7 most beautiful foreign actresses of the silent film era

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Silent cinema still has a special appeal. Actors of a bygone era were able to express the whole gamut of feelings only with movements and facial expressions, without enhancing the perception with their voice. The era of films without words was short-lived, but its trace and influence on the development of cinema in general cannot be overestimated. In our today's selection - the real queens of silent cinema, whose beauty is still mesmerizing and delighting.

Louise Brooks

The American actress first appeared in films in 1925, and in 1938 she ended her career as an actress. There are only 24 films in her filmography, but the most significant were the films Pandora's Box, Beauty Prize and Diary of a Fallen Woman. Louise Brooks was bright, beautiful and talented. Critics noted the naturalness of the actress in the frame and her ability to work very realistically.

After the end of her film career, she worked as a dancer, in 1982 the actress released a book of memoirs "Lulu in Hollywood", died in Rochester in 1985.

Mary Pickford

She first appeared on the stage at the age of eight after her father, who had a great love for alcohol, passed away. Success came to her while working on Broadway, where she starred in a production of The Warrens of Virginia. Later, Gladys Smith began acting in films, having previously taken the stage name Mary Pickford.

Her first work was an eight-minute film by David Wark Griffith, in which the names of the actors were not even indicated. However, the beautiful actress was immediately noticed by both the audience and the directors, and already in the 1910s she became a real star. And already in 1916 she opened her own film studio, and then became a co-founder of the United Artists film distribution company. After the end of her artistic career, she was engaged in producing and social work, having managed to become the most influential representative of the fairer sex in the US film industry.

Lillian Gish

The charming Lillian Gish also began her creative career on the stage. From a young age, Lillian and her sister Dorothy served with their mother in the theater, ensuring their existence after their father left the family.

The girls first starred in Griffith's Invisible Enemy, and Lillian immediately became one of the director's favorite actresses. She starred in many of his films and personified the image of girls with a difficult fate. The tragic actress was able to convey a lot of emotions with gestures and facial expressions. Lillian did not work in sound films, preferring to return to the theater.

Asta Nielsen

The Danish actress first appeared on the screens in 1910 in the film "The Abyss" by Urban Gad, for whom the film also made his debut. Later she was very active in filming, but did not begin to work in sound films. She was loved by the camera and adored by the audience, comparing the actress with Sarah Bernhardt.

The heroines of Asta Nielsen, as a rule, were distinguished by a strong character and the ability to achieve their goals, and the actress herself was one of those who today would be called a sex symbol. After World War II, the actress published her autobiographical book The Silent Muse. She passed away in May 1972.

Teda Bara

This girl decided to connect her life with art, being a student at the University of Cincinnati, and her meeting with Frank Powell became fateful for her. She was already 30 years old when the director offered her a small role in the film "Spot", and then in the adaptation of the Broadway play "That was a fool." It was after this that Teda Bara woke up famous.

She embodied the images of the femme fatale in the films of the Fox Film studio. In 1921, the actress became the wife of director Charles Barbin and stopped acting in films, finding consolation in organizing social events for representatives of the film elite.

Paula Negri

Barbara Apolonia Chalupets (real name) in 1914 played her first film role in a film, the name of which, in fact, predetermined the role of the actress. She starred at the Sphinx film studio in Warsaw and quickly became very popular. Later she starred in Germany, and then in Hollywood. Despite the beautiful velvety voice, there was no place for her in the sound film.

The reason for this was her Slavic accent, which neither the audience nor the producers liked. However, she still continued to act, first in Germany, then in America. However, later she played a role, which her accent did not interfere in the least: an actress with Slavic roots.

Mary Philbin

In her youth, Mary Philbin was actively involved in dancing and music, and already at the age of sixteen she became the winner of a beauty contest, which was supposed to open her way to the world of cinema, since the right to shoot in the film "Blind Husbands" was raffled off as the main prize. True, the parents of the future actress did not allow their young daughter to leave for Los Angeles to participate in the film. She made her film debut two years later, and her best works were The Phantom of the Opera and The Invisible Man.

Only 100 years ago, cinema was still ahead. Young art was just beginning its grandiose march. The popularity that the very first movie stars had cannot even be compared with the popularity of modern actors. There were not so many of them, they were the first sex symbols of a new era, sometimes they were simply idolized. The first film stars of our country, even a century later, cause real admiration.