IT was while wielding the birchen rod as a school,teacher in Alabama,
that Lois Wilson discovered she had guessed wrong, and really wanted to
be an actress. She had been moved to Birmingham from her birthplace in Philadelphia,
and her education had been arranged for a career of teaching the young idea
how to shoot.
Miss Wilson's discovery of the yearning took her to Chicago where, through
the assistance of Lois Weber, she secured a small part in "The Dumb
Girl of Portici." She displayed such talent that Miss Weber took her
to Los Angeles, Calif., where she played leads with J. Warren Kerrigan and
Frank Keenan.
She attracted attention by winning a film beauty contest and, after entering
pictures, appeared to advantage in such successes as "A Man's Man,"
"His Robe of Honor," "One Dollar Bid" and "City
of Silent Men." She also played Maude Adams' role in "What Every
Woman Knows."
She entered the Paramount forces as a leading woman for Wallace Reid
and Bryant Washburn, and her acting induced William De Mille to give her
an important role in his production, "Midsummer Madness," in which
she was featured, along with Jack Holt, Conrad Nagle and Lila Lee. This
was in 1920, and from then on every production in which she was featured
was a success. Her work as "Miss Lulu Bett" was an extraordinary
exhibition of repressed emotion and won a flood of praise from all parts
of the nation. She was then cast for the feminine lead with Wallace Reid
in "The World's Champion." Later she appeared in "Is Matrimony
a Failure?"
Then she had the feminine lead in "Our Leading Citizen," with
Thomas Meighan and scored a wonderful triumph in Cecil B. De Mille's production,
"Manslaughter." being featured with Thomas Meighan and Leatrice
Joy. She played the feminine lead in "The Covered Wagon," in which
J. Warren Kerrigan played the hero part, and was given one of the big roles
in "Bella Donna," a Paramount picture produced by George Fitzmaurice
with Pola Negri as the star with Conway Tearle and Conrad Nagle.
Miss Wilson is five feet, five and one-half inches tall, weighs 125 pounds,
and has brown hair and hazel eyes. She lives in Hollywood with her parents
and is one of four sisters. Her youngest sister, Constance, had a small
part in "The Covered Wagon." Her father was for nearly a quarter
of a century in the employ of R. G. Dun.
Her hobbies are horseback riding and dancing. She is also a tireless
reader of modern literature, believing that an actress must keep up with
the best in fiction and other forms of writing if she is to make a real
success on the screen. |