HOLLYWOOD ACTRESS ANITA PAGE
BORN 1910 AUGUST 4
Date of Birth 4 August 1910, Flushing, New York, USA
Date of Death 6 September 2008, Van Nuys, California, USA (natural causes)
Birth Name Anita Evelyn Pomares
Nickname The Girl With the Most Beautiful Face in Hollywood
Height 5' 2" (1.57 m)
BIOGRAPHY
Beautiful Anita Page was one of the most famous and popular leading ladies during the last years of the silent screen and the first years of the talkie era. She was best known for starring in The Broadway Melody (1929),
the first sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her leading men included the likes of John Gilbert, Clark Gable, Buster Keaton and Robert Montgomery.
Only in her late teens when stardom beckoned, Anita had a huge following that earned her record amounts of fan mail, but she was seldom given lead roles, most often playing second lead, perhaps due to her youthful inexperience as an actress.
She was a charming, much-loved screen personality but by 1932 MGM seemed to lose interest in her career despite impressive work in such films as
Night Court (1932)
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and before the year was out her contract was not renewed; she slipped off into "B" stardom in films at Columbia, Universal and even more minor studios. She retired from the screen in 1936, making a return 25 years later in
The Runaway (1961)
with Cesar Romero, and she lived quietly out of the limelight for over a half century. In the 1990s the now widowed star was rediscovered by the media, which enjoyed her light-humored journeys down memory lane about her career, MGM, the silent and early talkie eras and the stars she knew, earning the actress a devoted cult of young fans and a few brief appearances in ultra-low-budget films of the 1990s.
Herschel House (9 January 1937 - 31 December 1991) (his death) (2 children)
Nacio Herb Brown (26 July 1934 - 5 April 1935) (annulled)
Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1997.
In 1929 she received over 10,000 fan letters a week, second only to Greta Garbo. Over 100 of these were from an ardent Italian admirer, who wrote obsessively about her every move and asked for her hand in marriage several times--Benito Mussolini!.
Received a standing ovation before a full house while attending a screening of 1929 Best Picture Oscar winner The Broadway Melody (1929) on May 13, 2002, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 75th anniversary.
Vivid, petite blonde silent screen star best known for her lively flappers and ambitious starlets.
She was paired up with Joan Crawford in three popular films: Our Dancing Daughters (1928), Our Modern Maidens (1929) and Our Blushing Brides (1930). She also appeared opposite Buster Keaton in two of his lesser-known talkies: Free and Easy (1930) and Sidewalks of New York (1931).
Retired for 60 years before coming back to films as an 80-year-old lady.
Fell in love with Coronado, California, and lived there for more than 40 years with her husband. She first was attracted to the city in 1929 when she was filming The Flying Fleet (1929) at the Hotel del Coronado. She subsequently moved to the Los Angeles area.
Ramon Novarro was her favorite co-star because he was so nice to her.
Marion Davies was one of her best friends. She stayed with her for five months after her first marriage broke up.
Eloped with her first husband to Tijuana. They never lived together (Page said they needed to be married in the Catholic Church before she would live with him and this never happened). After nine months of marriage, she found out he was still married to his previous wife when he married Page, so she had their marriage annulled.
She played Clark Gable's first on-screen love interest in The Easiest Way (1931).
Her escort to her 21st birthday party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was Robert Young.
She enjoys watching her old movies.
Her late daughter Sandra was an artist for Walt Disney. Her daughter Linda is an artist in her own right who lives in San Diego. She made the trek from San Diego to L.A. every week to visit her mother during Anita's last years.
Her mother, Helen "Maude", was her secretary. Her father, John, was her chauffeur. Her brother, Marino, was younger was 13 years her junior
Still wears the dresses she wore in the 1920s.
In an interview in 2004, she revealed that her early retirement had been due to her refusal to give in to Irving Thalberg's (he was married to Norma Shearer at the time) and Louis B. Mayer's sexual advances.
She had two daughters, Linda and Sandra House. Sandra predeceased her.
After 60 years of retirement she returned to acting in such films as Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood (2000) and The Crawling Brain (2002).
Was the last living attendee of the very first Academy Awards in 1929.
Her father had an electrical contracting business in Murray Hill, Flushing, New York City. He helped Anita get into pictures because he had done some lighting work for a studio in Astoria and knew somebody who promised to do what he could for Anita. The first screen name she used briefly was Anita Rivers.
She was friends with and worked for producer/director Thomas R. Bond II in Bob's Night Out (2004), one of the last films in which she appeared. Bond sad that directing her was, and always will be, the highlight of his directing career.
Outré film actor Randal Malone brought her out of a 60-year retirement while becoming her good friend and caretaker in her final years.
Was sought by Lon Chaney for his co-star in While the City Sleeps (1928) , after seeing her in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and being impressed with the way she acted with her eyes.
William Haines proposed to her while they were working together on Are You Listening? (1932). Haines, a homosexual, was under pressure from studio chief Louis B. Mayer to marry and Page, who considered him to be more of an older brother figure, gave his proposition serious consideration before declining. They remained friends.
She was of Irish and Salvadoran extraction is not right .
She was actually of Cuban and Venezuelan descent
Her father was Marino Pomares, an electrical engineer, whose father was a consul from El Salvador. Her mother was Helen "Maude" Mullane.
After graduating from Washington Irving High School in New York, she began her show business career as an extra at Paramount's Astoria studios.
Upon her death, her remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego, California. Her location plot is St. Jude, Lot 141, Grave 1.
Filmography[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1925 A Kiss for Cinderella Uncredited
1926 Love 'Em and Leave 'Em Uncredited
1927 Beach Nuts Short film
1928 Telling the World Chrystal Malone
1928 Our Dancing Daughters Ann 'Annikins'
1928 While the City Sleeps Myrtle
1928 West of Zanzibar Bit role Uncredited
1929 The Flying Fleet Anita Hastings
1929 The Broadway Melody Queenie Mahoney Alternative title: The Broadway Melody of 1929
1929 Our Modern Maidens Kentucky Strafford
1929 Speedway Patricia
1929 Navy Blues Alice "Allie" Brown
1930 Great Day Incomplete
1930 Free and Easy Elvira Plunkett Alternative title: Easy Go
1930 Caught Short Genevieve Jones
1930 Our Blushing Brides Connie Blair
1930 The Little Accident Isabel
1930 War Nurse Joy Meadows
1931 The Voice of Hollywood No. 7 (Second Series)
1931 Reducing Vivian Truffle
1931 The Easiest Way Peg Murdock Feliki
1931 Gentleman's Fate Ruth Corrigan
1931 Sidewalks of New York Margie Kelly
1931 Under 18 Sophie
1932 Are You Listening? Sally O'Neil
1932 Night Court Mary Thomas Alternative title: Justice for Sale
1932 Skyscraper Souls Jenny LeGrande
1932 Prosperity Helen Praskins Warren
1933 Jungle Bride Doris Evans
1933 Soldiers of the Storm Natalie
1933 The Big Cage Lilian Langley
1933 I Have Lived Jean St. Clair Alternative titles: After Midnight
Love Life
1936 Hitch Hike to Heaven Claudia Revelle Alternative title: Footlights and Shadows
1961 The Runaway Nun
1996 Sunset After Dark
2000 Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood Sister Seraphina Direct-to-DVD release
2002 The Crawling Brain Grandma Anita Kroger Direct-to-DVD release
2004 Socialite Socialite
2009 Frankenstein Rising Elizabeth Frankenstein Released posthumously
2016 Doctor Stein Elizabeth Stein Released posthumously
Hello! You have done a wonderful job on Anita's biography. Anita was my aunt. A couple of things that have been perpetuated, but are untrue. Her brother, Marino, was never her coach. He was 13 years her junior and thus too young to be her coach. She was not of Salvadoran descent. Her grandfather was a consul to Salvador. She was actually of Cuban and Venezuelan descent. I hope this helps!
ReplyDeletethanks for your information. i have corrected your quoted mistakes .
Deletethanks for your information. i have corrected your quoted mistakes .
ReplyDelete