Pearl White facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pearl White
Born	Pearl Fay White (1889-03-04)March 4, 1889 Green Ridge, Missouri, U.S.
Died	August 4, 1938(1938-08-04) (aged 49) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Resting place	Cimetière de Passy
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1910–1924
Spouse(s)	Victor Sutherland ​ ​ (m. 1907; div. 1914)​ Wallace McCutcheon, Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1919; div. 1921)​

Pearl Fay White (born March 4, 1889 – died August 4, 1938) was an American actress who starred in plays and silent films. She started acting on stage when she was just six years old. Later, she became famous for her roles in many popular movie serials.

People called Pearl White the "Queen of the Serials." She was known for doing most of her own amazing stunts. Her most famous stunts were in the film series The Perils of Pauline. Pearl often played brave heroines on screen. Her roles were very different from the typical sweet and innocent female characters of that time.

Early Life and First Steps in Acting

Pearl White was born in Green Ridge, Missouri, in the United States. Her father, Edgar White, was a farmer. She had four brothers and sisters. Her family later moved to Springfield, Missouri.

When Pearl was six, she acted for the first time on stage. She played "Little Eva" in a play called Uncle Tom's Cabin. By the time she was 13, Pearl was working as a bareback rider in the circus.

Career in Film

White in an advertisement for The Iron Claw in The Moving Picture World, 1916

Pearl started performing with the Diemer Theater Company while she was still in high school. Even though her father didn't want her to, Pearl left school. In 1907, she joined the Trousedale Stock Company. She worked evening shows and kept her day job to help her family. Soon, she was able to join the company full-time. She toured through the American Midwest.

Pearl played small roles for several years. Then, the Powers Film Company in New York noticed her. She said she had also performed in Cuba for a while, singing American songs in a dance hall. Her travels as a singer also took her to South America.

Moving to Silent Films

In 1910, Pearl had problems with her throat. Her voice started to fail from performing in plays every night. That year, she began acting in films. She starred in many short dramas and comedies for Pat Powers in the Bronx. At Powers Films, Pearl became very good at physical comedy and doing stunts. She became a popular actress there. This caught the attention of Pathé Frères, a big French film company.

In 1910, Pathé Frères offered Pearl a role in The Girl From Arizona. This was the first American film made by the French company at their new studio in Bound Brook, New Jersey. After that, she worked at Lubin Studios in 1911 and other independent film companies. From 1912 to 1914, the Crystal Film Company in Manhattan gave her top billing in many slapstick comedy shorts. Then, Pearl took a vacation in Europe. When she came back, she signed with Eclectic Film Company, which was part of Pathé.

Pearl of the Army, 1917

Becoming the "Queen of Serials"

Pathé director Louis J. Gasnier offered Pearl the main role in the film serial The Perils of Pauline. This story was written by playwright Charles W. Goddard. The film had a lot of action, and the athletic Pearl White was perfect for it. The Perils of Pauline had 20 episodes, each about two reels long, released every week.

The serial was a huge hit with audiences and made Pearl White a major star. She was soon earning a lot of money each week. After this, she had an even bigger success with The Exploits of Elaine (1914–1915).

Over the next five years, Pearl appeared in many popular serials. These included The New Exploits of Elaine (1915), The Romance of Elaine (1915), The Iron Claw (1916), Pearl of the Army (1916–1917), The Fatal Ring (1917), The House of Hate (1918), The Lightning Raider (1919), and The Black Secret (1919–1920). In these serials, Pearl flew airplanes, raced cars, swam across rivers, and did many other daring things.

She did most of her own stunt work. However, Pathé decided it was too risky to let their most popular star get hurt. Pearl had already injured her back while filming The Perils of Pauline. This injury caused her pain for the rest of her life.

Stunt Doubles and Later Films

Later, a male stunt double wearing a wig did most of the more dangerous stunts in Pearl's films. The public usually didn't know that actors used stunt doubles. But in August 1922, the truth came out. During the filming of Pearl's last serial, Plunder, a stunt double named John Stevenson was supposed to jump from the top of a bus onto a metal beam. He missed the beam and hit his head. Stevenson died from a fractured skull. After finishing Plunder, Pearl White went to Europe for another vacation.

By 1919, Pearl was tired of film serials. She signed with Fox Film Corporation because she wanted to act in serious drama roles. Over the next two years, Pearl appeared in ten drama films for Fox. However, her popularity began to fade.

Later Years and Retirement

Advertisement in Photoplay for Terreur, White's final film, 1924

At the Pathé movie studio, Pearl met Blanche Azurello. They both traveled to France, where Pearl hoped to restart her acting career. Pearl was drawn to the Montparnasse area of Paris, influenced by her French friends from Pathé.

While living there, she made her last film for her friend, Belgian-born director Edward José. He had directed her in several serials before. Silent films could be made in any country, and Pearl was a well-known star worldwide. She was offered many roles in France. She made her final film, Terreur (released as The Perils of Paris in the United States), in France in 1924.

Pearl then returned to the stage in a Montmartre play called Tu Perds la Boule. In 1925, she agreed to star with comedian Max Wall in the "London Review" at the Lyceum Theatre in London. She earned a lot of money there each week. After this, she retired from performing.

By the time she retired from films in 1924, Pearl White had earned a large fortune. She was a smart businesswoman. She invested in a successful nightclub in Paris, a resort hotel and casino in Biarritz, and owned 10 race horses. Pearl divided her time between her townhouse in Passy and a large estate near Rambouillet. She spent time with Theodore Cossika, a Greek businessman who loved to travel like her. Together, they bought a home near Cairo.

Some reports after her death said that Pearl's friends thought she wanted to make a comeback in sound films. However, Pearl later told friends that after she did a test for sound films in 1929, she was told her voice was not suitable. Pearl visited the United States sometimes in 1924, 1927, and 1937. On her last visit, Pearl told reporters she was not interested in acting again. She also said that acting in silent films was harder than acting in the new "talkies." By this time, Pearl had gained some weight. She told reporters she didn't like to be photographed because she felt photos made her face look fat. She added, "Why should I have my picture taken when I can get paid for it?"

Personal Life

Pearl White was married two times and did not have any children. She married actor Victor Sutherland on October 10, 1907. They divorced in 1914. In 1919, she married actor Wallace McCutcheon Jr. His father was a famous filmmaker named Wallace McCutcheon Sr.. Pearl and Wallace Jr. divorced in 1921.

Death

Pearl White's plot at Cimetière de Passy in Passy, Paris, France.

By 1937, Pearl White was very ill. A year before she passed away, Pearl got her affairs in order. She bought a burial plot in Cimetière de Passy (Passy Cemetery) near her home and planned her own funeral.

In early July 1938, she went into the American Hospital of Paris in the suburb of Neuilly. She had issues with her liver. She fell into a coma on August 3, 1938, and passed away the next day. She was 49 years old. Pearl White was buried in Cimetière de Passy after a small, private funeral.

Pearl left most of her money, including jewelry and property, to Theodore Cossika. She also left money to her father, nieces, and nephews. She gave a large sum of money to charities.

Legacy

Pearl White's role in film history is important. She helped shape how movies developed and changed the roles women played on screen. Like many silent films, many of Pearl's movies are now lost. Only a shorter version of The Perils of Pauline from 1916 is known to still exist. However, The Exploits of Elaine still exists completely. It was chosen to be saved in the United States National Film Registry in 1994. In 2008, the shorter version of Perils of Pauline was also added to the National Film Registry.

All of Pearl's films were made at studios on the East Coast of the United States. She reportedly never visited Hollywood. For her contributions to the movie industry, Pearl White has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. The 1947 Paramount Pictures film The Perils of Pauline, starring Betty Hutton, is a fictional story about Pearl White's life.

Selected Films

(for an extensive list of her films see the Pearl White filmography)

See also

In Spanish: Pearl White para niños