Jill Rainsford (January 31, 1905–July 5, 1994), born Marguerite Rainsford and known as Billy, was an American actress, songwriter, painter and writer.

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York, she was the second child of Henry and Julia Rainsford and from an early age aspired to a career on the stage, beginning violin and dance lessons at age 8. Her sister Doris, four years her senior, was devoted to Billy and was her nearly constant companion throughout her life. Billy was a member of New York's famous Kiddie Klub and performed with such stars as

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, and Arlin Riggin, the former Olympic champion. She honed her dance techniques in Rutherford High School Productions, and by 1922, at the age of 17, she had joined Pat Rooney's "Rings of Smoke" Vaudeville act portraying the "French girl" on a cross-country tour. The tour gave her valuable

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

experience, which led her to the nascent film industry and the D.W. Griffith Company in Mamaroneck, New York. She landed the role of the dancing Indian Princess in Griffith's film ''

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

'' (1924), and appeared in ''

Sally of the Sawdust ''Sally of the Sawdust'' is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Carol Dempster and W. C. Fields. It was based on the 1923 stage musical ''Poppy''. Fields would later star in a second film version, ''Pop ...

'' (1925). In addition, she worked with Griffith plotting scenes for his leading actress

Carol Dempster Carol Dempster (December 9, 1901 – February 1, 1991) was an American film actress of the silent film era. She appeared in films from 1916 to 1926, working with D. W. Griffith extensively. Early years Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Dempster was ...

. When the Griffith Studio closed, Billy continued her silent film career at other New York studios including: the Spitz, Pathe, Famous Players–Lasky, and Tech Art starring with Dexter McReynolds, Charley Bowers, Fatty Lehman, and Duncan Renaldo. She also did some modeling during this period, most notably for the artist

Bradshaw Crandell Bradshaw Crandell (June 14, 1896 – January 25, 1966) was an American artist and illustrator. He was known as the "artist of the stars". Among those who posed for Crandell were Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Veronica Lake and Lana Tur ...

, who painted several magazine and calendar covers of Billy, as well as, the pastel portrait in the collection. When the film industry moved to the west coast, Billy remained in New York with her mother and her sister and began appearing in nightclub acts in many of New York's famous nightclubs including Don Dickerman's, Pirate's Den, and Country Fair Clubs in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

. Following a brief marriage and the birth of her son Richard Rainsford, she performed on the cruise ship circuit to Havana. Wanting to spend more time with her only child, Billy began a profitable business of writing song lyrics for notable songwriters such as Arthur Gutman, Gilbert Wall, Ray Dallas, and performers such as Spivy LeVoe, Florence Herbert, Harriet Hutchins, Beth Challis, and Irène Bordoni. Later in life, Billy went on to own a wholesale antiques shop in upstate New York, which she ran with her son and her sister. Billy and Doris then followed Richard's academic career and eventually ended up in Ohio where Billy painted miniature landscapes and wrote her unpublished autobiography 'I Was There Charlie'. Jill "Billy" Rainsford died on July 5, 1994, at the age of 89.NYU's Fales Library guide to the Jill "Billy" Rainsford Papers
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainsford, Jill 1905 births 1994 deaths American film actresses 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American women writers