Marguerite De La Motte
Born: 1902-06-22 in Duluth, Minnesota, USA
Died: 1950-03-10
Known For: Acting
Biography
Marguerite De La Motte (June 22, 1902 – March 10, 1950) was an American film actress, most notably of the silent film era. Born in Duluth, Minnesota, De La Motte was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph De La Motte. She was a 1917 graduate of the Egan School of drama, music, and dancing. De La Motte began her entertainment career studying ballet under Anna Pavlova. In 1919, she became the dance star of Sid Grauman on the stage of his theater. In 1918, at the age of 16, she made her screen debut in the Douglas Fairbanks-directed romantic comedy film Arizona. In 1920, both of her parents died, her mother in January in an automobile accident and her father in August from heart disease. Film producer J.L. Frothingham assumed guardianship of her and her younger brother. De La Motte spent the 1920s appearing in numerous films, often cast by Douglas Fairbanks to play opposite him in swashbuckling adventure films such as 1920's The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers. She developed a close friendship with Fairbanks and his wife, actress Mary Pickford. Her career as an actress slowed dramatically at the end of the silent film era of the 1920s. She did continue acting in bit parts through the sound era and made her final appearance in the 1942 film Overland Mail opposite both Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr., as well as Lon Chaney Jr. After her film career ended, De La Motte worked as an inspector in a southern California war plant during World War II. Later she came to San Francisco, California, where she worked in the Red Cross office. On February 8, 1960, De La Motte was awarded a star in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6902 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California.
Filmography
1942
- Overland Mail as Rose - the Waitress [Chs. 1, 8]
- The Man Who Returned to Life as Mrs. Hibbard
1941
- Reg'lar Fellers as Mrs. Dugan
1934
- A Woman's Man as Gloria Jordan - Star
1930
- Shadow Ranch as Ruth Cameron
1929
- The Iron Mask as Constance Bonacieux
- Montmartre Rose as Jeanne
1927
- Ragtime as Beth Barton
- The Final Extra as Ruth Collins
- The Kid Sister as Helen Hall
- Held by the Law as Mary Travis
- Broadway Madness as Maida Vincent
1926
- Fifth Avenue as Barbara Pelham
- Red Dice as Beverly Vane
- Pals in Paradise as Geraldine 'Jerry' Howard
- The Unknown Soldier as Mary Phillips
- The Last Frontier as Beth
1925
- Cheaper to Marry as Doris
- Daughters Who Pay as Sonia Borisoff / Margaret Smith
- Children of the Whirlwind as Maggie
- The Girl Who Wouldn't Work as Mary Hale
- The People vs. Nancy Preston as Nancy Preston
1924
- Those Who Dare as Marjorie
- East of Broadway as Judy McNulty
- In Love with Love as Ann Jordan
- The Clean Heart as Essie Bickers
- The Beloved Brute as Jacinta
- Gerald Cranston's Lady as Angela
1923
- Wandering Daughters as Bessie Bowden
- Scars of Jealousy as Helen Meanix
- Richard the Lion-Hearted as Lady Edith Plantagenet
- A Man of Action as Helen Sumner
- The Famous Mrs. Fair as Sylvia Fair
- Desire as Ruth Cassell
- What a Wife Learned as Sheila Dorne
- Just Like a Woman as Peggy Dean
1922
- Shattered Idols as Sarasvati
- Shadows as Sympathy Gibbs
- The Jilt as Rose Trenton
1921
- The Three Musketeers as Constance
- The Nut as Estrell Wynn
- The Ten Dollar Raise as Dorothy
1920
- The Mark of Zorro as Lolita Pulido
- The Broken Gate as Anne Oglesby
- Trumpet Island as Eve de Merincourt
- The U.P. Trail as Allie Lee
- The Sagebrusher as Mary Warren
- The Hope as Lady Brenda Carylon
1919
- The Pagan God as Beryl Addison
- In Wrong as Millie Fields
- For a Woman's Honor as Helen Rutherford
- Josselyn's Wife as Lizzie
- A Sage Brush Hamlet as Dora Lawrence