Lillian Rich


Lillian Rich was an English-born actress of the silent era. She appeared in 66 films between 1919 and 1940.

Biography

Rich was born in Herne Hill, London, on 1 January 1900. In 1919, she married a young Canadian fighter pilot named Lionel Edward "Leo" Nicholson, and accompanied him back to his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Rich's new father-in-law decided that she had a future in Hollywood, and he gave her $1000 of his own savings to fund her acting career.
After making her film debut in The Day She Paid, Rich quickly became highly sought, appearing in 18 films between 1920 and 1922.
In 1923, Rich lost her financial support when her father-in-law became ill and died, and she did not produce any films until the following year. She soon divorced her husband, and Rich regained her stride in 1924, appearing in six new films, with roles in eight more in 1925. She gained critical attention for her role as a "man-eating, social-climbing" woman in Cecil B. DeMille's The Golden Bed, and a subsequent The New York Times review called her an "extraordinarily beautiful" woman. Her next – and final – notable role was in the 1926 railroad film Whispering Smith.
Her career declined in the early 1930s, possibly because Rich's voice was not well suited to the new "talkie" films that took hold as sound technology became normalized.
She died on 5 January 1954, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

Selected filmography