Florence Lawrence facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Florence Lawrence
Lawrence in 1908
Born	Florence Annie Bridgwood (1886-01-02)2 January 1886 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Died	28 December 1938(1938-12-28) (aged 52) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Other names	The Biograph Girl The Imp Girl
Spouse(s)	Harry Solter ​ ​ (m. 1908; died 1920)​ Charles Woodring ​ ​ (m. 1921; div. 1932)​ Henry Bolton ​ ​ (m. 1933; div. 1934)​

Florence Lawrence (born Florence Annie Bridgwood; January 2, 1886 – December 28, 1938) was a Canadian-American actress. She performed on stage and in films. Many people called her the "first movie star." For a long time, people thought she was the first film actor whose name was publicly known. However, in 2019, new information showed that French actor Max Linder was named publicly first.

When she was very famous in the 1910s, Florence Lawrence was known as the "Biograph Girl." This was because she was a top actress in silent films made by the Biograph Company. She acted in almost 300 movies for different film companies during her career.

Early Life and Stage Work

Florence Annie Bridgwood was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She was the youngest of three children. Her father, George Bridgwood, built carriages. Her mother, Charlotte "Lotta" Bridgwood, was a stage actress. Charlotte was known as Lotta Lawrence in her acting career. She was the main actress and director of the Lawrence Dramatic Company.

When Florence was three years old, she started performing on stage with her mother. They did a song and dance act. As she grew older and could remember lines, she acted in plays with her mother's company. Florence enjoyed acting but did not like the constant traveling that stage performers had to do. By age six, people called her "Baby Flo, the Child Wonder."

In 1898, Florence's father died in an accident. Her parents had been separated since she was four. After her father's death, Lotta Lawrence moved the family to Buffalo, New York. For the first time, Florence went to school. After finishing school, Florence joined her mother's acting company again. Soon after, her mother closed the company. Florence and her mother moved to New York City around 1906.

Starting in Movies

Portrait of Lawrence by Frank C. Bangs Studio, around 1908

Florence Lawrence was one of many Canadians who helped start the movie industry. This new business was growing very fast. In 1906, she appeared in her first movie. The next year, she acted in 38 films for the Vitagraph Studios company.

In 1906, Florence tried out for many Broadway plays but did not get any parts. However, in December 1906, the Edison Manufacturing Company hired her. She played Daniel Boone's daughter in a movie called Daniel Boone; or, Pioneer Days in America. She got the part because she was good at riding horses. She and her mother were paid five dollars a day. They filmed outdoors for two weeks in very cold weather.

In 1907, she worked for the Vitagraph Company in Brooklyn, New York. She played Moya, an Irish girl, in a short film called The Shaughraun. She then went back to stage acting for a short time. She had the main role in a traveling play called Seminary Girls. Her mother also acted in this play. After traveling with the play for a year, Florence decided she never wanted to live that "gypsy life" again. In 1908, she returned to Vitagraph. She played the main role in The Dispatch Bearer. Because she was so good at riding horses, she got parts in 11 films in the next five months.

Working at Biograph Studios

At Vitagraph, Florence met actor Harry Solter. He was looking for a "young, beautiful equestrian girl" for a film. This film was for Biograph Studios and directed by D. W. Griffith. Griffith was a very famous director at Biograph. He had noticed Florence in a Vitagraph film. Back then, actors' names were not shown in movies. So, Griffith had to secretly find out she was Florence Lawrence.

Griffith had planned to give the part to Florence Turner, Biograph's main actress. But Florence Lawrence convinced Solter and Griffith that she was perfect for the main role in The Girl and the Outlaw. At Vitagraph, she earned $20 a week. She also worked as a costume seamstress. Griffith offered her a job just for acting, paying $25 a week.

After doing well in The Girl and the Outlaw, she acted in many other films. She was in Betrayed by a Handprint and The Red Girl. In 1908, she acted in most of the 60 films Griffith directed. Towards the end of 1908, Florence married Harry Solter.

Florence became very popular. But because her name was never shared, fans wrote to the studio asking who she was. Even after she became well-known, especially after her successful film Resurrection, Biograph Studios refused to say her name. Fans simply called her the "Biograph Girl." In the early days of movies, actors were not named. Studio owners worried that fame would make actors ask for more money. Also, many actors felt embarrassed to be performing in silent movies. Florence continued to work for Biograph in 1909. She asked to be paid by the week instead of daily, and the studio agreed. She received double the usual pay.

She became very popular in the "Jones" series, which was the first comedy series in film. She played Mrs. Jones in about a dozen films. John R. Cumpson played Mr. Jones. Even more popular were the dramatic love stories where she acted with Arthur V. Johnson. They starred in The Ingrate and Resurrection.

Florence and Harry Solter started looking for other work. They wrote to the Essanay Studios offering to work there. But Essanay told Biograph's main office about the offer. Because of this, Florence and Harry were quickly fired.

Joining Independent Moving Pictures Company

Carl Laemmle's advertisement for The Broken Oath starring Lawrence (Billboard magazine, 1910)

After being fired, Florence and Harry Solter joined the Independent Moving Pictures Company of America (IMP) in 1909. This company was started by Carl Laemmle. He owned a film exchange and later started Universal Pictures. Laemmle was looking for experienced filmmakers and actors. He needed a star, so he convinced Florence to leave Biograph. He promised to make her a famous name.

First, Laemmle created a publicity stunt. He spread a rumor that Florence had been killed by a streetcar in New York City. After this got a lot of media attention, he put ads in newspapers. The ads said, "We nail a lie" and showed a picture of Florence. The ad announced she was alive and well. It also said she was making The Broken Oath, a new movie for his IMP Film Company, directed by Solter.

Laemmle had Florence make a public appearance in St. Louis, Missouri, in March 1910. She went with her leading actor to show fans she was alive. This made her one of the first performers to be identified by name by her studio. The fans in St. Louis were so excited to see Florence alive that they rushed her. Laemmle used this to get even more attention. He falsely claimed that fans tore her clothes off. Because of Laemmle's clever ideas, the "star system" was born. Soon, Florence Lawrence became a household name. However, her fame also proved that studio bosses' fears about actors asking for higher pay were correct.

Laemmle also convinced William V. Ranous, a good director from Vitagraph, to join IMP. Ranous introduced Laemmle to Florence and Solter. They worked together for 11 months, making 50 films. After this, they went on vacation in Europe.

When they returned to the United States, they joined a film company led by Siegmund Lubin. Florence again worked with Arthur V. Johnson. They made 48 films together under Lubin's direction. At that time, a group of major film companies called the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) controlled the film industry. IMP was not part of this group. Theaters that showed IMP films could not show MPPC films. So, IMP had powerful enemies. But it survived mostly because Florence's movies were so popular.

Later Studios and Injury

By late 1910, Florence left IMP to work for Lubin Studios. She told her fellow Canadian, 18-year-old Mary Pickford, to take her place as IMP's star.

Scene of Lawrence (far right) in 1912 Victor production After All; other cast are (from left) Owen Moore, Victory Bateman on step, and Gladden James.

In 1912, Florence and Harry Solter made a deal with Carl Laemmle. They formed their own company called Victor Film Company. Laemmle gave them complete artistic freedom. He paid Florence $500 a week as the main actress and Solter $200 a week as director. They built a film studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They made several films starring Florence and Owen Moore. In 1913, they sold the company to Universal Pictures. With this new money, Florence bought a 50-acre estate in River Vale, New Jersey. In August 1912, she had an argument with her husband. He went to Europe but sent her "sad" letters every day. They got back together in November 1912. Florence then said she wanted to retire from acting.

However, she was convinced to return to work in 1914 for her company, which Universal Studios had bought. In 1915, during the filming of Pawns of Destiny, a fake fire got out of control. Florence was burned, her hair was singed, and she fell badly, breaking her spine. She was in shock for months. She returned to work but collapsed after the film was finished. To make things worse, Universal refused to pay her medical bills. Florence felt betrayed. In mid-1916, she went back to work for Universal and finished Elusive Isabel. But the stress of working made her very sick again. She was completely paralyzed for four months.

In 1921, she went to Hollywood to try to make a comeback. She had little success. She got a main role in a small drama called (The Unfoldment), and then two supporting roles. After 1924, all her film work was in small, uncredited parts.

Personal Life and Inventions

Florence Lawrence was married three times but had no children. Her first marriage was to actor and director Harry Solter in 1908. They were married until Harry died in 1920. In 1921, she married Charles Byrne Woodring, who sold cars. They separated in 1929 and divorced in 1932.

In the 1920s, Florence and Woodring opened a cosmetics store in Los Angeles called Hollywood Cosmetics. The store sold makeup for actors. It also sold a line of cosmetics that Florence created herself. They continued their business partnership even after separating in 1929. However, the store had to close in 1931 due to the Great Depression.

In 1933, Florence married for the third and final time to Henry Bolton. This marriage lasted only five months.

Besides her movie career, Florence Lawrence is also known for designing the first "auto signaling arm." This was an early version of the modern turn signal. She also designed the first mechanical brake signal. However, she did not get patents for these inventions. Because of this, she received no credit or money from them.

Later Years and Death

By the late 1920s, Florence Lawrence was not as popular. She also faced several personal losses. She was very sad when her mother, whom she was very close to, died suddenly in August 1929. Four months later, she separated from her second husband, Charles Woodring.

Florence earned a lot of money during her film career. However, she made many bad business choices. She lost much of her money after the stock market crash in October 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. The cosmetics store she owned also lost business because of the Depression and closed in 1931.

By the early 1930s, Florence's acting career only involved small, often uncredited, extra parts. In 1936, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio head Louis B. Mayer started giving small parts to former silent film actors. They were paid $75 a week. Florence, along with other "old timers" from the silent movie era, signed with M-G-M. Their careers had mostly ended when sound films replaced silent films. Florence stayed with the studio until she died.

In mid-1937, Florence was diagnosed with a "bone disease that causes anemia and depression." This disease was likely myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow disease. It was incurable at the time. Because of her poor health and constant pain, Florence became depressed. But she tried to keep working. Around this time, she moved into a home in West Hollywood with a studio worker named Robert "Bob" Brinlow and his sister.

Lawrence's gravestone, Hollywood Forever Cemetery

On December 28, 1938, Florence Lawrence called M-G-M, where she was supposed to work that afternoon. She said she was ill. Later that afternoon, Florence took ant poison and cough syrup at her home. News reports differ on how she was found. Some said her neighbor, Marian Menzer, heard her screams. Others said Florence called Menzer to say she had poisoned herself. Menzer called an ambulance, and Florence was rushed to Beverly Hills Emergency Hospital. Doctors could not save her, and she died at 2:45 p.m.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund paid for Florence's funeral on December 30. They also paid for her unmarked grave in the Hollywood Cemetery (now Hollywood Forever Cemetery). Her grave remained unmarked until 1991. Then, an anonymous British actor paid for a memorial marker for her. It reads: "The Biograph Girl/The First Movie Star." The date of birth on her headstone is given as 1890. This is incorrect. Florence often made herself seem younger than she was. Most obituaries printed her correct birth year: 1886.

Filmography

Short Films

Feature Films

• The Reg Girl (1908)
• A Singular Sinner (1914)
• Elusive Isabel (1916) as Isabel Thorne
• The Unfoldment (1922) as Katherine Nevin
• The Satin Girl (1923) as Sylvia
• Lucretia Lombard (1923)
• Gambling Wives (1924) as Polly Barker
• The Johnstown Flood (1926) as Townswoman (uncredited)
• The Greater Glory (1926) as Woman (uncredited)
• Sweeping Against the Winds (1930)
• Homicide Squad (1931)
• Pleasure (1931) as Martha
• The Hard Hombre (1931) as The Sister (uncredited)
• So Big (1932) as Mina (uncredited)
• Sinners in the Sun (1932) - minor role (uncredited)
• Secrets (1933) - minor role (uncredited)
• The Silk Express (1933) - minor role (uncredited)
• The Old Fashioned Way (1934, unverified) - minor role (uncredited)
• Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935, unverified) - minor role (uncredited)
• The Crusades (1935) - minor role (uncredited)
• Yellow Dust (1936) - minor role (uncredited)
• One Rainy Afternoon (1936) - minor role (uncredited)
• Hollywood Boulevard (1936) - minor role (scenes deleted)
• Night Must Fall (1937) - minor role (uncredited) (final film role)

See also

In Spanish: Florence Lawrence para niños

• Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood