Nora Dorothy Bernard (June 25, 1890
– December 15, 1955) was an American actress of the
silent era
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, wh ...
. She appeared in nearly 90 films between 1908 and 1956.
Early years
She was born Nora Dorothy Bernard
in
Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...
,
British Cape Colony
The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three other colonies ...
, now part of South Africa,
to William H Bernard and Roy Elizabeth Ayrd. Her father was from Auckland, New Zealand, and her mother was born in Sligo, Ireland.
(Bernard said that her father "was English and partly Jewish" and her mother was Scotch-Irish.)
They were there as part of a visiting
stock theater company.
Her grandfather was Joseph Bernard Simmons, drama critic for ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' of London.
Although her birth date is listed as July 25, 1890 in many biographies, her death certificate and U.S. passport both state her birth date as June 25, 1890. An only child, she spent her formative years in Portland, Oregon where her father worked as a stock company manager and was a well-respected actor. She said, "I spent some of my early childhood in Australia and New Zealand and was educated in San Francisco and Los Angeles."
She graduated from the Marlborough School
in Los Angeles.
Career
As a child actress, Bernard appeared in several plays in Portland under "Dot Bernard" in the Baker Theater Company. Her stepmother, actress Nan Ramsey, also appeared in several productions. In 1905, her family moved to Los Angeles, California, and her father accepted a position to manage the Balasco theater.
Bernard worked with stock theater companies in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Detroit. She also performed in vaudeville.
She first worked in films in 1911 with
D. W. Griffith and the
Biograph Company
The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to Filmmaking, film production an ...
. On television, she portrayed Margaret, an Irish cook and housekeeper, in ''
Life With Father'' after originating the role on stage.
Broadway shows in which Bernard appeared included ''Personality'' (1921), ''The Ragged Edge'' (1935), ''Love in My Fashion'' (1937), ''
Life With Father'' (1939), and ''Life With Mother'' (1948).
Personal life and death
She was married to actor A.H. Van Buren
on July 5, 1909, in Washington D.C., and they had a daughter named Marjorie "Midge" Van Buren born in Jamaica, New York.
Bernard died of a heart attack at her Hollywood home on December 15, 1955, aged 65.
Her body was cremated, and her ashes were stored at Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.
Selected filmography
* ''
A Woman's Way'' (1908)
* ''
An Awful Moment'' (1908)
*
''The Cord of Life'' (1909)
* ''
The Girls and Daddy'' (1909)
* ''
The Woman from Mellon's'' (1910)
* ''
A Flash of Light'' (1910)
* ''
Ramona'' (1910)
* ''
The Two Paths'' (1911)
* ''
His Trust Fulfilled'' (1911)
* ''
His Trust'' (1911)
* ''
For His Son'' (1912)
* ''
The Root of Evil'' (1912)
* ''
A Sister's Love'' (1912)
* ''
A String of Pearls'' (1912)
* ''
The Girl and Her Trust'' (1912)
* ''
The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch'' (1912)
* ''
One Is Business, the Other Crime'' (1912)
* ''
An Outcast Among Outcasts'' (1912)
* ''
The House of Darkness'' (1913)
* ''
The Sheriff's Baby'' (1913)
* ''
Near to Earth'' (1913)
* ''
A Chance Deception'' (1913)
* ''
The Little Tease'' (1913)
* ''
The Song of Hate'' (1915)
* ''
The Little Gypsy'' (1915)
* ''
A Soldier's Oath'' (1915)
* ''
A Man of Sorrow'' (1916)
* ''
The Bondman'' (1916)
* ''
The Final Payment'' (1917)
* ''
The Rainbow
''The Rainbow'' is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence, first published by Methuen & Co. in 1915. It follows three generations of the Brangwen family living in Nottinghamshire, focusing particularly on the individual's struggle for growt ...
'' (1917)
* ''
The Accomplice'' (1917)
* ''
Little Women
''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...
'' (1918)
* ''
The Great Shadow'' (1920)
References
*California Death Index, Ancestry.com.
*U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925, Ancestry.com.
*District of Columbia Wedding Applications, https://web.archive.org/web/20101124092809/http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#givenName=A.H.&searchType=close&placeId=1&surname=van%20buren&p=recordResults&alivePlaceLoc1=United%20States.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Dorothy
1890 births
1955 deaths
South African emigrants to the United States
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
Actors from Gqeberha
20th-century American actresses
American child actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Broadway theatre people