Mary Viola Alberti (10 July 1871 – 8 May 1957) 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 ...

known for being the first actress to play

Betsey Trotwood Betsey Trotwood is a fictional character from Charles Dickens' 1850 novel ''David Copperfield''. Role in novel Betsey Trotwood is David Copperfield's great-aunt on his father's side, and has an unfavourable view of men and boys, having been ill-u ...

in film - namely in the 1911 version of ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

''.

Early years

She was born in Lewistown in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

as Mary Viola Alberti, the daughter of Susan Ann, née Sills, (1839–1910) and George Wetheholt Alberti (1839–1904), an editor. She was educated in public schools in San Francisco and on leaving school began a stage career for five years. She was married to the actor and film director George O. Nicholls from 1896 until his death and appeared in many of his early films. With him she had a son, the film director George Nicholls Jr., and after his birth in 1897, she took time out from her stage career to raise him. After a prolific film career in the 1910s, she retired from acting in 1916. Many of her films were made with the

Thanhouser Company The Thanhouser Company (later the Thanhouser Film Corporation) was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser, his wife Gertrude Thanhouser, Gertrude and his brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan. It operated in New Yo ...

.Viola Alberti
-

website

Career

Alberti's film roles included: Mistress of the Boarding House in ''On Her Wedding Day'' (1913); Corella - the Gypsy in ''The Wine of Madness'' (1913); The Gypsy Girl in ''The Girl and the Judge'' (1913); Dolores' Mother in ''Dolores' Decision'' (1913); Countess Fosco in '' The Woman in White'' (1912); The Chanoinesse in ''The Celebrated Case'' (1912); Mrs. Prim in ''Why Tom Signed the Pledge'' (1912); in ''Miss Arabella Snaith'' (1912); The Arab's Wife in ''Into the Desert'' (1912); Mary in ''The Taming of Mary'' (1912); The Wife in ''On Probation'' (1912); Amenartes, the Pharaoh's daughter in ''

She She or S.H.E. may refer to: Language * She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English Places * She County, Anhui ** She Prefecture, 589-1121 * She County, Hebei * She River, or Sheshui, Hubei * ...

'' (1911), and

in ''

'' (1911).Viola Alberti
-

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

DatabaseJohn Glavin
''Dickens on Screen''
Cambridge University Press (2003) - Google Books pg. 209 By 1913, Alberti was a teacher of drama and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

. Later she went to the

Selig Polyscope Company The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company that was founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. The company produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures, including the first films ...

, where in 1915 she wrote the scenarios for and acted in ''When Love Was Mocked'' and also acted in ''The Print of the Nails'' (1915); played the Society Leader in ''The Sculptor's Model'' (1915) and Mrs. Brentwood in ''The Eternal Feminine'' (1915). ''The Studio Directory of Motion Picture News'' for 29 January 1916 noted that she was "now at liberty."

Death

Alberti died in San Francisco in 1957, aged 85.

References

External links

Viola Alberti
on

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberti, Viola 1871 births 1957 deaths 19th-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses American stage actresses American silent film actresses American film actresses People from Lewistown, Pennsylvania