Renée Adorée

Actress. The child of circus performers, her first experience with show business came when she too began working in the circus as a young child. She began acting as a teenager in France, performing in minor plays, as well as dancing with the Folies-Bergères. During one of her troupe’s tours of Europe, World War I broke out while they were performing in Russia, and she escaped to London, England. She came to New York City, New York in 1920 and continued to act on the stage, until coming to the attention of American movie producers. However, it took awhile for her to establish a reputation, as she was only put in one film in 1920 and another in 1921. For awhile she wondered if she had made the right decision by coming to the United States, but in 1922 she began to get more frequent work and more important roles. After this initial uncertain period of her career, she proceeded to become an important and popular star, appearing in such films as “The Count of Monte Crisco” (1922), “Daydreams” (1922), “The Eternal Struggle” (1923), “The Bandolero” (1924), “Defying the Law” (1924), “Parisian Nights” (1925), “Exchange of Wives” (1925), “The Blackbird” (1926), “La Bohème” (1926), “The Flaming Forest” (1926), “The Show” (1927), “Mr. Wu” (1927), “Forbidden Hours” (1928), “The Cossacks” (1928), and “The Pagan” (1929). Perhaps her most famous role was that of ‘Melisande’ in the 1925 anti-war motion picture “The Big Parade.” Upon her retirement from acting, she had appeared in forty-five films. Her career was cut short in 1930, when she collapsed on the set of “Call of the Flesh,” which was to be her final movie. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with tuberculosis, which necessitated her retirement from the screen. Only a few years later, she succumbed to the disease less than a week after her thirty-fifth birthday. (bio by: Carrie-Anne)  Family links:  Spouses:  Thomas J. Moore (1883 – 1955)*  William Sherman Gill (1887 – 1965)* *Calculated relationshipCause of death: Tuberculosis