June Caprice, born Helen Elizabeth Lawson; November 19, 1895 – November 9, 1936, was an American silent film actress.
Early life and career
Born Helen Elizabeth Lawson in Arlington, Massachusetts, Caprice was educated in Boston.
She began her acting career in live theatre and in 1916 signed with the Fox Film Corporation. In 1916 William Fox searched to find a "second Mary Pickford." By the summer of that year he believed he had located the woman he predicted would be the best known female on the screen within six months time. The 1916 press release claimed both that she was a 17-year-old teenager, and in the same press release "just a little over 17 years of age." Her obituary in 1936 listed her age as 40, making her about 20 years of age at her discovery.
Caprice's screen debut came in Caprice of the Mountains (1916). A New York Times film critic said of her, "she is young, pretty, graceful, petite, with an eloquence of gesture that augurs a bright future in the movies." Adopting the stage name June Caprice, she made sixteen films for Fox, half of which were directed by Harry F. Millarde. The two began a personal relationship and eventually married.
Retirement She left the film business to begin a family, giving birth to a daughter June Elizabeth Millarde in 1922. It is believed she returned to working on stage and modeling, appearing on 1920s Coca-Cola company calendars holding a fountain glass of Coke. In 1931 her husband died at the age of forty-six. Caprice died five years later from a heart attack in Los Angeles. She had been suffering from cancer. She was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Caprice's daughter was fourteen years old when orphaned and was raised by her grandparents on Long Island, New York. June Millarde became a cover girl known as Toni Seven. She was the heiress to an estimated $3,000,000 fortune.
Filmography +Key Denotes a lost or presumed lost film.
+ Film credits of June CapriceYearTitleRoleStudio/Distributor 1916 The Ragged Princess Alicia JonesFox Film1916 Caprice of the Mountains Caprice TalbertFox Film1916 Little Miss Happiness Lucy WhiteFox Film1916 The Mischief Maker Effie MarchandFox Film1917 The Small Town Girl JuneFox Film1917 A Child of the Wild June GriestFox Film1917 Patsy Patsy PrimFox Film1917 Miss U.S.A. JuneFox Film1917 Every Girl's Dream GretchenFox Film1917 A Modern Cinderella JoyceFox Film1917 The Sunshine Maid (unknown)Fox Film1917 Unknown 274 Dora Belton, in later lifeFox Film1918 A Camouflage Kiss Martha ThorneFox Film1918 Blue-Eyed Mary Mary Du BoisFox Film1918 The Heart of Romance Eloise JacksonFox Film1918 Miss Innocence Dolores MayFox Film1919 A Damsel in Distress Maud MarshAlbert Capellani Productions, Inc. 1919 Oh, Boy! Lou Ellen CarterAlbert Capellani Productions, Inc. 1919 The Love Cheat Louise GordonAlbert Capellani Productions, Inc. 1920Rogues and Romance feature-length version of Pirate GoldSylvia LeeGeorge B. Seitz Productions1920 In Walked Mary Mary Ann HubbardAlbert Capellani Productions, Inc. 1921 The Sky Ranger June ElliottGeorge B. Seitz Productions
References
Bibliography
External links
June Caprice New York Public Library Digital Gallery photo June Caprice at silentsaregolden