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Ethel Clayton

Ethel Clayton

Actor · 1882 – 1966 · Champaign, Illinois, USA

From Wikipedia Ethel Clayton (November 8, 1882 — June 6, 1966) was an American actress of the silent film era. Clayton's screen debut came in 1909, in a short called Justified. She jockeyed her early film appearances with a burgeoning stage career. Her pretty blond looks were reminiscent of the famous Gibson Girl drawings by Charles Dana Gibson. On the stage she appeared mainly in musicals or musical reviews such as The Ziegfeld Follies of 1911. These musical appearances indicate a singing talent Clayton may have possessed but went unused in her many silent screen performances. In 1912 she appeared in "The Country Boy" on stage at the Lyceum Theatre in Rochester New York and made her feature length film debut in For the Love of a Girl. The film was directed by Barry O'Neil. She was cast with Harry Myers, Charles Arthur, and Peter Lang. She was also directed by William Demille, Robert G. Vignola, George Melford, Donald Crisp, Dallas M. Fitzgerald, and Clifford Sanforth. Like many silent film actors Clayton's career was hurt by the coming of sound to motion pictures. She continued her career in small parts in movies until she retired in 1948. Her screen credits number more than 180. Clayton was first married to actor-director Joseph Kaufman until his death in 1918 in the Spanish Influenza epidemic. She later married silent film actor and former star Ian Keith twice and they divorced twice. In both cases Clayton cited cruelty and excessive drinking. Clayton and Keith were first married in Minneapolis in 1928 and first separated on January 13, 1931. Ethel Clayton died on June 6, 1966 at St. John's Hospital in Oxnard, California, aged 83. She was buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura, California. For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Ethel Clayton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Movies24

  • Movie7.5

    Make Way for Tomorrow

    1937 · 228 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Major and the Minor

    1942 · 153 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Waikiki Wedding

    1937 · 14 votes

  • Movie7.1

    If I Were King

    1938 · 14 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Easy Living

    1937 · 71 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Wealth

    1921 · 1 votes

  • Movie5.0

    Dixie

    1943 · 2 votes

  • Movie5.3

    Yours for the Asking

    1936 · 3 votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie6.6

    You and Me

    1938 · 46 votes

  • Movie8.0

    The Bar-C Mystery

    1926 · 1 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Exclusive

    1937 · 2 votes

  • Movie7.5

    Say It in French

    1938 · 2 votes

  • Movie5.5

    Wells Fargo

    1937 · 15 votes

  • Movie8.0

    True to Life

    1943 · 4 votes

  • Movie8.0

    Let's Fall in Love

    1933 · 3 votes

  • Movie8.0

    Turn Off the Moon

    1937 · 2 votes

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  • Movie8.0
  • Movie4.5

    Hollywood Boulevard

    1936 · 4 votes

  • Movie5.6

    King of Chinatown

    1939 · 9 votes

  • Movie8.0

    The Sap Takes a Wrap

    1939 · 1 votes

  • Movie10.0

    His New York Wife

    1926 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.5

    The All-American

    1932 · 3 votes