Helene Chadwick

Helene Chadwick came from a very wealthy family in upstate New York (the town, Chadwick, was named after them), where her father owned a silk mill and her mother was an opera singer. On a visit to New York she was persuaded by an artist friend to pose for one of his paintings. A film producer saw the work, and after contacting Helene discovered that she was an experienced horsewoman, which is what he needed for a film he was shooting. He asked her if she'd be interested, she was, and soon she found herself making her film debut in The Challenge (1916) for Pathe. After a few more films she signed a contract with Goldwyn Pictures. She had a career of more than 20 years in the film industry, her last picture being A Star Is Born (1937), directed by her former husband, William A. Wellman, in which she had an uncredited bit part as a woman at a film preview. Tragically, she died in Los Angeles in 1940 from injuries she received in a fall. She was only 42 years old.