Aileen Pringle (born Aileen Bisbee; July 23, 1895 – December 16, 1989) was an American stage and film actress during the

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

era.

Biography

Early life

Pringle was born into a prominent and wealthy San Francisco family and educated in Europe. She began her acting career shortly after her 1916 marriage to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son of a wealthy titled British Jamaican landowner and a member of the Privy and Legislative Councils of Jamaica.

Career rise

Many of Pringle's early roles were only modestly successful, and she continued to build her career until the early 1920s. One of Pringle's first high-profile roles was in the

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

film '' Stolen Moments'' (1920). She was selected by friend and romance novelist

Elinor Glyn Elinor Glyn ( Sutherland; 17 October 1864 – 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern stand ...

to star in the 1924 film adaptation of her novel ''Three Weeks'' with matinee idol

Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1940, a ...

. The role catapulted Pringle into leading-lady status and her career began to build momentum.

Later career

Pringle's acting career continued throughout the early 1920s; however, she allegedly was disliked by many of her co-workers due to haughty and dismissive behavior. She was prone to make witty, sometimes caustic, comments on Hollywood and her fellow actors. During a romantic scene in '' Three Weeks'', in which actor

carried her in his arms to the bedroom, lip readers saw her say: "If you drop me, you bastard, I'll break your neck". Pringle's apparent disdain for her profession began to hurt her career and by the late 1920s her roles became fewer. During the late silent and early period of talking pictures, Pringle co-starred in a series of light films with actor

Lew Cody Lew Cody (born Louis Joseph Côté; February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing "male vamps" in films ...

, including ''Adam and Evil'' (1927), ''Tea for Three'' (1927), ''Wickedness Preferred'' (1928), ''The Baby Cyclone'' (1928), ''Beau Broadway'' (1928), ''A Single Man'' (1929), and ''By Appointment Only'' (1933). Of Pringle's performance in ''Adam and Evil'', Mourdant Hall in the August 9, 1927 edition of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote, “Evelyn Trevelyn, the Eve of this tale, is alluded to by Ralph Spence is (sic) one of the titles as a “spare rib.” She is impersonated by Aileen Pringle and therefore is an asset to the scenes.” Although disliked by some Hollywood insiders, Aileen Pringle often was dubbed by the press as the "Darling of the Intelligentsia" because of her close friendship with such literary figures as

Carl Van Vechten Carl Van Vechten (; June 17, 1880December 21, 1964) was an American writer and Fine-art photography, artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary estate, literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame ...

Joseph Hergesheimer Joseph Hergesheimer () (February 15, 1880 – April 25, 1954) was an American writer of the early 20th century known for his novels of decadent life among the wealthy. Early life Hergesheimer was born on February 15, 1880, in Philadelphia, Penn ...

Rupert Hughes Rupert Raleigh Hughes (January 31, 1872 – September 9, 1956) was an American novelist, film director, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, military officer, and music composer. He was the brother of Howard R. Hughes Sr. and uncle of billionaire How ...

, and

H. L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

who became a lifelong friend of the actress.Marion Elizabeth Rogers. ''Mencken: The American Iconoclast''. Oxford University Press. 2005 She brokered the meeting of Mencken and Valentino, of which Mencken wrote an account, some weeks after Valentino had died. Mencken does not name her but describes her as "discreet as she is charming."

Ralph Barton Ralph Waldo Emerson Barton (August 14, 1891 – May 19, 1931) was a popular American cartoonist and caricaturist of actors and other celebrities. His work was in heavy demand through the 1920s and has been considered to epitomize the era. Barton ...

, American artist, was also a devoted friend and used her as the model for ''Dorothy'' in his illustrations for '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' by

Anita Loos Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put h ...

. Another admirer was

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

who met her in Hollywood and wrote much of the Second Rhapsody at her Santa Monica, California, home. Her wit, keen intellect and sparkling personality made her a sought-after companion. After her 1926 divorce from Charles Pringle, Aileen Pringle further focused on her acting career, including '' Dream of Love'' (1928) with

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...

and ''

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

'' (1929) co-starring

Ralph Ince Ralph Waldo Ince (January 16, 1887 – April 10, 1937) was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film, silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John Ince (actor), John E. I ...

, brother of Thomas Ince. However, with the advent of sound film and the resulting influx of actors from the theater, the studios heavily began promoting a new crop of starlets and Pringle's career faded. During the sound era, she continued to take small parts in major films and even uncredited roles. In 1944 Pringle married the author James M. Cain, but the union lasted only two years and ended in divorce. By the late 1940s, Pringle retired from the screen and lived a wealthy retirement in New York City, where she died in 1989 at the age of 94. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Aileen Pringle was awarded a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

at 6723 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles, California.walkoffame.com

Filmography

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Kenneth Anger, "Hollywood Babylon", San Francisco California: Straight Arrow Books, 1975. * "Films In Review", October 1979, Vol.XXX No.8. Article on Aileen Pringle by De Witt Bodeen. ISSN 0015-1688. * "Films In Review", March 1990, Vol.XLI No.3. Article on Aileen Pringle by Stuart Oderman. ISSN 0015-1688 *Rodgers, Marion Elizabeth (2005) ''Mencken: The American Iconoclast''. Oxford University Press. *Bruce Kellner. ''The Last Dandy: Ralph Barton, American Artist, 1891-1931''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991.

External links

* *Aileen Pringle a
Silent Ladies & GentsAileen Pringle Papers
Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Aileen Pringle
at Virtual History {{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Aileen American film actresses American silent film actresses Actresses from San Francisco 1895 births 1989 deaths Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) 20th-century American actresses