Margarita Fisher (née Fischer, February 12, 1886 – March 11, 1975) was an American actress in silent motion pictures and stage productions.Margarita Fischer: a biography of the silent film star by Teresa St. Romain c. 2008; McFarland Books Newspapers sometimes referred to her as "Babe" Fischer.
Early life Margarita Fischer was born on February 12, 1886, in Missouri Valley, Iowa, although a 1902 newspaper article referred to her as "a native of Silverton, Marion County", in Oregon. Her parents were Johan (later John), a first-generation German-American hotelkeeper, and later noted minstrel, and Katherine "Kate" E. Fischer (née Hageny). She had an older sister, Dorothy, who was two years older and acted in productions with her in their childhood.
Theater As a child performer, and later as an ingenue star of the stage, Fischer was widely regarded in stock company groups of the Pacific Coast. When she was eight years old, a theatrical manager began using her in "heavy dramatic roles". Billed as "The Wonder Child", she continued in that pattern for several years. Fischer made her stage debut in Portland, Oregon, in the child role of Adrienne in The Celebrated Case. In 1901, she became the leading lady for the Fischer-Van Cleve Company. Her rapidly growing popularity led to her father forming the Margarita Fischer Stock Company. The theatrical group toured up and down the Pacific Coast for a number of years. After her father's death, Fischer acted in several stock companies, including one headed by Grace George.
After Fischer began performing in vaudeville, she met her eventual husband, film director Harry A. Pollard. They formed a team that performed the sketch "When Hearts Are Trumps" in "the principal vaudeville circuits". Some years later the two met again, as actors with the Selig Polyscape Company, with the Imp Company in New York, New York, and even later, with Universal Pictures.
Motion pictures When Fischer left vaudeville, she began working in films for the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago. She was in Hollywood silent films from at least 1910 until 1927. Her first screen experience began with the American Company. There followed 3 years as a leading woman for Universal. In 1913 she starred in How Men Propose written and directed by Lois Weber for Universal, which at the time was still based on the east coast. When the American Beauty Company was organized she was engaged for each of the star feminine roles.
She is well known for her role as an African-American slave girl in the Harriet Beecher Stowe three-reel epic Uncle Tom's Cabin. She was co-featured with Harry Pollard in this Universal feature. It was in this role, as Eliza, that Fischer won a long-term contract with the American Film Company in Santa Barbara, California. She received international acclaim as the American Beauty of the screen. Her face was pictured in the heart of a rose, which became one of the movie's trade marks. Pollard directed the Universal superproduction of Uncle Tom's Cabin which was released in 1927. This time Margarita was cast in the more mature role of Eliza.
Other of her motion pictures of note include Lost: A Union Suit (1914), A Joke On Jane (1914), The Quest (1915), Robinson Crusoe (1917), Impossible Susan (1918), Trixie From Broadway (1919), The Thirtieth Piece of Silver (1920), and Any Woman (1925). In April 1916 Fischer and her husband launched the Pollard Picture Plays Corporation. Pollard directed, Margarita acted, and director/producer George W. Lederer was their protégé. Their initial production was The Pearl of Paradise. It was staged in Los Angeles, Honolulu, and the South Sea Islands.
Later years and death During World War I Fischer changed the spelling of her last name to Fisher because of the anti-German sentiment in America. She is sometimes credited as Margarieta Fisher, Marguerite Fisher,Blake, Michael F. (1998). "The Films of Lon Chaney". Vestal Press Inc. Page 3. . Margarite Fisher, and Margurita Fisher.
In 1944, she was living in San Diego and was a registered Republican.
Fischer died in Encinitas, California of heart disease in 1975. She was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Gallery
Filmography
There, Little Girl, Don't Cry (1910)*short Trimming of Paradise Gulch (1910)*short After Many Years (1910)*short Romeo and Juliet in Our Town (1910)*short The Way of the Red Man (1910)*short The Cowboy's Strategem (1910)*short His First Long Dress (1910)*short The Road to Richmond (1910)*short Big Medicine (1910)*short The Kentucky Pioneer (1910)*short For Her Country's Sake (1910)*short Settled Out of Court (1910)*short The Early Settlers (1910)*short The Vampire (1910)*short The Merry Wives of Windsor (1910)*short Two Lucky Jims (1910)*short In the Wilderness (1910)*short The Squaw and the Man (1910)*short The Tenderfoot's Round-Up (1911)*short An Arizona Romance (1911)*short Buddy, the Little Guardian (1911)*short Bertie's Bandit (1911)*short The Mission in the Desert (1911)*short The Sheriff's Sweetheart (1911)*short Over the Hills (1911)*short The Girl and the Half-Back (1911)*short A Pair of Gloves (1911)*short The Portrait (1911)*short A Lesson to Husbands (1911)*short The Trinity (1912)*short The Worth of a Man (1912)*short Mrs. Matthews, Dressmaker (1912)*short Who Wears Them? (1912)*short The Rose of California (1912)*short The Call of the Drum (1912)*short Better Than Gold (1912)*short The Baby (1912)*short Squnk City Fire Company (1912)*short Where Paths Meet (1912)*short The Dove and the Serpent (1912)*short A Melodrama of Yesterday (1912)*short On the Shore (1912)*short The Land of Promise (1912)*short Jim's Atonement (1912)*short The Return of Captain John (1912)*short Nothing Shall Be Hidden (1912)*short Love, War and a Bonnet (1912)*short The Parson and the Medicine Man (1912)*short Hearts in Conflict (1912)*short The Hand of Mystery (1912)*short Big Hearted Sim (1912)*short Her Burglar (1912)*short On the Border Line (1912)*short The Exchange of Labels (1912)*short The Employer's Liability (1912)*short Betty's Bandit (1912)*short The Tribal Law (1912)*short A Fight for Friendship (1912)*short Trapped by Fire (1912)*short The Regeneration of Worthless Dan (1912)*short An Indian Outcast (1912)*short Romance and Reality (1912)*short The Rights of a Savage (1912)*short The Mountain Girl's Self-Sacrifice (1912)*short The Old Folks' Christmas (1912)*short The Great Ganton Mystery (1913) Until Death (1913)*short A Friend of the Family (1913)*short The Wayward Sister (1913)*short The Turn of the Tide (1913)*short In Slavery Days (1913)*short The Boob (1913)*short The World at Large (1913)*short The Shadow (1913)*short The Stolen Idol (1913)*short Draga, the Gypsy (1913)*short A Woman's Folly (1913)*short A Wrong Road (1913)*short Robinson Cruesoe (1913)*short The Power of Heredity (1913)*short When the Prince Arrived (1913)*short Sally Scraggs, Housemaid (1913)*short Uncle Tom's Cabin (1913)*short A Woman's Stratagem (1913)*short The Evil Power (1913)*short The Light Woman (1913)*short The Diamond Makers (1913)*short The Fight Against Evil (1913)*short Paying the Price (1913)*short Shon the Piper (1913)*short
Like Darby and Joan (1913)*short The Thumb Print (1913)*short The Primeval Test (1913)*short The Missionary Box (1913)*short His Old-Fashioned Dad (1913)*short A Tale of the Lonely Coast (1913)*short The Boob's Dream Girl (1913)*short Withering Roses (1914)*short Fooling Uncle (1914)*short Bess, the Outcast (1914)*short Sally's Elopement (1914)*short The Wife (1914)*short The Sacrifice (1914)*short The Professor's Awakening (1914)*short Italian Love (1914)*short Closed at Ten (1914)*short The Girl Who Dared (1914)*short The Peacock Feather Fan (1914)*short Sweet Land of Liberty (1914)*short Retribution (1914)*short Mlle. La Mode (1914)*short The Man Who Came Back (1914)*short A Flurry in Hats (1914)*short Eugenics Versus Love (1914)*short Her Heritage (1914)*short The Courting of Prudence (1914)*short Jane, the Justice (1914)*short Drifting Hearts (1914)*short Nancy's Husband (1914)*short The Dream Ship (1914)*short The Tale of a Tailor (1914)*short Via the Fire Escape (1914)*short The Other Train (1914)*short A Joke on Jane (1914)*short Her 'Really' Mother (1914)*short A Midsummer's Love Tangle (1914)*short A Suspended Ceremony (1914)*short Suzanna's New Suit (1914)*short The Silence of John Gordon (1914)*short Susie's New Shoes (1914)*short A Modern Othello (1914)*short The Motherless Kids (1914)*short The Only Way (1914)*short Caught in a Tight Pinch (1914)*short The Legend of Black Rock (1914)*short Nieda (1914)*short Motherhood (1914)*short When Queenie Came Back (1914)*short Cupid and a Dress Coat (1914)*short The Quest (1914) The Lonesome Heart (1915) The Girl from His Town (1915) Infatuation (1915) The Miracle of Life (1915) The Dragon (1916) The Pearl of Paradise (1916) Miss Jackie of the Navy (1916) The Butterfly Girl (1917) The Diamond Thieves (1917)*short Robinson Cruesoe (1917)*short The Sin Unatoned (1917)*short The Human Flame (1917)*short The Devil's Assistant (1917) The Girl Who Couldn't Grow Up (1917) Miss Jackie of the Army (1917) Molly Go Get 'Em (1918) Jilted Janet (1918) Ann's Finish (1918) The Primitive Woman (1918) The Square Deal (1918) Impossible Susan (1918) Money Isn't Everything (1918) Fair Enough (1918) The Mantle of Charity (1918) Molly of the Follies (1919) Put Up Your Hands! (1919) Charge It to Me (1919) Trixie from Broadway (1919) The Tiger Lily (1919) The Hellion (1919) The Dangerous Talent (1920) The Thirtieth Piece of Silver (1920) The Week-End (1920) Their Mutual Child (1921) The Gamesters (1920) Payment Guaranteed (1921) Beach of Dreams (1921) K – The Unknown (1924) Any Woman (1925) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)
References
Sandusky, Ohio Star-Journal, Saturday, April 8, 1916, Page 10. Syracuse, New York Herald, "Topsy Grows To Eliza In Movie", Sunday Morning, September 28, 1930.
External links
Fischer and Harry Pollard portrait