{{Short description|American actress (1897–1940)}} {{More citations needed|date=June 2018}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Helene Chadwick | image = Helenechadwick.jpg | image_size = | caption = Chadwick in 1921 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|11|25}} | birth_place = Chadwicks, New York, NY, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|9|4|1897|11|25}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = Helen Chadwick | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1916–1937 | spouse = Louis Fontaine (1915-?, divorced)<br/>William A. Wellman (July 2, 1921–September 5, 1923) }}
'''Helene Chadwick''' (November 25, 1897 – September 4, 1940) was an American actress in silent and in early sound films.
==Early life and career== Chadwick was born in the small town of Chadwicks, New York, which was named for her great-grandfather. Her parents were George W. Chadwick Jr. and Marie Louise Norton Chadwick.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Evelyn R. |title=The Sauquoit Valley |date=2000 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738502861 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OOEhtRBANQcC&q=%22Helene+Chadwick%22&pg=PA80 |access-date=10 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Her mother was a singer who performed on the stage and her father was a business man.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
She began making films for Pathé Pictures in Manhattan, New York. Her first film was ''The Challenge'' (1916), which was produced by Astra Film Corporation and released by Pathé.<ref name="gsy">{{cite book |last1=McCaffrey |first1=Donald W. |last2=Jacobs |first2=Christopher P. |title=Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313303456 |url=https://archive.org/details/guidetosilentyea00mcca |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetosilentyea00mcca/page/70 70] |quote=Helene Chadwick. |access-date=10 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> A director was impressed by Chadwicks's talent as an equestrian, thus she began acting as a western star but this did not continue with the exodus of film production from the east to the west coast. Signed by Samuel Goldwyn, Chadwick went to California in 1913 and entered silent movies in 1916. At the pinnacle of her acting career, she earned a salary estimated to have been $2,000 per week.<ref>{{cite news |title=Star of Silent Films Helene Chadwick Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20847164/helene_chadwick/ |work=The Ottawa Journal |agency=Associated Press |date=September 6, 1940 |location=Canada, Ottawa, Ontario |page=21|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = June 10, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> From 1929 until 1935, she found success as a character actress when sound was being introduced to films.
In the final five years of her life, she was reduced to taking roles as an extra, playing "atmospheric parts".<ref>{{cite news |title=Helene Chadwick, Silent Film Star, Dies of Injury, 41 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20847368/helene_chadwick/ |work=The Tampa Tribune |agency=Associated Press |date=September 6, 1940 |location=Florida, Tampa |page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = June 10, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> Helene made movies with Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, and other studios. Her final film was ''Mary Burns, Fugitive'' (1935).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Katchmer |first1=George A. |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476609058 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnGeCQAAQBAJ&q=%22Helene+Chadwick%22&pg=PA56 |access-date=10 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
Her most noteworthy performances came in ''Heartsease'' (1919), ''The Long Arm of the Manister'' (1919), ''The Cup of Fury'' (1920), ''Godless Men'' (1920), ''Dangerous Curve Ahead'' (1921), ''From The Ground Up'' (1921), ''Yellow Men and Gold'' (1922), ''Dust Flower'' (1922), ''The Sin Flood'' (1922), ''The Glorious Fool'' (1922), and ''Quicksands'' (1923).
==Personal life and death== Helene's great-grandparents were the founders of Chadwicks, New York, a small village in Oneida County, NY. Her great-grandfather built a cotton factory on Sauquoit Creek and was one of the premier manufacturers of textiles in the Mohawk Valley. Her family came from England, in Oldham, Lancashire County. She attended school at a one-room schoolhouse provided by her great-grandfather for the mill workers.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
Chadwick married Louis Fontaine in July 1915 in Geneva, New York. They separated after he returned from serving in World War I, and he became aware that she cared for someone else. They eventually were divorced.<ref>{{cite news |title=Would Spank First Wife |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/elmira-star-gazette-helene-chadwick/196366214/ |access-date=April 26, 2026 |work=Elmira Star-Gazette |date=July 28, 1923 |page=11|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> In January 1919, Chadwick became engaged to William A. Wellman, an American pilot with the Lafayette Flying Corps. He had just returned from France and was cited for bravery for his valor in World War I. The couple had met at a party at the house of a friend. Wellman was signed to play a prominent role in an upcoming movie with Douglas Fairbanks Sr.{{Citation needed |date=April 2026}} The couple wed on July 2, 1921, separated in July 1923, and were divorced in September 1923.<ref>{{cite news |title=Helene Chadwick Wins Her Action for Divorce |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-times-helene-chadwick/196365350/ |access-date=April 26, 2026 |work=Buffalo Evening Times |page=3|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> At the time of their separation, Wellman was directing movies for Fox Film.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
Chadwick's funeral was conducted by Pierce Brothers Mortuary and attended by stage and screen friends. Cause of death was cirohosis of the liver. Her body was returned to Chadwicks and she was first buried in the Sauquoit Valley Cemetery and the following year her remains were moved to Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women belong in history books : Herkimer and Oneida Counties, New York, 1700-1950|date=2015|publisher=Jane Sullivan Spellman, Publisher|others=Spellman, Jane Sullivan,, Burtch, Shirley Tucker,, Buteux, Mary Anne Luebbert,, D'Ambrosio, Anna Tobin,, Dieffenbacher, Jane Winterbottom,, Dunadee, Barbara Sabo|isbn=978-1-4951-6778-2|location=[New York]|oclc=923853267}}</ref>
==Filmography== [[File:The Glorious Fool (1922) - 2.jpg|thumb|270px|{{center|Helene Chadwick and Richard Dix in ''The Glorious Fool'' (1922)}}]] {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" |- !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- | 1916 | ''The Challenge'' | Alberta Bradley | |- | rowspan=6 | 1917 | ''The Mystery of the Double Cross'' | | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Iron Heart'' | Grace | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Blind Man's Luck'' | Helen | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Last of the Carnabys'' | The Kept Woman | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Angel Factory'' | Florence Lamont | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Vengeance Is Mine'' | Marion De Long | '''Lost''' film |- |rowspan=7 | 1918 | ''Convict 993'' | Neva Stokes | '''Lost''' film |- | ''For Sale'' | Annie | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Naulahka'' | Kate Sheriff | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The House of Hate'' | Queenie Kate | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Yellow Ticket'' | Miss Seaton | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Getaway Kate'' | Kate Sherwood | Short <br />'''Lost''' film |- | ''Go-Get-Em Garringer'' | Wilma Wharton | '''Lost''' film |- | rowspan=7 | 1919 | ''Girls'' | Kate West | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Heartsease'' | Margaret Neville | |- | ''Caleb Piper's Girl'' | Mary Piper | |- | ''The Solitary Sin'' | Mary | '''Lost''' film |- | ''A Very Good Man'' | Ruth Douglas | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Long Arm of Mannister'' | Sylvia De La Mere | '''Lost''' film |- | ''An Adventure in Hearts'' | Countess D'Orano | '''Lost''' film |- | rowspan=5 | 1920 | ''The Cup of Fury'' | Marie Louise - 'Mamise' | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Godless Men'' | Ruth Lytton | |- | ''Scratch My Back'' | Madeline | |- | ''Cupid the Cowpuncher'' | Macie Sewell | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Cupid'' | | '''Lost''' film |- | rowspan=4 | 1921 | ''Dangerous Curve Ahead'' | Phoebe Mabee | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Made in Heaven'' | Claudia Royce | '''Lost''' film |- | ''From the Ground Up'' | Philena Mortimer | |- | ''The Old Nest'' | Emily at 22 | |- | rowspan=5 | 1922 | ''The Sin Flood'' | Poppy | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Glorious Fool'' | Jane Brown | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Yellow Men and Gold'' | Bessie | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Dust Flower'' | Letty Gravely | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Brothers Under the Skin'' | Millie Craddock | '''Incomplete''' film |- | rowspan=3 | 1923 | ''Gimme'' | Fanny Daniels | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Quicksands'' | The Girl | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Reno'' | Mrs. Emily Dysart Tappan | |- | rowspan=7 | 1924 | ''The Masked Dancer'' | Betty Powell | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Why Men Leave Home'' | Irene Emerson | |- | ''Love of Women'' | Cynthia Redfield | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Her Own Free Will'' | Nan Everard | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Border Legion'' | Joan Randle | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Trouping with Ellen'' | Ellen Llewellyn | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Dark Swan'' | Cornelia Quinn | '''Lost''' film |- | rowspan=3 | 1925 | ''The Re-Creation of Brian Kent'' | Betty Joe | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Woman Hater'' | Marie Lamont—the Actress | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Golden Cocoon'' | Molly Shannon | |- | rowspan=5 | 1926 | ''Pleasures of the Rich'' | Mary Wilson | '''Lost''' film <br /> Trailer survives Library of Congress |- | ''The Still Alarm'' | Lucy Fay | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Hard Boiled'' | Marjorie Gregg | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Wise Guys Prefer Brunettes'' | Helene | Short film |- | ''Dancing Days'' | Alice Hedman | |- | rowspan=4 | 1927 | ''Stage Kisses'' | Fay Leslie | '''Lost''' film |- | ''Stolen Pleasures'' | Doris Manning | '''Lost''' film |- | ''The Bachelor's Baby'' | Eleanor Carter | |- | ''The Rose of Kildare'' | Eillen O'Moore | '''Lost''' film |- | rowspan=4 | 1928 | ''Say It With Sables'' | Helen Caswell | '''Lost''' film |- |''Women Who Dare'' |Stella Mowbray | |- | ''Confessions of a Wife'' |Marion Atwell | |- | ''Modern Mothers'' | Adele Dayton | '''Lost''' film |- | 1929 | ''Father and Son'' | Miss White | |- | 1930 | ''Men Are Like That'' | Clara Fisher Hyland | |- | rowspan=2 | 1931 | ''Hell Bound'' | Sanford's Sister | |- | ''Bad Sister'' | Amy, Sam's Wife | Uncredited |- | rowspan=2 | 1932 | ''So Big!'' | Townsperson | Uncredited |- | ''Night World'' | Night Club Customer | Uncredited |- | rowspan=6 | 1933 | ''Employees' Entrance'' | Attendee at Meeting of Department Heads | Uncredited |- | ''The Circus Queen Murder'' | Crying Woman | Uncredited |- | ''Emergency Call'' | Miss McCabe - Averill's Secretary | Uncredited |- | ''No Marriage Ties'' | Adrienne Deane's Secretary | Uncredited |- | ''Morning Glory'' | Miss Murray | Uncredited |- | ''Merrily Yours'' | Mrs. Rogers | |- |rowspan=6 | 1934 | ''Managed Money'' | Mrs. George Rogers | Short |- | ''Good Dame'' | Mrs. Crosby | Uncredited |- | ''School for Girls'' | Larson | |- | ''Ever Since Eve'' | Governess | Uncredited |- | ''It's a Gift'' | Mrs. Abernathy | Uncredited |- | ''A Wicked Woman'' | Mother | Uncredited |- | rowspan=6 | 1935 | ''Mississippi'' | Attendee at Opening | Uncredited |- | ''Call of the Wild'' | Dawson Townswoman | Uncredited |- | ''Mary Burns, Fugitive'' | Prison Matron | Uncredited |- | ''School for Girls'' | Larson | |- | ''Another Face'' | Nurse Daniels | Uncredited<br>Alternative title: ''It Happened in Hollywood'' |- | ''Frisco Kid'' | Saloon Girl | Uncredited |- | rowspan=3 | 1936 | ''The Perfect Set-Up'' | Mary | Short <br /> Uncredited |- | ''San Francisco'' | Earthquake Survivor | Uncredited |- | ''Pennies from Heaven'' | Mrs. Arbuthnot | Uncredited |- | 1937 | ''A Star Is Born'' | Woman at preview | Uncredited |}
==Sources== *''The Los Angeles Times'', "Flashes, Picture Star To Wed", January 11, 1919, Page II3. *''The Los Angeles Times'', "She Could Ride", October 15, 1922, Page III30. *''The Los Angeles Times'', "Film Star Seeks Divorce", July 24, 1923, Page II1. *''The Los Angeles Times'', "Former Star of Films Dies", September 6, 1940, Page A1. *''The Los Angeles Times'', "Helene Chadwick Paid Last Honor", September 8, 1940, Page A2. *''The Oakland Tribune'', "Cinema Close-Ups", June 3, 1923, Page 92.
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0149484}} *[http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/10922/helene-chadwick Helene Chadwick] at Virtual History
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, Helene}} Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Actresses from New York (state) Category:1897 births Category:1940 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses