Lilyan Tashman

Lilyan Tashman was born on October 23, 1896, in Brooklyn, New York, to Rose (Cook) and Morris Tashman. Her parents were Jewish immigrants, her father from Bialystok, Poland, and her mother from Germany. After toying with some stage work, she made her film debut with Experience (1921). That was her only film of that year, and the next year she also made only one film, Head Over Heels (1922) (this was at a time when some studios and their performers were turning out a film per week). She had no other offers for 1923, but her constant rounds of the casting offices finally did some good. In 1924 she appeared in no less than six films. For a while she averaged about seven movies a year. Lilyan was one of a relatively few silent-era performers who easily made the transition into the sound era. In 1934 she finished filming Frankie and Johnnie (1936) and went into the hospital, in New York, to have some tumors removed. It was there she died on March 21, 1934, at the age of 37. The film was released two years after she died.