Helen Jerome Eddy(1897-1990)

A gentle-mannered, somewhat mournful-looking actress, brown-haired Helen Jerome Eddy enjoyed a substantial career in the silents, often in genteel, well-bred roles which required a certain amount of pathos. After acting on the stage at the Pasadena Playhouse, she began in films with the Lubin company in 1915, initially cast as vamps in juicy melodramas. Moving on to Paramount and better prospects, Eddy was given a starring role in King Vidor's debut full-length feature, La montée vers la lumière (1919). Subsequently, she became George Beban's regular leading lady in several prestige films in the early 20's, in which her dignified personality now epitomised wholesome values. By the time the talkies arrived, Eddy had efficiently segued into character roles, henceforth as forlorn widows or careworn, long-suffering wives and mothers. She continued to show up in quality films like Skippy (1931) (as the sympathetic mother), Sous les ponts de New-York (1936) (as the anarchist's wife) or Annie du Klondike (1936) (as the ailing missionary Annie Alden).

Eddy left the movie business in the 1940's, following a dispute over salary. She managed to establish herself as a successful real estate agent in Pasadena, occasionally emerging from retirement to appear at the Pilgrimage Theatre in the Hollywood Hills.