Katherine Agnew MacDonald (December 14, 1891The Ultimate Directory of the Silent Screen Performers: A Necrology of Births and Deaths and Essays on 50 Lost Players; edited by Anthony Slide, Scarecrow Press, c.1995The Ultimate Directory of Film Technicians; A Necrology of Dates and Places of Births and Deaths of More than 9,000 Producers, Screenwriters, Composers, Cinematographers, Art Directors, Costume Designers, Choreographers, Executives and Publicists; Scarecrow Press, 1999 – June 4, 1956) was an American stage and film actress, film producer, and model. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was the older sister of actresses Miriam MacDonald and Mary MacLaren.
Career Starting her career as a popular model in New York City in the 1910s, MacDonald moved to Los Angeles in 1917. She became one of the first women to produce films in Hollywood, and produced nine features for her company, Katherine MacDonald Pictures, from 1919 to 1921.
MacDonald was among the top ranks of actresses financially in 1920, earning about $50,000 per picture from a contract with First National. She achieved the peak of her popularity between 1920 and 1923. From 1922 to 1925 she appeared in films produced by B. P. Schulberg.
She was considered a minor talent in the film industry, but her curvaceous figure nevertheless resulted in the nickname given her of the "American Beauty".Larry Lee Holland, "Mary MacLaren and Katherine MacDonald" Films in Review (1985), pp. 221-27
Her first significant role was her lead role in Shark Monroe (1918) opposite William S. Hart. She was featured in a number of silent films, including The Squaw Man (1918), Mr. Fix-It (1918), Passion's Playground (1920) and The Infidel (1922). Her films typically were romantic dramas. MacDonald made only two pictures after 1923, one each in 1925 and 1926.
Personal life While working as a model in New York City, Katherine met her first husband, the well-known artist and writer Malcolm Atherton Strauss. They married in New York in June 1911, but the union ended after eight years."Malcolm Strauss, Writer, Artist, Dies", The New York Times, April 11, 1936, p. 15. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. In its May 17, 1919 issue, the New York-based trade journal Motion Picture World tersely announces, "Katherine MacDonald Strauss has been granted a decree of divorce by Judge Crail, of Los Angeles, from Malcolm A. Strauss, New York artist.""Studio Shots", Motion Picture World (New York, N.Y.), May 17, 1919, p. 1026. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 13, 2020. Four years later in Atlantic City, New Jersey, she married Charles Schoen Johnson, a young Chicago millionaire. That marriage also ended in divorce in 1926 but produced one son, Britt.
After retiring from the movie industry MacDonald ran a successful cosmetics business in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1928 she married Christian Rasmus Holmes (1898-1944), an heir to the Fleischmann's yeast company, but that marriage ended in a sensational divorce suit in 1931, one widely covered in the press."Millionaire Divorced by Ex-Actress: Katherine MacDonald of Screen Wins Suit Against Christian Holmes", Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1931, p. 1. ProQuest. MacDonald claimed cruelty, alleging that her husband had fired a revolver at her through a locked door, had deliberately burnt her with lit cigarettes, and had sometimes locked her in a cage. Holmes counter-sued, claiming that MacDonald had embarrassed him by having affairs. MacDonald and Holmes had one daughter, Ann.
Death MacDonald later in life suffered from diabetes, which in 1954 finally required the amputation of her right leg. Two years later, after a series of debilitating strokes, she died at St. Francis Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. She is buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery in California.
Filmography
The Spirit of '17 (1918) Lost Headin' South (1918) Lost Mr. Fix-It (1918) Surviving His Own Home Town (1918) Lost Shark Monroe (1918) Surviving Riddle Gawne (1918) Incomplete Battling Jane (1918) Lost The Squaw Man (1918) Incomplete Speedy Meade (1919) Lost The Woman Thou Gavest Me (1919) Lost High Pockets (1919) Surviving The Thunderbolt (1919) Lost The Beauty Market (1919) Lost The Turning Point (1920) Lost Passion's Playground (1920) Lost The Notorious Miss Lisle (1920) Lost Curtain (1920) Lost My Lady's Latchkey (1921) Lost Stranger Than Fiction (1921) Lost Her Social Value (1921) Lost The Beautiful Liar (1921) Lost The Woman's Side (1922) Lost The Infidel (1922) Lost Domestic Relations (1922)Lost Heroes and Husbands (1922) Lost White Shoulders (1922) Lost The Woman Conquers (1922) Lost Money! Money! Money! (1923) Lost Refuge (1923) Lost The Lonely Road (1923) Lost The Scarlet Lily (1923) Lost Chastity (1923) Lost Trust Your Wife (1924) Lost The Unnamed Woman (1925) Lost Old Loves and New (1926) Lost
References
Further reading
External links
AllMovie Katherine MacDonald at Virtual History
kinotv.com