Constance Collier
Acting
Biography
Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She made her stage debut at the age of three, when she played Fairy Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream and later appeared in several Shakespearean stage plays. Her brief visit to New York in the 1910s yielded her work in a few silent films. When she was diagnosed with diabetes, she became the first ever patient in Europe to receive insulin treatment following its recent discovery. She served as an acting coach for many silent film stars in 1920s Hollywood following the tumultuous change to "talkies". While her most famous pupil was arguably Colleen Moore, her most acclaimed lifelong friend was fellow Stage Door co-star, Katharine Hepburn. Collier has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Known For
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
Rope
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
A spirited heiress wishing to break into theatre on her own merit arrives at a boardinghouse where aspiring young actresses and showgirls are brought together through their cynicism and disappointments.
Stage Door
In 1900, young widow Lucy Muir learns that her seaside cottage is haunted and forms a unique relationship with the ghost.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Pickpocket Kitty's life changes when painter Thomas Gainsborough makes her portrait. The artwork gains the attention of Sir Hugh Marcy, who later decides to use her for his benefit.
Kitty
The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.
Whirlpool
An American boy turns out to be the heir of a wealthy British earl. He is sent to live with the irritable and unsentimental aristocrat, his grandfather.
Little Lord Fauntleroy
When school captain Roddy Berwick takes the blame for his friend’s scandal, he is expelled and disowned by his family. Cast out of his privileged world, Roddy drifts through a series of humiliations—from waiter to penniless actor to gigolo—descending ever further into ruin and self-disgust.
Downhill
Ex-con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
The Dark Corner
When his mother dies, young Peter Ibbetson leaves Paris and his best friend, Mary, behind to live with a severe uncle in England. Years later, Peter is an architect with little time for women, until he begins a project with the Duke and Duchess of Towers. When Peter and the duchess become great friends, she reveals that she is Mary — but the duke soon suspects his wife of infidelity and challenges Peter to a duel, threatening the pair's second chance.
Peter Ibbetson
In 1897, little Priscilla Williams, along with her widowed mother, goes to live with her army colonel paternal grandfather on the British outpost he commands in northern India.
Wee Willie Winkie
A bumbling barber in the court of King Louis XV becomes engaged in political intrigue when he masquerades as a dashing nobleman engaged to the princess of Spain.
Monsieur Beaucaire
A seductive music hall star falls in love with a married aristocrat.
Zaza
Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.
The Rat
Funloving Pearl White, working in a garment sweatshop, gets her big chance when she "opens" for a delayed Shakespeare play...with a comic vaudeville performance. Her brief stage career leads her into those "horrible" moving pictures, where she comes to love the chaotic world of silent movies, becoming queen of the serials. But the consequences of movie stardom may be more than her leading man can take
The Perils of Pauline
Lady Alyce Marshmorton must marry soon, and the staff of Tottney Castle have laid bets on who she'll choose, with young Albert wagering on 'Mr. X'. After Alyce goes to London to meet a beau she is restricted to the castle to curb her scandalous behavior. Albert then summons Jerry to Alyce's aid in order to 'protect his investment'.
A Damsel in Distress
A flighty socialite neglects her family to promote a new religious group.
Susan and God
A small-town girl who's made it big in New York as a fashion model returns home, only to find that her somewhat dotty uncle has mortgaged his boarding house to the hilt. In her efforts to help him keep his boarding house, she becomes involved with a handsome young minister and his superior, an older bishop.
The Girl from Manhattan
Mercenary Donovan is hired to kidnap King Peter II. He learns that the party in power is evil and that the King is in danger, so kidnaps the King to keep him safe while a revolution is planned.
Professional Soldier
A prominent politician is preparing to expose a financial scandal. But then a woman who has invested heavily in the shady venture threatens to uncover a damaging secret in the politician's past if he exposes the speculation as a fraud. His problem is compounded by his wife's intolerance of the slightest character flaws.