Mabel Normand
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Mabel Normand (November 10, 1892 - February 23, 1930) was a US film actress, who was a popular comedienne in silent films.
Born Mabel Ethelreid Normand in Staten Island, New York, Normand worked as an artist's model before entering films in 1910. She met director Mack Sennett and embarked on a tumultuous affair with him. Her first films portrayed her as a bathing beauty but Normand quickly demonstrated a flair for comedy, and became a star of Sennett's short films. She appeared regularly with Fatty Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin, and wrote and directed some of Chaplin's early films. She is frequently credited with being the first person to throw a cream pie on film.
In 1914 she starred with Chaplin and Marie Dressler in Tillie's Punctured Romance and the success of this film fuelled Normand's ambition to be a star of feature films. Over the next few years she became a major film star, but with her relationship with Sennett at an end, she signed a contract in 1918 with Samuel Goldwyn.
By this time she was becoming increasingly capricious and volatile, and her alcoholism, combined with an addiction to narcotics damaged her health and her career. Director William Desmond Taylor tried to help her in her battle against addiction and the two formed a close relationship. He was murdered in 1922 just fifteen minutes after Normand had left his home. As the last person to see him alive, Normand was closely scrutinised by the media, and her reputation was tarnished. The following year she was the subject of another scandal when her chauffeur shot and wounded one of Normand's lovers with her own pistol. For a few years she made no films, but returned in 1926 in the film Raggedy Rose. The public did not respond and after more than 250 films, her career was essentially over.
She married the actor Lew Cody in 1926, but her health was in decline. After an extended stay in a sanitarium, she died from tuberculosis in Monrovia, California, and was interred in the Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles.
Mabel Normand has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures, at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal Quotes
Say anything you like, but don't say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, the prissy bitch.
External Links
Mabel Normand Photo Gallery (http://silentladies.com/PNormand.html)it:Mabel Normand