Eleanor Boardman was born on August 19, 1898, the only child to George W. Boardman and Jane Merriam Stockman Boardman. Educated in Philadelphia, Boardman originally acted on stage, but she lost her voice while starring in The National Anthem. Then she entered a nationwide contest for new actors and actresses for silent films. She was chosen from among 1,000 competitors by Goldwyn Pictures as their "New Face of 1922". Her initial screen test was unsuccessful, but a second test resulted in a contract. After several successful supporting roles, she played the lead inSouls for Sale in 1923. That same year, Boardman's growing popularity was reflected by her inclusion on the list ofWAMPAS Baby Stars. She appeared in more than 30 films during her career, achieving her greatest success in director King Vidor's The Crowd. Her performance in that film is widely recognized as one of the outstanding performances in American silent films. In 1932, after some success in sound films, she parted ways with MGM. Her final film was The Three Cornered Hat, which was made in Spain in 1935. After that production, she retired from acting and retreated from Hollywood. Her only subsequent appearance was in an interview filmed for Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's British documentary seriesHollywood.
Personal life
Boardman was married to film director King Vidor, with whom she had two daughters, Antonia and Belinda. They married in 1926 and were divorced on April 11, 1933. Fellow actors John Gilbert and Greta Garbo had planned a double wedding with them, but Garbo broke the plans at the last minute. On May 23, 1929, a federal grand jury returned an indictment that charged Boardman with evading income tax payments in 1925, 1926, and 1927. Simultaneously, an information filed in federal court accused Vidor of income tax evasion in 1925 and 1926. J. Marjorie Berger, an income tax counselor in Hollywood, had earlier been indicted on charges of preparing a false income tax return for the couple for 1925. Boardman's second husband was Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast, to whom she was married from 1940. She divided her time between the United States and their chateau in the Pyrenees Mountains. After her husband's death in 1968, she permanently relocated back to the United States, where she settled into Montecito, California, living in a house she designed.
