Seena Owen (born Signe Auen; November 14, 1894 – August 15, 1966) was an American silent film actress and screenwriter.

Early life

Born Signe Auen in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

, Washington, she was the youngest of three children raised by Jens Christensen and Karen (née Sorensen) Auen. Her father and mother came from

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in the late 1880s and settled in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

where they married in 1888. Within a short period of time they moved to Portland, Oregon and then Spokane, where her father became proprietor of the Columbia Pharmacy. In her youth Owen was enrolled at Brunot Hall, an Episcopalian girls' school in Spokane, founded by Bishop Lemuel H. Wells. She was also educated in Copenhagen. Her life as the daughter of an affluent business owner changed in her late teens when the family business failed and it became necessary to seek employment. She received her early inspiration to act while a student at the Pauline Dunstan Belden School of Elocution in Spokane before appearing in a stock production in San Francisco playing the part of a maid for $5 a week. Soon after she went to Hollywood to work as a film extra, and had the good fortune to run into actor-director

Marshall Neilan Marshall Ambrose "Mickey" Neilan (April 11, 1891 – October 27, 1958; also credited Marshall Neilon) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, whose work in films began in the early Silent film, silent era. Early life Born ...

, then a Hollywood "boy wonder" whom Owen had known in Spokane. Through Neilan she was hired by the

Kalem Company The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to V ...

, an early motion picture studio, at $15 a week.''The Spokesman Review'' (Spokane, WA) by Jim Kershner, February 11, 2007''The Amarillo Globe'', November 14, 1930, pg. 9

Career

Her first important film was '' A Yankee from the West'' (1915) under the name Signe Auen at the age of 21. She later was convinced to change her name and settled on Seena Owen, the phonetic spelling of her real name. In 1916, she performed in D.W. Griffith's ''

Intolerance Intolerance may refer to: * Hypersensitivity or intolerance, undesirable reactions produced by the immune system * ''Intolerance'' (film), a 1916 film by D. W. Griffith * ''Intolerance'' (album), the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly ...

''. Griffith wanted her eyes to be twice as large and "supernatural", so he spoke to his wigmaker to create false lashes. They were made of human hair which were then fixed to her eyelashes by spirit gum. One day, Owen showed up with her eyes swollen nearly shut, her co-star

Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress best known for her work in movies of the silent era. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was dubbed the "F ...

wrote in her memoir. Also in 1916, Owen married George Walsh whom she had met on the set of ''Intolerance''. The marriage lasted until their divorce in 1924. A regular player for the rest of the silent era, Owen appeared in films such as

Maurice Tourneur Maurice Félix Thomas (; 2 February 1876 – 4 August 1961), known as Maurice Tourneur (), was a French film director and screenwriter. Life Born Maurice Félix Thomas in the Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a w ...

's ''

Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

'' in 1919 where she was photographed to great effect by Tourneur's cameraman, Rene Guissart. ''Victory'', long lost, was recently found in 35mm print in Europe and can be seen on DVD. In 1920, she appeared in ''

The Gift Supreme ''The Gift Supreme'' is a 1920 American silent drama film starring Bernard Durning, Seena Owen, Lon Chaney (in a villainous bit role) and Tully Marshall. The film was directed by Ollie Sellers and based on the 1916 novel of the same name b ...

'' with Lon Chaney, who appeared with her in ''Victory''. All but one reel of ''The Gift Supreme'' is lost. She co-starred with

Gloria Swanson Gloria Mae Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for h ...

and Walter Byron in the ill-fated '' Queen Kelly'' (1928), as the mad queen who whips Swanson in one scene. With the arrival of sound in movies, Owen's weak voice became a problem and forced her to retire from movies in 1933. After her retirement, she worked on a number of films in the 1930s and 1940s as a screenwriter, including two starring

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the ''Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing C ...

: '' Aloma of the South Seas'' (1941) and '' Rainbow Island'' (1944). The former was written in part with her sister, Lillie Hayward, a successful Hollywood screenwriter.

Death

Seena Owen died on August 15, 1966, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, aged 71, and was interred at

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematorium, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries ...

.''The Daily Review'' (Hayward, California), August 17, 1966

Partial filmography

* '' The Old Fisherman's Story'' (1914) * '' An Image of the Past'' (1915) * '' The Highbinders'' (1915) * '' Little Marie'' (1915) * '' The Lamb'' (1915) * '' The Penitentes'' (1915) * '' A Yankee from the West'' (1915) * ''

'' (1916) * '' Madame Bo-Peep'' (1917) * '' A Woman's Awakening'' (1917) * '' Branding Broadway'' (1918) * '' Breed of Men'' (1919) * '' A Man and His Money'' (1919) * '' The Sheriff's Son'' (1919) * '' Riders of Vengeance'' (1919) * '' One of the Finest'' (1919) * '' The City of Comrades'' (1919) * '' The Life Line'' (1919) * '' A Fugitive from Matrimony'' (1919) * ''

'' (1919) with

Lon Chaney, Sr. Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often gr ...

and

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...

* ''

'' (1920) * '' Sooner or Later'' (1920) * '' The Price of Redemption'' (1920) * '' The House of Toys'' (1920) * '' The Cheater Reformed'' (1921) * '' Lavender and Old Lace'' (1921) * '' The Woman God Changed'' (1921) (extant; Library of Congress) * '' Back Pay'' (1922) (extant; Library of Congress) * '' The Face in the Fog'' (1922) (*extant; Library of Congress) * ''

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

'' (1922) * '' The Go-Getter'' (1923) * '' Unseeing Eyes'' (1923) * ''

The Leavenworth Case ''The Leavenworth Case'' (1878), subtitled ''A Lawyer's Story'', is an American Detective fiction, detective novel and the first novel by Anna Katharine Green. Set in New York City, it concerns the murder of a retired merchant, Horatio Leavenwort ...

'' (1923) * '' The Great Well'' (1924) * '' I Am the Man'' (1924) * '' The Hunted Woman'' (1925) * '' Shipwrecked'' (1926) * '' The Flame of the Yukon'' (1926) * '' The Blue Danube'' (1928) * '' Man-Made Women'' (1928) * '' His Last Haul'' (1928) * '' Sinners in Love'' (1928) * ''

The Rush Hour ''The Rush Hour'' is a 1928 American silent film, silent comedy film directed by E. Mason Hopper and starring Marie Prevost, Harrison Ford (silent film actor), Harrison Ford and Seena Owen. Plot Cast * Marie Prevost as Margie Dolan * Harris ...

'' (1928) * ''

The Marriage Playground ''The Marriage Playground'' is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Lothar Mendes, and written by Doris Anderson, J. Walter Ruben, and Edith Wharton. The film stars Mary Brian, Fredric March, Lilyan Tashman, Huntley Gordon, K ...

'' (1929) * '' Queen Kelly'' (1929) * '' Officer Thirteen'' (1932)(last film) *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Seena 1894 births 1966 deaths American film actresses American silent film actresses Actresses from Spokane, Washington Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery American people of Danish descent 20th-century American actresses