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Virginia Pearson

Acting Born Mar 7, 1886 Anchorage, Kentucky, USA 24 credits

Biography

From Wikipedia

Virginia Belle Pearson (March 7, 1886 - June 6, 1958) was an American stage and film actress. She made fifty-one films in a career which extended from 1910 until 1932.

Born in Anchorage, Kentucky, Pearson worked for a brief time as an assistant in the public library in Louisville, Kentucky after completing school. Pearson trained in the tradition of the stars of the American stage, and played in stock productions in Washington, D.C. and New York City. In New York she played the heroine in Hypocrisy, a story which laid bare "the shame of society." She was promoted by William Fox of Fox Film Corporation for the same kind of strong vamp parts as those played by Theda Bara. Among her movies is Blazing Love (1916), Wildness of Youth (1922), The Vital Question (1916), Sister Against Sister (1917), The Red Kimona (1925), Wizard of Oz (1925), and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

In 1916 Pearson and her husband, movie actor Sheldon Lewis, severed their ties with the Virginia Pearson Producing Company. The couple affiliated themselves with the Independent Productions Company, capitalized at $1,000,000. In 1924 the couple were forced to declare bankruptcy. In 1928, Pearson was legally divorced from Lewis. At the time, it was considered bad box office for screen actresses to be married. However the two remained constant companions., and resided for many years at the old Hollywood Hotel. Later they lived at the Motion Picture Country Hom.

Virginia Pearson died of uremic poisoning in Hollywood on June 6, 1958 nearly a month to the day after Sheldon Lewis. She was 72. Funeral services were held at the Pierce Brothers Hollywood Chapel. She was buried with an unmarked grave in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

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Known for

Film

The Phantom of the Opera

as Carlotta

Full filmography

  • The Phantom of the Opera (1925) as Carlotta
  • The Wizard of Oz (1925) as Lady Vishuss
  • The Actress (1928) as Mrs. Telfer
  • Back Street (1932) as Minor Role (uncredited)
  • The Red Kimona (1925) as Mrs. Beverly Fontaine
  • Lightning Hutch (1926) as Janet Thornwall
  • Wrath of Love (1917) as Roma Winnet
  • Driven from Home (1927)
  • The Primrose Path (1931) as Marie Randeau
  • The Stain (1914) as Stevens' Daughter
  • All for a Husband (1917) as Henrietta Downs
  • Atta Boy (1926) as Madame Carlton
  • A Prince of a King (1923) as Queen Claudia
  • Smilin' Guns (1929) as Mrs. van Smythe
  • Sister Against Sister (1917) as Anne / Katherine
  • The Firebrand (1918) as Princess Natalya
  • The Love Auction (1919) as Lea Montrose, Mrs. Vanderveer
  • The Power of Silence (1928) as Mrs. Wright
  • Thou Shalt Not Steal (1917) as Mary Bruce
  • The War Bride's Secret (1916) as Jean MacDougal
  • The Taxi Mystery (1926) as Mrs. Blaine Jameson
  • Writing on the Wall (1916) as Barbara Lawrence
  • A Daughter of France (1918) as Louise de Ciron
  • Stolen Honor (1918) as Virginia Lake