Biography
She was born in Hanford, California to Edward Lord and Sara Foster. When the family moved to San Francisco she attended Holy Rosary Academy where she discovered her vocation from participating in a school play.
She studied acting at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco and at only thirteen, she debuted professionally with the Belasco Stock Company in the play Are You A Mason? where her first role was that of a maid. The comedian Nat Goodwin saw her act and invited her to look him up if she ever got to New York. Three years later, after the San Francisco Fire, at the age of sixteen, she made the trip and, true to his words, Goodwin put her to work with several tour engagements.
Her first New York success was in January 1912 as Ruth Lenox in The Talker followed up by more tours and vaudeville parts. Her next hit was in August 1917 as Sadie in The Deluge directed by Arthur Hopkins. It was not until 2 November 1921 that she again scored another hit where she starred in the title role of Eugene O’Neill's Anna Christie at the Vaudeville Theatre on Broadway. This turned out to be her greatest success; the play was taken to London and at the Strand Theatre on 10 April 1923 she received a half-hour ovation. In 1924, she starred as Amy in Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted and later in 1928 as Nina Leeds in O’Neill's Strange Interlude.
She married Owen B. Winters on 27 April 1929. This was unsuccessful, and they divorced on 26 October 1931.
She went back to the stage in 1932 playing Abby in Sidney Howard's The Late Christopher Bean. She made her film debut in 1934 as Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, followed by A Feather in Her Hat, released the following year. She found she was not interested in cinema and returned to the stage. In January 1936, she played Zenobia in Owen and Donald Davis’ dramatization of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. Her last appearance on stage was in 1946 as Amanda in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.
She died in October 1950 from injuries suffered after her car went off the road near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Read more about this topic: Pauline Lord
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