Helene Chadwick

Known for ActingBorn 1897-11-24Died 1940-09-04Chadwicks, New York, USA

Helene Chadwick (November 25, 1897 – September 4, 1940) was an American actress in Silent and early sound films. Chadwick was born in the small town of Chadwicks, New York, which was named for her grandfather. Her mother was a singer who performed on the stage and her father was a businessman. She began making films for Pathe Pictures in Manhattan, New York. A director was impressed by Chadwick's talent as an equestrian, thus she began acting as a western star, but this did not continue with the exodus of film production from the east to the west coast. Signed by Samuel Goldwyn, Chadwick went to California in 1913 and entered silent movies in 1916. She was a star from 1920 through 1925. At the pinnacle of her acting career, she earned a salary estimated to have been $2,000 per week. From 1929 until 1935, she found success as a character actress when sound was being introduced to films. In the final five years of her life she was reduced to taking roles as an extra, playing "atmospheric parts". She was always optimistic that her fortunes would turn for the better. Helene made movies with Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, and other studios. Her most noteworthy performances came in The Long Arm of Mannister (1919), The Cup of Fury (1920), Heartsease (1919), The Sin Flood (1922), Dangerous Curve Ahead (1921), From The Ground Up (1921), The Glorious Fool (1922), Yellow Men and Gold (1922), Dust Flower (1922), Godless Men (1920), and Quicksands (1923). In January 1919, Chadwick became engaged to Lieutenant William A. Wellman, an American pilot with the Lafayette Flying Corps. He had just returned from France and was cited for bravery for his valour in World War I. The couple had met at a party at the house of a friend. Wellman was signed to play a prominent role in an upcoming movie with Douglas Fairbanks Sr. The couple wed in July 1921, but in the summer of 1923 Chadwick sued Wellman for divorce on grounds of desertion and non-support. At the time of their separation William was directing movies for Fox Film. Wellman directed Wings, the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as many other notable films. Helene Chadwick died at St. Vincent's Hospital, Los Angeles, California, aged 42, in 1940. Her death was indirectly the result of an accident she suffered in June 1939.Read more

Movies & web series

Women Who Dare

Pleasures of the Rich

The Woman Hater

The Golden Cocoon

Trouping with Ellen

Yellow Men and Gold

The Sin Flood

The Glorious Fool

Cupid the Cowpuncher

A Very Good Young Man

Mary Burns, Fugitive

Modern Mothers

The Still Alarm

Reno

Dangerous Curve Ahead

The Long Arm of Mannister

Men Are Like That

Father and Son

Hard Boiled

The Dark Swan

The Dust Flower

The Old Nest

Made in Heaven

The Cup of Fury

The Solitary Sin

School for Girls

Frisco Kid

Good Dame

Night World

Hell Bound

Say It with Sables

The Bachelor's Baby

The Re-Creation of Brian Kent

The Border Legion

Her Own Free Will

Love of Women

Quicksands

Gimme

Go-Get-Em Garringer

Girls

Mississippi

The Perfect Set-Up

The House of Hate

Employees' Entrance

Morning Glory

The Mystery of the Double Cross

So Big!

Merrily Yours