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
A Star Is Born (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.
