http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php? ... 864-4363-5
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Lyn Kear and James King undertook a nearly impossible task when they decided to wrote a biography of silent star Evelyn Brent. While there was a wealth of information about her just about all of it came from fan magazine from the time, which are notorious for not caring about pesky facts and are more interested in telling a good story, true or not. The authors did an admirable job, sifting through thousands of pages of interviews, stories and notices about the actress and trying to separate a publicity agent’s fiction from the facts.
Evelyn Brent is best remembered for her role as 'Feathers' McCoy in Josef von Sternberg’s film The Underworld (1927), arguably the first gangster picture. Her sultry looks and forceful screen presence helped to make the movie a hit, and she went on to star in Paramount’s first dialog film, Interference (1928). Her road to stardom was a rocky one however. Born to a teenaged mother she started working as an extra in movies as a teen. She achieved a small amount of success in Fort Lee New Jersey, but when the opportunity to travel to Europe presented itself she put her career on hold. In England she started acting again, landing roles because of her experience in American movies. An illness halted her career there and she eventually returned to New York where she was discovered by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and his wife Mary Pickford, who put her under contract and brought her to Hollywood.
It seemed that her stardom was assured, but Fairbanks couldn’t find a role for the young lady and Evelyn eventually asked to be released from her contract. Working for Poverty Row studios she slowly worked her way up the ladder, being named a WAMPAS Baby star in 1923 obviously helped, and before too long she was working for a major studio.
The outward story of a tough, determined actress that the public knew wasn’t really true however. Plagued by depression and illness, Brent attempted suicide a number of times. Though the road to stardom was long and twisting, the fall back to obscurity was rapid. A series of bad decisions, poor luck and living beyond her means saw the actress being sued by creditors a few years later, despite the fact that she has earned thousands of dollars a week. A string of flops meant fewer offers and soon she was all but forgotten.
This first biography of Brent is a good read, interesting and well researched. It’s also aggravating that there are so many holes in her story. Brent never wrote an autobiography and the primary sources, the movie magazines of the day, are not reliable. Information about her illnesses is almost nonexistent, a line or two in a newspaper that she was taking time off from filming to recover is all that’s available in some instances. Was she really ill, or was it a suicide attempt, or something else? While Kear and King do an admirable job pointing out unlikely stories and creating logical hypotheses for events in Brent’s life (and have certainly done their research), the truth will likely never been known.
Even so this is an intriguing look at an actress who never quite made it to the top echelon of stardom. While there are many books on the big stars like Chaplin and Pickford, there are surprisingly few biographies of lesser know actresses like Brent. This work presents an interesting look at what life was like for a middle of the road star in the late 20’s and early 30’s. This book is recommended, especially for students of the silent and early sound era.
One of my favorite gals has a bio now! That's GREAT!