Anita Stewart


Anita Stewart was an American actress and film producer of the early silent film era.

Early years

Stewart was born in Brooklyn, New York as Anna Marie Stewart on February 7, 1895. Her two siblings, George and Lucille Lee, also acted in films.

Career

Stewart began her acting career in 1911 while still attending Erasmus Hall High School in extra and bit parts for the Vitagraph film studios at their New York City location.
Stewart was one of the earliest film actresses to achieve public recognition in the nascent medium of motion pictures and achieved a great deal of acclaim early in her acting career. Among her earlier popular roles were 1911's enormous box office hit adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, directed by William J.Humphrey, and having an all-star cast including Maurice Costello, Florence Turner, Norma Talmadge and John Bunny, as well as roles in 1913's The Forgotten Latchkey and The White Feather.

Marriage to Cameron

In 1917, she married Rudolph Cameron and became the sister-in-law of film director and actor Ralph Ince, who began giving the young actress more prominent roles in films for Vitagraph. Throughout the 1910s and into the early 1920s, Anita Stewart was one of the silent screen's most popular actresses and was often paired in romantic roles with real-life husband, actor Rudolph Cameron. Stewart was also featured opposite such screen legends as Mae Busch and Barbara La Marr.
Her two siblings, George and Lucille Lee, also acted in films.

Joins Mayer

Stewart left her lucrative Vitagraph Studios career in 1918 to accept a contract with fledgling film mogul Louis B. Mayer by the terms of which she would head her own production company at the Mayer studios in Los Angeles. It was alleged that Stewart was recovering from an illness in a Los Angeles hospital when Mayer convinced her to leave Vitagraph for an undisclosed but exorbitant sum of money. Between 1918 and 1919 Stewart produced seven moderately successful vehicles, starring in all of them. Throughout the 1920s, Stewart continue to be featured in prominent roles in silent films.

Marriage to Converse

Following Stewart's divorce from Cameron in 1928, Stewart married George Peabody Converse the following year. Like many of her silent film contemporaries, Stewart found the transition to sound film extremely difficult. After making just one musical short in 1932, The Hollywood Handicap, Stewart retired from the screen.

Writing

Stewart authored the murder mystery novel The Devil's Toy, published in New York in 1935 by E.P. Dutton. Though the book's dust jacket traded on the author's Hollywood connection, the plot concerned the killing of a stage actor and was set in San Francisco.

Death

On May 4, 1961, Stewart died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California.

Recognition

For her contribution to motion picture industry as an actress, Anita Stewart was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6724 Hollywood Boulevard.

Selected filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1911Prejudice of Pierre MarieCredited as Anna Stewart
Lost film
1912Her ChoiceMay - The Vain Niece
1912Billy's Pipe DreamPert DawsonLost film
1913The Swan GirlThe Swan GirlLost film
1914The Girl from ProsperityBessie WilliamsLost film
1914A Million BidAgnes BelgradinLost film
1915The AwakeningJoLost film
1915The JuggernautViola Rushin/Louise HardinIncomplete
1916My Lady's SlipperCountess Gabrielle de VillarsLost film
1916The SuspectSophie KarreninaLost film
1916The Daring of DianaDianaLost film
1916The CombatMuriel FlemingLost film
1917The Glory of YolandaYolandaLost film
1917The Girl PhilippaPhilippaLost film
1917Clover's RebellionClover DeanLost film
1918Virtuous WivesAmy ForresterLost film
1919The Painted WorldYvette MurreeLost film
1919Human DesireBernice
1919The Mind the Paint GirlLily Upjohn/Lily Parradell
1919In Old KentuckyMadge Brierly
1920The Fighting ShepherdessKate PrenticeAlternative title: Vindication
Producer
1921Playthings of DestinyJulie ArnoldProducer
1922Rose o' the SeaRose EltonProducer
Lost film
1923The Love PikerHope WarnerLost film
1923Mary of the MoviesherselfIncomplete
1924The Great White WayMabel VandegriftLost film
1925Never the Twain Shall MeetTameaLost film
1926The Prince of PilsenNellie WagnerLost film
1927Wild GeeseLind ArcherLost film
1928Sisters of EveBeatrice FranklinLost film
1928Romance of a RogueCharmain
1928Name the WomanFlorence