Stella Southern was an Australian actress best known for her performances in the silent films A Girl of the Bush (1921) and The Bushwhackers (1925).
Originally from Sydney, she was working for a milliner when discovered by Beaumont Smith who cast her in The Man from Snowy River (1920). He let her select her own stage name (her real name was Lucy Emma "Billie" Winks)New Zealand Film 1912-1996 by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards p29 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland) and she chose "Stella Southern" which means "star of the south".
On 4 October 1921 she married New Zealand film director Harrington Reynolds in Auckland; she had starred for him in The Birth of New Zealand (1921). She also appeared in a number of productions on stage in Brisbane.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 100.
Select credits The Man from Snowy River (1920) – film The Betrayer (1921) – film A Girl of the Bush (1921) – film The Birth of New Zealand (1921) – film A Rough Passage (1922) – film Potash and Perlnutter (1922) – play, Theatre Royal, Brisbane The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1923) – play, Theatre Royal, Brisbane The Bachelor's Honeymoon (1923) – play, Theatre Royal, Brisbane Penelope by Somerset Maugham (1924) – play, His Majesty's, Brisbane Mrs Dot (1924) – play, His Majesty's Brisbane Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1924) – play, Brisbane The Bushwhackers (1925) – film Odds On (1928) – film
References
External links Stella Southern at National Film and Sound Archive