Laura La Plante (born Laura Laplante; November 1, 1904 – October 14, 1996) was an American film actress; her more notable performances were in the silent era.
Early life La Plante was born in St. Louis, Missouri on November 1, 1904, the daughter of William A. Laplante and Elizabeth E. Turk."Laura Laplante Asher" in U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, ancestry.com, accessed July 21, 2022 Her father taught dancing. After her parents were divorced her mother took her and her sister Violet to live in San Diego. In her teens, La Plante stayed with Mary MacMahon, her cousin, in Hollywood during a summer vacation and replied to a newspaper ad asking for children for moving pictures, and she was hired.Brownlow, Kevin. Obituary: Laura La Plante, The Independent, October 16, 1996, accessed July 21, 2022 After this, La Plante's mother started to lose her hearing, and her cousin Mary persuaded her to try more work in motion pictures to earn money for the family. La Plante became an extra with The Christie Film Company on Gower Street. Jerrolds, L. (2024). Laura La Plante: Silent Cinderella. BearManor Media.
Silent film career La Plante made her acting debut at age 15, and in 1923, she was named as one of that year's WAMPAS Baby Stars. During the 1920s, she appeared in more than 60 films. Her early films include Big Town Round-Up (1921), with cowboy star Tom Mix, the serials Perils of the Yukon (1922), Around the World in Eighteen Days (1923),silenthollywood.com and several movies with Hoot Gibson.
The majority of the films starring La Plante (from 1920 to 1930) were made for Universal Pictures. During this period, she was the studio's most popular star, which historian William Drew describes as "an accomplishment duplicated only by Deanna Durbin years later."Drew, William. Speaking of Silents. Vestal, NJ. Vestal Press, 1989, p. 89. She almost always enjoyed top billing.
One of La Plante's early surviving films is Smouldering Fires (1925), directed by Clarence Brown and costarring Pauline Frederick. Her best-remembered film is arguably the silent classic The Cat and the Canary (1927), but she achieved acclaim for Skinner's Dress Suit (1926),[Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses p. 210] with Reginald Denny, the part-sound The Love Trap (1929), directed by William Wyler, and the 1929 part-sound Show Boat (1929), adapted from the novel of the same name by Edna Ferber.silenthollywood.com
Although this last film was an adaptation of the novel and not of the famous musical play (itself adapted from the 1926 novel), some songs from the play were included in the film as box-office insurance. La Plante did not sing in the movie; her singing was provided by Eva Olivetti in one of the early examples of such dubbing. A scene of La Plante in Show Boat was broadcast in the early days of British television.Kreuger, Miles. Show Boat – The Story of a Classic American Musical. New York, NY. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 97.
Transition to sound films The advent of sound films effectively shortened her career. In her mid-20s, La Plante was a natural and appealing presence in early sound films, but the huge wave of new stars in these years overshadowed her. She made her last appearances for Universal in the Technicolor musical King of Jazz (1930). She appeared in God's Gift to Women (Warner Bros., 1931), directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starring Frank Fay and Joan Blondell, and Arizona (Columbia, 1931), co-starring alongside a young John Wayne.John Wayne: American p. 702
Later career La Plante went to Britain to work at Warner Brothers' Teddington Studios. The company had faced criticism for the low quality of its "quota quickies", and her arrival coincided with an attempt to make expensive productions. She starred in Man of the Moment (1935), with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. She appeared in the West End playing the lead in Ian Hay's Admirals All. La Plante briefly was considered to replace Myrna Loy in the Thin Man when Loy thought about leaving the series, but Loy stayed as Nora Charles, and La Plante's career never rebounded. She retired from the screen in 1935, making only two later films, and 1957's Spring Reunion was her last. Her younger sister, actress Violet, never achieved La Plante's level of fame; both sisters were WAMPAS Baby Stars.
On June 3, 1954 (Season 4 Episode 38), La Plante made a guest appearance (as herself, Mrs. Laura Asher) on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life.Morphosyntactic Categories and the Expression of Possession p. 192 In this episode, La Plante discussed numerous topics, including her husband Irving Asher, who had just lost 25 lbs. and completed the film Elephant Walk with Elizabeth Taylor. Mrs. Asher asked that her winnings, if any, go to the Motion Picture Relief Fund. They got three out of four questions correct to win $215.from the DVD Groucho Marx --You Bet Your Life put out by "TV Classics" In the mid-1980s, La Plante was brought on stage in a wheelchair to wave to the crowd at the event Night of a Hundred Stars.
Death La Plante died on October 14, 1996, at the age of 91 in Woodland Hills, California. Her death was due to Alzheimer's disease. La Plante was cremated by Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California, and her ashes scattered at sea.
Legacy Laura La Plante Drive in Agoura Hills, California
Filmography Year Title Role Note1920 813 Genevieve Lost film1921 Play Square May Laverne Lost film The Old Swimmin' Hole Myrtle The Big Town Round-Up Mildred Hart Lost film Big Town Ideas Molly Dorn Lost film1922 Perils of the Yukon Olga Preserved at the Cinematek The Wall Flower Prue Nickerson Lost film1923 Around the World in Eighteen Days Madge Harlow Lost film Crooked Alley Norine Tyrell A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive Dead Game Alice Mason Lost film Burning Words Mary Malcolm Lost film Shootin' for Love Mary Randolph Lost film Out of Luck Mae Day Lost film The Ramblin' Kid Carolyn June Lost film The Thrill Chaser Cameo Appearance Lost film1924 Sporting Youth Betty Rockford Preserved at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands and the UCLA Film and Television Archive Excitement Nila Lyons Lost film The Dangerous Blonde Diane Faraday Lost film Young Ideas Octavia Lowden A copy is held at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands Ride for Your Life Betsy Burke Lost film The Fast Worker Connie Fowler Copies held at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands and the UCLA Film and Television Archive Butterfly Dora Collier A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive1925 Smouldering Fires Dorothy Vale The Teaser Ann Barton Lost film Dangerous Innocence Ann Church Lost film1926 The Beautiful Cheat Mary Callahan / Maritza Callahansky A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive Skinner's Dress Suit Mrs. Honey Skinner The Midnight Sun Olga 'The Midnight Sun' Morova A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive Her Big Night Frances Norcross/Daphne Dix A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive Butterflies in the Rain Mrs. Glenson Lost film Poker Faces Betty Whitmore 1927 The Love Thrill Joyce Bragdon Lost film Beware of Widows Joyce Bragdon Lost film Silk Stockings Tina Carteret The Cat and the Canary Annabelle West 1928 Thanks for the Buggy Ride Jenny Lost film Finders Keepers Barbara Hastings Preserved at the Library of Congress Home, James Laura Elliot Preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and CinematekThe Last Warning Doris Terry 1929 Scandal Laura Hunt Lost film Show Boat Magnolia Hawks The Love Trap Evelyn Todd Hold Your Man Mary1930 King of Jazz Editor Captain of the Guard Marie Marnay1931 Stout Hearts and Willing Hands The Heroine Arizona Evelyn Palmer Bonham God's Gift to Women Diane Churchill Lonely Wives Diane O'Dare Meet the Wife Gertrude Lennox The Sea GhostEvelyn Inchcape 1933 Her Imaginary Lover Celia Lost film1934 The Girl in Possession Eve Chandler Lost film The Church Mouse Betty 'Miss Church Mouse' Miller 1935 Widow's Might Nancy Tweesdale Man of the Moment Mary Briany 1947 Little Mister Jim Mrs. Glenson 1956 Spring Reunion May Brewster
See also Silent films
References
External links
(NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection) Laura La Plante at Virtual History