Virginia Pearson
Born: 1886-03-07 in Anchorage, Kentucky, USA
Died: 1958-06-06
Known For: Acting
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.
Filmography
1932
- Back Street as Minor Role (uncredited)
1931
- The Primrose Path as Marie Randeau
1929
- Smilin' Guns as Mrs. van Smythe
1928
- The Actress as Mrs. Telfer
- The Power of Silence as Mrs. Wright
- What Price Beauty? as Mary
1926
- Silence as Millie Burke
- Mum's the Word as The Wife
- The Taxi Mystery as Mrs. Blaine Jameson
- Atta Boy as Madame Carlton
- Lightning Hutch as Janet Thornwall
1925
- The Phantom of the Opera as Carlotta
- The Wizard of Oz as Lady Vishuss
- The Red Kimona as Mrs. Beverly Fontaine
1923
- A Prince of a King as Queen Claudia
1922
- Wildness of Youth as Louise Wesley
1919
- Impossible Catherine as Catherine Kimberly
- The Bishop's Emeralds as Hester - Lady Cardew
- The Love Auction as Lea Montrose, Mrs. Vanderveer
1918
- Her Price as Marcia Calhoun
- The Queen of Hearts as Pauline Cheraud
- Buchanan's Wife as Beatrix Buchanan
- A Daughter of France as Louise de Ciron
- Stolen Honor as Virginia Lake
- The Firebrand as Princess Natalya
1917
- A Royal Romance as The Princess Sylvia
- Sister Against Sister as Anne / Katherine
- Wrath of Love as Roma Winnet
- When False Tongues Speak as Mary Page Walton
- Thou Shalt Not Steal as Mary Bruce
- All for a Husband as Henrietta Downs
1916
- Writing on the Wall as Barbara Lawrence
- Daredevil Kate as Kate
- The Kiss of a Vampire
- The War Bride's Secret as Jean MacDougal
1914
- The Stain as Stevens' Daughter