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Esther Ralston

Esther Ralston

Acting

Biography

Esther Ralston (September 17th, 1902- January 14th, 1994) was an American silent film star. She began her career as a child actress in a family vaudeville act named "The Ralston Family with Baby Esther, America's Youngest Juliet". She then went on to appear in a few small silent film roles, including one alongside her brother in the 1920 film adaptation of Huckleberry Finn. Ralston gained attention as Mrs. Darling in the 1924 film adaptation of Peter Pan. Her most well known sound picture was To the Last Man in 1933.

Known For

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Our Five Daughters is a daytime soap opera that ran on NBC from January 2, 1962, until September 28, 1962. The show was written by Leonard Stadd and directed by Paul Lammers, and aired for a half hour, five days a week, at 3:30 PM EST, right after Young Doctor Malone. The show starred former silent film icon Esther Ralston, whose career had faded with the advent of sound in the late 1920s; she had lost most of her money and had been working as a sales clerk before finding some acting roles here and there. One of them was a brief appearance on the daytime courtroom drama The Verdict Is Yours. Verdict producer Eugene Burr liked what he saw and offered her the lead role in his new soap, Our Five Daughters. Ralston played Helen Lee, mother of five daughters, whose husband Jim was critically injured in an accident. He became an invalid and the abrupt change caused havoc for his wife and children. The show did not gain a significant audience and was ended after several months, on the same day The Brighter Day ended its run. Jacqueline Courtney, who played daughter Ann Lee, went on to much fame on other daytime shows such as The Edge of Night, Another World, and One Life to Live.

Our Five Daughters

1962Series
Betrayal
9.0

André Frey, a bohemian artist, woos and wins a rustic Swiss maid, promising to return to her after a visit to the city. The girl, Vroni, finds herself pregnant and is forced by her father to marry Poldi Moser, the mayor of the small Swiss town. Moser and Vroni are happy together, and two sons are born to them. André returns to the village periodically and finally asks Vroni to go away with him. She refuses, and he writes her an angry note. That evening, Vroni and André are involved in a toboggan accident; Vroni is killed outright, and André is fatally injured. Moser finds André's note and goes to him, demanding of the dying man to know which of the boys is in fact André's child. Thinking to protect his own son, André informs Moser that Moser's own son is his (André's) son. Moser swears vengeance on the child but relents when he realizes that he loves both boys equally.

Betrayal

1929Movie