Helene Chadwick(1897-1940)
- Actress
Helene Chadwick came from a very wealthy family in upstate New York
(the town, Chadwick, was named after them), where her father owned a
silk mill and her mother was an opera singer. On a visit to New York
she was persuaded by an artist friend to pose for one of his paintings.
A film producer saw the work, and after contacting Helene discovered
that she was an experienced horsewoman, which is what he needed for a
film he was shooting. He asked her if she'd be interested, she was, and
soon she found herself making her film debut in
The Challenge (1916) for Pathe.
After a few more films she signed a contract with Goldwyn Pictures. She
had a career of more than 20 years in the film industry, her last
picture being
Une étoile est née (1937), directed
by her former husband,
William A. Wellman, in which she had
an uncredited bit part as a woman at a film preview. Tragically, she
died in Los Angeles in 1940 from injuries she received in a fall. She
was only 42 years old.
