1. Pearl Fay White was an American stage and film actress.
31 Facts About Pearl White
1. 2.
Pearl White began her career on the stage at age 6, and later moved on to silent films appearing in a number of popular serials.
3.
When she was 13, Pearl White worked as a bareback rider for the circus.
4.
Pearl White began performing with the Diemer Theater Company while in her second year of high school.
5.
Pearl White soon joined the company full-time, touring through the American Midwest.
6.
Pearl White played minor roles for several years, when she was spotted by the Powers Film Company in New York.
7.
Pearl White claimed she had performed in Cuba for a time under the name Miss Mazee, singing American songs in a dance hall.
8.
In 1910, Pearl White had trouble with her throat, and her voice began to fail from the nightly theatrical performances.
9.
Pearl White made her debut in films that year, starring in a series of one-reel dramas and comedies for Pat Powers in the Bronx.
10.
Pearl White became a popular player with the company and caught the attention of Pathe Freres.
11.
In 1910, Pearl White was offered a role by Pathe Freres in The Girl from Arizona, the French company's first American film produced at their studio in Bound Brook, New Jersey.
12.
Pearl White then worked at Lubin Studios in 1911 and several other of the independent studios, until the Crystal Film Company in Manhattan gave her top billing in a number of slapstick comedy shorts from 1912 to 1914.
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The film features the central character Pauline in a story involving considerable action, for which the athletic Pearl White proved ideally suited.
14.
Pearl White followed this serial with an even bigger box-office hit: The Exploits of Elaine.
15.
Pearl White did much of her own stunt work until Pathe decided that it could not risk injuring one of its popular stars.
16.
On December 21,1920, Dawley received a cable at 8:25 AM at the Princess Hotel urging that Pearl White, who had previously visited Bermuda in 1913, leave Bermuda that day for New York aboard the RMS Fort Victoria.
17.
Pearl White was photographed boarding the seaplane by the proprietors of the Bermuda and West Atlantic Aviation Company, Major Henry Hamilton "Hal" Kitchener and Major Harold Hemming.
18.
At the Pathe movie studio, she met Blanche Rubenstein and both travelled to France where Pearl White hoped to reboot her acting career.
19.
Silent films could be made in any country, and as Pearl White was a recognizable star worldwide, she was offered many roles in France.
20.
Pearl White made Terreur, her final film, in France in 1924.
21.
Pearl White returned to the stage in a Montmartre production Tu Perds la Boule.
22.
Pearl White divided her time between her townhouse in Passy and a 54-acre estate near Rambouillet.
23.
Pearl White became involved with Theodore Cossika, a Greek businessman, who shared her love of travel.
24.
Pearl White later told friends that after she made a test for sound films in 1929, she was told that her voice was unsuitable.
25.
Pearl White made occasional visits to the United States in 1924,1927, and 1937.
26.
On her last visit, Pearl White told reporters she was not interested in making a comeback and mused that acting in silent films was more difficult than acting in sound films.
27.
Pearl White married actor Victor Sutherland on October 10,1907.
28.
Pearl White slipped into a coma on August 3,1938, and died the following day of what was identified in her obituaries as a "liver ailment".
29.
Pearl White was buried in Cimetiere de Passy after a small, private funeral.
30.
Pearl White left the majority of her fortune, including jewelry and property, to Theodore Cossika.
31.
Pearl White bequeathed money to her father, nieces, and nephews, and her will provided $73,000 to charities.