Dorothy Davenport
Dorothy Davenport (March 13, 1895 – October 12, 1977) was an American actress, screenwriter, film director, and producer who appeared in silent film for Biograph Studios under the direction of D.W. Griffith. While filming on location in Oregon for The Valley of the Giants (1919), Wallace Reid was injured in a train wreck. As a remedy for the pain from this injury, studio doctors administered large doses of morphine to Reid to which he became addicted. Reid's health slowly grew worse over the next few years, and he died of the addiction in 1923. After Reid's death, Davenport and Thomas Ince co-produced the film Human Wreckage (1923) with James Kirkwood, Sr., Bessie Love and Lucille Ricksen, a film that dealt with the dangers of narcotics addiction. Davenport took Human Wreckage on a roadshow engagement, followed up with another "social conscience" picture about excessive mother-love called Broken Laws in 1924, again billed as "Mrs. Wallace Reid" to capitalize on her husband's notorious death. She then produced The Red Kimona (1925) about white slavery. On screen she opens the film in silent narration or prologue. The details of the latter film were so realistic that Davenport was successfully sued. She would later direct Linda (1929), Sucker Money (1933), Road to Ruin (1934), and The Woman Condemned (1934) and worked as a producer, writer, and dialogue director. Among her last credits are co-author of the screenplay for Footsteps in the Fog (1955), and as dialogue director for The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) with Ginger Rogers. She and husband Wallace Reid had two children. She was married to him until his death on January 18, 1923. She never remarried. Dorothy Davenport died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in 1977 in Woodland Hills, California. She is interred with her husband in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dorothy Davenport, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
The Red Kimona
as Woman Telling the Story (uncredited)A woman is abandoned by her lover and prostitution is the only way she has to survive.
Movie pageThe Fighting Chance
as Leila MortimerSylvia Landis promises to marry the wealthy but unprincipled Quarrier because of his social...
Movie pageThe Road to Ruin
as Mrs. Merrill (uncredited)A young girl gets involved with a crowd that smokes marijuana, drinks and has sex. She winds up...
Movie pageThe Unknown
as Nancy PrestonRichard Farquhar, the ne'er-do-well nephew of a titled Englishman, after a protracted "good...
Movie pageThe Devil's Bondwoman
as Beverly HopeAfter a prologue that takes place in Hell, young millionaire Mason Van Horton becomes involved...
Movie pagePierre of the North
as Mary McKenzie - the Factor's DaughterPierre and Baptiste, French-Canadian half-breed trappers, are enamored of Mary, the factor's...
Movie pageThe Revelation
as Mrs. BurnsMr. Burns, a student of Theosophy, has a dream in the hammock. He sees himself, his wife and her...
Movie pageBarriers of Society
as Martha GorhamWhen penniless Westie Phillips briefly meets wealthy Martha Gorham, he falls in love, but Martha...
Movie pageHuman Wreckage
as Ethel MacFarlandAn attorney's wife is determined to fight the evils of addictive substances.
Movie pageThe Unattainable
as Bessie GaleAn actress falls in love with a shepherd, to the dismay of a wealthy suitor. One reel survives...
Movie pageThe Golden Supper
as Flower GirlJulian loves his cousin and foster sister Camilla, who is wooed and won by Lionel, his friend...
Movie pageA Brave Little Woman
as Clara LyttellDaniel Lyttell is very ill, but Doctor Bozel assures Clara that the crisis is over and that her...
Movie pageTreason
as Luella BryskThe enemy's success in smuggling a spy through the lines places the Stratiria armies in a...
Movie pageThe Scarlet Crystal
as Marie DelysPriscilla Worth, an innocent country girl, goes to the city to visit her aunt, who has sent for...
Movie pageA Gold Necklace
as A FriendMazie lends her necklace to Nellie, her guest. Nellie is asleep in a hammock when Sam, her...
Movie pageBlack Friday
as Elionor RossitorIn 1869, enemies of railroad magnate Richard Strong attempt to ruin him. Richard thwarts them,...
Movie pageThe Satin Woman
as Mrs. Jean Taylor (as Mrs. Wallace Reid)Dorothy Reid -- who before her marriage to ill-fated screen idol Wallace Reid was better known...
Movie pageMan Hunt
as Mrs. ScottA teen detective tries to help a jewel thief's daughter.
Movie pageThe Spider and Her Web
as uncreditedThe story concerns the reformation of a fast woman who runs a gambling establishment. Her one...
Movie pageHellship Bronson
as Mrs. BronsonA ship's captain, believing that his wife has cheated on him, takes their young son and leaves...
Movie pageHer Indian Hero
as Veda MeadThe Chief's son, Silver Water, returns from college and is met at the station by the tribe. The...
Movie pageHis Only Son
as Jessie CarterBob Madden returns home slightly intoxicated and his father angrily commands him to leave the...
Movie pageThe Test of Manhood
as Ethel CrandallHarry Wentworth is the profligate son of a ranch owner. His father is tired of Harry's...
Movie pageThe Heart of the Hills
as The Government DetectiveTwo brothers live together in the Kentucky mountains. Wally, the younger, is a wood-cutter,...
Movie pageDoctor Neighbor
as Hazel RogersAgainst the wishes of Doctor Neighbor, the guardian who also loves her, Hazel, who is due to...
Movie pageMothers of Men
as Clara MadisonDorothy Davenport as Clara Madison, a prominent lawyer, wins a judgeship over fellow Attorney...
Movie pageThe Squaw Man's Son
as Edith, Lady EffingtonHal, now fully grown, leaves his wife Edith and his estate in England to return to the land of...
Movie pageThe Den of Thieves
as DorothyLillian is an unfortunate woman. After leaving her baby at the door of a hospital she meets...
Movie pageIn Humble Guise
as Grace HuntAfter a lover's quarrel, writer Grace Hunt goes vacationing to a seaside resort where she...
Movie pageBroken Laws
as Joan AllenIgnoring the advice of her husband, a mother indulges her son's every wish and demand all...
Movie page'Cross the Mexican Line
as Dorothy WestLieut. Wallace leaves his fiancée, Dorothy West, to cross the border with his troops into...
Movie pageThe Way of the World
as Beatrice FarleyGubernatorial candidate Walter Croyden is in love with Beatrice, but he acts obnoxiously when he...
Movie pageA Yoke of Gold
as CarnerDuring the days of the California missions, Jose Garcia becomes friends with Luis Lopez, a local...
Movie pageThe Girl and the Crisis
as Ellen WilmotLieut. Governor Oliver Barnitz accedes to the governorship when his predecessor, failing to call...
Movie page