Charlotte Walker

Texan-born actress Charlotte Walker was the daughter of a wealthy cotton broker, who died when she was eleven. With her siblings she went on to live at a ranch owned by her mother's even more affluent family. In her mid-teens, Charlotte studied drama at Fort Edwards Collegiate Institute. She performed on the Broadway stage from 1901 and in silent pictures with the Lasky Organisation from 1915, subsequently working for Thanhouser from 1917 to 1919. Charlotte was considered a versatile actress, skilled in both comedy and dramatic parts. She was also exquisitely beautiful, and, though already well into middle age, able to command leading roles in several high profile productions. Her second marriage (1910-1930) was to the prolific Broadway playwright Eugene Walter and one of her biggest successes was a starring role in his 1913 stage dramatisation and subsequent cinematic version of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916), produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Her status began to decline with the advent of sound pictures. Indifferent reviews included a performance in Three Faces East (1930), described as overly 'theatrical' by the New York Times. Relegated to small supporting roles in several forgettable B-grade pictures, Charlotte retired from acting in 1941. She died in 1958 in her home state at the age of 81.