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Kathlyn Williams
Acting
Biography
Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams on May 31, 1879 in Butte, Montana, and the only child born to Joseph Edwin "Frank" Williams, a boarding house proprietor, and Mary C. Boe (1846–1908) of Welsh and Norwegian descent. Many biographies state her birth year as 1888; however, she is listed on the 1880 United States Census as being a year old. Williams displayed an early interest in becoming an actress in her youth which lead her to become a member of a community thespian group. She also joined the Woman's Relief Corps that allowed her to showcase her vocal prowess at local recitals.
Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and made her first fil…
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Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams on May 31, 1879 in Butte, Montana, and the only child born to Joseph Edwin "Frank" Williams, a boarding house proprietor, and Mary C. Boe (1846–1908) of Welsh and Norwegian descent. Many biographies state her birth year as 1888; however, she is listed on the 1880 United States Census as being a year old. Williams displayed an early interest in becoming an actress in her youth which lead her to become a member of a community thespian group. She also joined the Woman's Relief Corps that allowed her to showcase her vocal prowess at local recitals. Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and made her first film in 1908 under the direction of Francis Boggs. By 1910, she was transferred to the company's Los Angeles film studio. Williams played "Cherry Malotte" in the first movie based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers in 1914, a role portrayed in subsequent versions by Betty Compson (1930), Marlene Dietrich (1942), and Anne Baxter (1955). In 1916, she starred in the thirteen episode adventure film serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn. She was busy throughout the silent film era but age and the advent of talkies saw her make only five sound films, the last in 1935. Kathlyn evolved from a comedian and serial player in silents to portraying character roles in the early 1930s. Williams was married three times. Although many biographies erroneously cite her first husband as being Victor Kainer, he was in fact named Otto H. "Harry" Kainer (1876–1952), who ran an import and export business on Wall Street in New York City. They were wed on October 2, 1903, and their son, Victor Hugo, was born in 1905. They supposedly divorced over Kainer's disapproval of his wife having an acting career, and Williams subsequently obtained a divorce from Kainer in 1909 in Nevada. On March 4, 1913, she married Frank R. Allen, also an actor, but the marriage was a failure from the start and lasted a little over a year. On June 30, 1914, she filed for divorce in Los Angeles and listed desertion as the reason as the failure of their marriage. She later married Paramount Pictures executive Charles Eyton on June 2, 1916, in Riverside, California. The Eytons eventually divorced in 1931. On December 29, 1949, Williams was involved in a deadly automobile accident, which claimed the life of her friend, Mrs. Mary E. Rose, while they were returning home from a social engagement in Las Vegas. As a result of the accident, Williams lost her right leg. On April 8, 1950, Williams sued the estate of Rose for $136,615, citing negligence and claiming that the automobile had inefficient brakes. In June 1951, Williams accepted the offer of $6,500 dollars from the Rose estate. Kathlyn Williams died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California in 1960. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Kathlyn Williams has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7038 Hollywood Blvd. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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BODY OF WORK
Kathlyn Williams's Filmography
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Rendezvous at Midnight
as Mrs. Arthur Dewey
Blood Money
as Nightclub Woman Wearing Monocle (uncredited)
Unholy Love
as Mrs. Bradford
Daddy Long Legs
as Mrs. Paula Pendleton
Road to Paradise
as Mrs. Wells
Wedding Rings
as Agatha
The Single Standard
as Mrs. Glendenning
No Poster
Her Husband's Women
A Single Man
as Mrs. Cottrell
Our Dancing Daughters
as Ann's Mother
We Americans
as Mrs. Bradleigh
Honeymoon Flats
as Mrs. Garland
Sally in Our Alley
as Mrs. Gordon Mansfield
The Best People
as Mrs. Lenox
The Wanderer
as Huldah
Locked Doors
as Laura Carter
The Painted Flapper
as Isabel Whitney
The City That Never Sleeps
as Mrs. Kendall
The Enemy Sex
as Mrs. Massingale
Wanderer of the Wasteland
as Magdalene Virey
Single Wives
as Dorothy Van Clark
When a Girl Loves
as Helen - Michael's Wife
The Spanish Dancer
as Queen Isabel of Bourbon
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actress in Commisary
Trimmed in Scarlet
as Cordelia Ebbing / Madame de laFleur
The World's Applause
as Elsa Townsend
Broadway Gold
as Jean Valjean
Clarence
as Mrs. Wheeler
A Virginia Courtship
as Constance Llewellyn
A Man's Home
as Frances Osborn
Morals
as Judith Mainwaring
Morals
A Private Scandal
as Carol Lawton
Hush
as Isabel Dane
Forbidden Fruit
as Mrs. Mallory
Conrad in Quest of His Youth
as Mrs. Adaile
The U.P. Trail
as "Beauty" Stanton
The Prince Chap
as Alice Travers
Just a Wife
as Eleanor Lathrop
The Tree of Knowledge
as Belle
A Girl Named Mary
as Mrs. Jaffrey
Her Kingdom of Dreams
as Penelope Warren
Her Purchase Price
as Diana Vane
The Better Wife
as Lady Beverly
We Can't Have Everything
as Charity Coe Cheever
The Whispering Chorus
as Jane Tremble
The Thing We Love
as Margaret Kenwood
Big Timber
as Stella Benton
The Highway of Hope
as Lonely Lou
The Cost of Hatred
as Elsie Graves / Sarita Graves
Out of the Wreck
as Agnes Aldrich
Redeeming Love
as Naomi Sterling
The Valiants of Virginia
as Shirley Dandridge
Into the Primitive
as Jennie Leslie
Thou Shalt Not Covet
as My Neighbor's Wife
The Adventures of Kathlyn
as Kathlyn Hare
No Poster
Sweet Alyssum
as Daisy Brooks
No Poster
The Carpet from Bagdad
as Fortune Chedsoye
Chip of the Flying U
as Della Whitmore - the 'Little Doctor'
The Leopard's Foundling
as Balu
The King's Will
as Kathlyn Hare
The Forged Parchment
as Kathlyn Hare
The Warrior Maid
as Kathlyn Hare
The Spellbound Multitude
as Kathlyn Hare
The Spoilers
as Cherry Malotte
The Cruel Crown
as Kathlyn Hare
No Poster
The Garden of Brides
as Kathlyn Hare
Three Bags of Silver
as Kathlyn Hare
A Colonel in Chains
as Kathlyn Hare
The Royal Slave
as Kathlyn Hare
The Two Ordeals
as Kathlyn Hare
The Adventures of Kathlyn
as Kathlyn Hare
The Unwelcome Throne
as Kathlyn Hare
Thor, Lord of the Jungles
as Gene Brant
The Flight of the Crow
as Edwina Washburn
The House of His Master
as Mrs. Robert Steem
The Girl at the Cupola
as Jessie Wilson
Lost in the Jungle
as Meta Kruga
The Two Orphans
as Henriette
The Wheels of Justice
as Alice Hazen
Dad's Girls
as Rose
Life on the Border
as The Pioneer Wife
Captain Kate
as Captain Kate
The Rose of Old St. Augustine
as Dolores, the Rose of St. Augustine
Back to the Primitive
as Helen Wilton
In Old California When the Gringos Came
The Witch of the Everglades
as Dora - the Witch
No Poster
1861
The Man from the East
as Elsie Dean
Thou Shalt Not
No Poster
Gold Is Not All
as Tom's Mistress
Lines of White on a Sullen Sea
as Extra