The life of late actress Colleen Moore is told through documentary
Contributed by Kate Gaddis, UHCL alumna
Through my series “Finding Them,” I embarked on an adventure to try to shed light on forgotten stars. Colleen Moore is among the stars I tried to put back into the limelight.
Colleen Moore was born Kathleen Morrison on Aug. 19, 1899, in Port Huron, Mich. She was born with one brown eye and one blue eye. She was the oldest of two children. Her brother Cleeve Morrison was born on June 10, 1904.
Ever since she was young she dreamed of becoming a movie star. Her uncle had a newspaper company and helped D.W. Griffith put his epic film “The Birth of a Nation” on the big screen. Griffith asked her uncle what he could do to repay him. Her uncle mentioned Kathleen’s dream of going to Hollywood.
Colleen always said she was a payoff, meaning she was the repayment for Mr. Griffith and got a six-month contract. She was so excited and her parents were thinking she would be back home in six months, but sixth months turned into several years. As soon as Kathleen got to Hollywood, she was assigned a new name: Colleen Moore.
When I was creating this series, I wanted to pick women that I really enjoyed and ones that not many people knew about. Colleen Moore had meant a lot to me as a young woman and she still means the world to me.
When I first began this journey for “Finding Moore,” there were some challenges in that I didn’t know if she had any family representation. Turns out, Colleen had a niece, Melinda Morrison-Cox, who I got in contact with through a Facebook group.
Her niece would tell me, “I want to keep aunt Colleen’s memory alive.” I explained to her that I want to share her aunt with the world and keep Colleen’s memory alive.
Colleen’s first film was with actor Robert Harron called “The Bad Boy.” She learned so much about being on that set with Robert. The actor would work with her one last time in “An Old Fashioned Young Man.” Robert Harron accidentally fatally shot himself shortly after that film was made.
When she started making films, they were silent and they were short. The films that she made, a lot of them are now lost, but soon to be rediscovered and given to the public to enjoy.
In the 1920s, long hair was a blessing, meaning that if you had long curls and a pretty face, you could get a job in show business. When she cut her hair and had bangs, this was unheard of! But, she managed to make the look work and it became a fad for other women to follow, such as Louise Brooks and Clara Bow.
Colleen became what was known as a “flapper.” The actress held great parties, filled with lots of famous stars such as Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Gloria Swanson. Her niece, Melinda Morrison-Cox said that her aunt was the life of the party and she lived life to the fullest.
Another fad Colleen helped start was making a real-life dollhouse. The “Colleen Moore Fairy Castle” was created in the late 30s and cost about $435,000. The castle was made complete in miniature and with running water and electricity! Imagine that!? The tiny house became a permanent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago in 1949.
Colleen’s later films included reprising Lillian Gish’s role of Hester Prynne in “The Scarlet Letter.” Lillian’s version was silent, Colleen’s was a talking picture. The multi-talented actress also really danced in “Twinkletoes,” as well went blonde for the film.
With fame comes great responsibility and men. Her first marriage was to her press agent, John McCormick. He was a rather enthusiastic man, but he tended to take advantage of Colleen’s money and career. He promoted her, but then he started turning down projects without her knowledge.
John drank heavily and is said to have been verbally abusive. I asked her niece if he was physically abusive towards Colleen, to which she replied, “No, I don’t think he ever hit her, he abused her with words because he was drunk.”
Finally, Colleen filed for divorce and was left in such financial trouble that she immediately married a stockbroker named Albert P. Scott. She was only married to him for a short time.
Then, she married another stockbroker, Homer Hargrave. As Melinda put it, “It was a match made in heaven.” With him, she helped establish an investment firm, Merrill Lynch.
While Colleen had no children of her own, she loved being a step-mother and step-grandmother. She loved her life and did not think anything could happen, but it did. Homer died in 1964. She was heartbroken.
She could not seem to get past it until she met a man named Paul Magenot in 1983.
Colleen was diagnosed with Cancer in the mid-80s. It was so advanced that she decided not to do anything about it and died in 1988.
Colleen was one of those independent women who made films and was able to use her fame to do amazing things like writing her own autobiography, “Silent Star.”
The fact that people these days do not know her name, but will recognize that haircut is amazing, and that’s why I wanted to ‘bring her back to life.’ Colleen’s niece is among the last of Colleen’s line. Melinda is determined to keep her beautiful aunt’s memory alive. Finding Moore is out on Vimeo now!
Also published on Medium.
I’d love to see the documentary, but looks like it is no longer on Vimeo. Any idea where else I might find it? Also, an actress you might want to look at is Myrtle Gonzalez, one of the first Hispanic actresses to become a star. With Vitagraph and later with Universal’s Bluebird Photoplays. Played outdoorsy roles, though in fact her health was often poor; she died of Spanish Influenza during the second wave of the pandemic.