at Wesleyan University (1899). Following stage experience
in local stock and touring companies (from 1902) she began to develop a
solid name for herself in such plays as "When We Were Twenty One". Her
early career was generously sponsored by Sen. W.A. Clarke after
Kathlyn's family lost their fortunes. She eventually went to Hollywood
while performing with the Belasco Stock Company and began making films
as early as 1908 with
D.W. Griffith at the Biograph
Studio.
A popular star at the Selig Polyscope Company in 1910 (she was at first
publicized as "The Selig Girl"), she appeared in assorted jungle
adventures for the studio as well as a number of westerns opposite
cowboy star Tom Mix. She made history,
however, with the very first serial adventure, which contained a number
of wild animals, and it saved the faltering studio from bankruptcy. She
proceeded to remain a popular item after being handed the lead in the
Selig epic The Spoilers (1914), playing her
signature role of Cherry Marlotte.
Once the Selig Studio folded, Kathlyn signed with Paramount
Pictures following her marriage to Paramount executive Charles F. Eyton in
1916 (a former actor, he later became the studio's General Manager), and while there appeared as the star of several early dramas for both Cecil B. DeMille and
his brother William C. de Mille, including
The Whispering Chorus (1918),
We Can't Have Everything (1918),
The Tree of Knowledge (1920)
and
Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920).
Her numerous co-stars included veteran matinée idols
(Thomas Meighan,
Theodore Roberts,
Tyrone Power Sr.), young established
stars (Wallace Reid) and western heroes
(Roy Stewart.
Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and
matronly by the early 1920s and she moved swiftly into stately dramatic
efforts, backing up such celebrity femmes of the day as
May McAvoy,
Betty Compson,
Anita Page,
Greta Garbo and even
Joan Crawford before the advent of
sound. She retired from films in 1935 after only a handful of talkies
and, though comebacks were bantered about from time to time in the
gossip mill, nothing came of it. A tragic car accident in 1949 resulted
in the loss of a leg, ending any chances whatsoever of revitalizing her
career. She was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.
Married and divorced three times, her only child, Victor Hugo Kainer,
from her first marriage to import/export businessman Otto Kainer, was
born in 1905 but died a young teenager after developing influenza and
succumbing to septic poisoning in 1922. After a brief marriage to actor
Frank R. Allen, she married Eyton. That marriage ended in 1931.
Due to the loss of her leg, Kathlyn became a wheelchair-bound invalid in the last decade of
her life. She succumbed to massive heart attack in her Hollywood apartment
on September 23, 1960, at age 81. She was cremated and her ashes interred in the Deodora
Hall, South Columbarium in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los
Angeles.