Corinne Griffith

About me:

"There are pretty women and there are beautiful women and there are witty women. And then there is Corinne Griffith."

Corinne Griffith

Corinne Griffith (1895 – 1979) was a Hollywood actress who is believed to have been born in Texarkana, Texas, on November 24, 1895.

Always one of the more private and mysterious of stars, Griffith's actual year and even birthday are widely disputed with conflicting information throughout her career. 1894 and 1898 are often cited, as is the birthdate of November 21. She was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen. Most of her films were romantic dramas or soap operas but she proved equally adept at romantic comedy when given the chance.

Early life and career

She was educated in a convent school in New Orleans. Griffith began her screen career at the Vitagraph Studios in 1916. She later moved to First National, where she became one of their most popular stars. The nickname the studios gave her in her heyday was "The Orchid Lady of the Screen". Films of special note for Corinne were "Black Oxen" (1924), "DeClassée" (1925 - in which a young extra named Clark Gable appeared), and "The Garden Of Eden" (1928 - surviving). Griffith received an Academy Award nomination for her role in "The Divine Lady" (1929), in which she played Emma Hart, the English Lady Hamilton. This film has recently been restored. Fewer than a dozen of her 66 films are known to still survive.

Griffith's last major Hollywood film, Back Pay was released in 1930. Her voice was pleasant but unmemorable and a new generation of film stars quickly overtook her in popularity. After appearing in one more motion picture, the British film Lily Christine in 1932, she considered an occasional film offer over the years and even made a screen test to play Elizabeth Taylor's mother for a 1950 film but the only time she returned to the screen was in a low-budget melodrama Paradise Alley which received scant release in 1962.

Personal life

Griffith was married four times. Her first three marriages were to actor and frequent co-star Webster Campbell (1920 - 1923), producer Walter Morosco (1924-1934) and to the owner of the Washington Redskins football team George Preston Marshall (1936 - 1958). (In a 1955 cook book Eggs I Have Known Griffith referred to him as "The Marshall without a plan")

In 1966 she divorced her fourth husband, Broadway actor Danny Scholl (Call Me Mister). Scholl was 45, more than 25 years Griffith's junior. They had only been married a few days. In court she testified that she was not Corinne Griffith. She claimed that she was the actresses' younger (by twenty years) sister who had taken her place upon the famous sister's death. Contradicting testimony by actresses Betty Blythe and Claire Windsor, who had both known her since the 1920s, did not shake her story.

In 1974 Adele Whitely Fletcher, editor of Photoplay, said Griffith was still claiming that she was her own younger sister.

Griffith has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.

Corinne Griffith Filmography:

Actor
1961 Paradise Alley
1932 Lily Christine
1930 Back Pay
1930 Lilies of the Field
1929 Prisoners
1929 The Divine Lady
1929 Saturday's Children
1928 Garden of Eden
1928 Outcast
1927 Three Hours
1927 Lady in Ermine
1926 Into Her Kingdom
1926 Mademoiselle Modiste
1926 Syncopating Sue
1925 Classified
1925 Marriage Whirl
1925 Declasse
1924 Love's Wilderness
1924 Single Wives
1924 Infatuation
1924 Black Oxen
1923 Six Days
1923 The Common Law
1922 Divorce Coupons
1922 Virgin's Sacrifice
1921 What's Your Reputation Worth?
1921 The Single Track
1921 Moral Fibre
1920 Bab's Candidate
1919 The Climbers
1918 The Adventure Shop

Writer and Businesswoman

Corinne Griffith was one of the few film stars to move successfully into new careers once her stardom had ended. She was an accomplished writer who published eleven books including two best sellers, My Life with The Redskins and the memoir Papa's Delicate Condition which was made into a movie starring Jackie Gleason. Her ventures into real estate were particularly successful (at one point she owned four different major office buildings in Los Angeles, each of them named after her) and she was one of the major forces in Republican politics in California for decades.

During her marriage to Marshall, Corinne composed the Redskins "fight" song Hail to the Redskins which became one of the most famous football anthems.

At the time of her death from heart failure, on July 13, 1979, her personal estate was worth over one hundred and fifty million dollars.

Trivia

An astute businesswoman after leaving her film career behind, she soon amassed a fortune in real estate holdings. At the time of her death on July 13, 1979, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world, leaving an estate of $150 million.

Her parents were John Lewis Griffin and Ambolyn (Ghio) Griffin.

Her father was a Methodist minister, but for much of her life she was a Christian Scientist.

Her third husband, George Preston Marshall, was founder and longtime owner of the Washington Redskins.

For many years, fans asked whether Corinne Griffith and director D.W. Griffith were related; and receiving negative answers from both these luminaries of the films. But Miss Griffith, sometime in 1927 or shortly before, engaged a geneologist to trace back some missing branches of her family tree, and discovered to their mutual surprise that there is a relationship. It is vague enough, to be sure, since D.W.'s great grandfather was Miss Griffith's great, great grandmother's uncle - which makes them seventeenth cousins or what have you? But both branches of their family came from Virginia.

She was, in 1924, voted sixth top box-office attraction, tying with Rudolph Valentino.

Spouse:

Danny Scholl (1965 - 1965) (annulled after 33 days)

George Preston Marshall (1936 - 1958)

Walter Morosco (1924 - 1934)

Webster Campbell (1920 - 1923)

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