16 Facts About Pauline Frederick

Pauline Frederick's father worked as a yardmaster for the Old Colony Railroad before becoming a salesman.

Pauline Frederick's parents separated when she was a toddler and Frederick was raised primarily by her mother to whom she remained close for the remainder of her life.

Pauline Frederick studied acting, singing and dancing at Miss Blanchard's Finishing School in Boston where she later graduated.

Pauline Frederick's father discouraged her ambitions to be an actress and encouraged her to become an elocution teacher.

Pauline Frederick legally changed her name to Pauline Frederick in 1908.

Pauline Frederick made her stage debut at the age of 17 as a chorus girl in the farce The Rogers Brothers at Harvard, but was fired shortly thereafter.

Pauline Frederick briefly retired from acting after her first marriage in 1909, but returned to the stage in January 1913 in Joseph and His Brethren.

Pauline Frederick was able to make a successful transition to "talkies" in 1929, and was cast as Joan Crawford's mother in This Modern Age.

Pauline Frederick did not like acting in sound films and returned to Broadway in 1932 in When the Bough Breaks.

Pauline Frederick would continue the remainder of her career appearing in films and touring in stage productions in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Frederick then briefly retired from acting after their daughter Pauline was born in 1910, but returned upon divorcing Andrews in 1913.

Pauline Frederick married her second husband, playwright Willard Mack, on September 27,1917.

Pauline Frederick married her fourth husband, millionaire hotel and Interstate News Company owner Hugh Chisholm Leighton on April 20,1930 in New York City.

On January 17,1936, Pauline Frederick underwent emergency surgery on her abdomen.

Pauline Frederick was dealt a further blow when her mother died in 1937.

Pauline Frederick suffered a second, fatal asthma attack on September 19,1938 while she was recuperating at her aunt's home in Beverly Hills.