Minerva Bussenius (September 22, 1896 – August 27, 1966), known professionally as Roberta Arnold, was an American stage and silent film actress. She started in Los Angeles before moving to New York, appeared in leading roles in several Broadway plays and received positive reception.

Career

She made her professional debut around age 17 in 1910 at the Los Angeles Belasco Theatre, as a non-speaking extra in a production of '' Forty-five Minutes from Broadway''. She joined

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company, where her productions included ''Peg o' My Heart'' and '' The Bird of Paradise'' supporting

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. She had a part in ''Upstairs and Down'' (1916) which was the most popular Los Angeles play of the season before coming to New York, marking Arnold's Broadway debut. She had leading roles in ''Adam and Eva'' (1916),'''' and in '' The First Year,'' opposite Frank Craven who also wrote it. She played her role, Grace Livingston, for more than a year, and said of the character, "Grace Livingston, as created by Mr. Craven, is human and real – a genuine person". Her other roles included in ''Chicken Feed'', and ''Pig Iron''. Her role in the 1925 play ''Pig Iron'' was said by the ''

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'' to be "the opportunity of her career". She was in the silent film ''Sands of Life''.

Reception

The magazine ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote that Arnold is a corker and that the "subtle little meanings she makes her lines suggest sets the comedy down in ''The School for Scandal'' class." ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' wrote of Arnold, "You either like her or you don't. Most people do."

Personal life

Arnold was born Minerva Bussenius in San Francisco, California, and moved to Los Angeles as an infant. Her father was a Southern California businessman and her mother was an officer in the

Native Daughters of the Golden West The Native Daughters of the Golden West is an American non-profit organization for women born in California. The organization focuses on the care and preservation of California history. It is the sister organization to the Native Sons of the Golde ...

. She took the name Roberta Arnold feeling her original name "too great a handicap on stage" so she used the first name of her father (Robert) and the name of an uncle (Arnold). She wanted to be an actress since she was 7 years old. She spent her childhood with her parents in Los Angeles. Arnold kept a scrapbook of pictures that had to do with theatre when she was a child, with it later becoming an inspiration to her and her "most precious possession". Her parents thought that she was not serious about becoming an actress. When she was 14 years old, Arnold made the announcement that she "was going to be an actress" and her mother burned her scrapbook in a bonfire as a result. Her sister Carolyn also acted briefly under the name Carolyn Arnold, before marrying a French nobleman. She married actor

Herbert Rawlinson Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound f ...

on January 1, 1912. In 1922, her husband sued her for desertion and they became divorced. She later married aviator and stunt pilot Frank J. Lynch, whom she divorced in 1927, and in 1929 she married the playwright and screenwriter John Willard. She died in August 1966, and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Roberta 1896 births American stage actresses Actresses from Los Angeles American silent film actresses 1966 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from San Francisco Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)