Profile of Lila Lee on Famous Like Me

Lila Lee (July 25, 1901 - November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress of the early silent film era.

Lila Lee was born Augusta Appel in Union Hill, New Jersey into a middle-class family who relocated to New York City when Lila was quite young. Searching for a hobby for their gregarious young daughter, the Appels enrolled Lila in Gus Edwards' kiddie review shows where she was given the nicknamed "Cuddles"; a name that she would be referred to by for the rest of her acting career. Her stagework became so popular with the public that her parents had her educated with private tutors.

In 1918 she was chosen for a film contract by Hollywood film mogul Jesse Lasky for Famous Players Lasky, which later became Paramount Pictures. Her first feature The Cruise of the Make-Believes garnered the seventeen year old starlet much public acclaim and Lassky quickly sent Lee on an arduous publicity campaign. Critics lauded Lila for her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts. Lee quickly rose to the ranks of leading lady and often starred opposite such matinee heavies as Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid and Rudolph Valentino.

In 1922 Lee was cast as Carmen in the enormously popular film Blood and Sand, opposite matinee idol Rudolph Valentino and silent screen vamp Nita Naldi; Lee subsequently won the first WAMPAS Baby Stars award that year. Lee continued to be a highly popular leading lady throughout the 1920's and made scores of critcally praised and widely watched films.

Lila was married and divorced three times, including a marriage to actor James Kirkwood which ended in divorce in 1931. Lee and Kirkwood had a son in 1930 named James Kirkwood Jr. who became a highly regarded playwright and screenwriter whose works include A Chorus Line and P.S. Your Cat Is Dead.

As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, Lee's popularity began to wane and Lee positioned herself for the transition to talkies. However, a series of bad career choices and bouts of recurring tuberculosis hindered further projects and Lee was relegated to taking parts in mostly grade B-movies.

Lee made several uneventful stage plays in the 1940s and starred in early television soap operas in the 1950s. In 1973 Lee died of a stroke at Saranac Lake, New York. For her contribution as an actress in motion pictures, she was awarded a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1716 Vine Street, in Hollywood, California.

Lila Lee filmography

Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967}

Oh Boy! (1938)

Two Wise Maids (1937)

Country Gentlemen (1936)

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)

The Marriage Bargain (1935)

Champagne for Breakfast (1935)

The People's Enemy (1935)

Whirlpool (1934)

In Love with Life (1934}

I Can't Escape (1934)

Stand up and Cheer (1934)

Lone Cowboy (1934)

Officer 13 (1933)

The Face in the Sky (1933)

The Iron Master (1933)

Radio Patrol (1932)

The Night of June 13 (1932)

Unholy Love (1932)

The Intruder (1932

War Correspondent (1932)

False Faces (1932)

Exposure (1932)

Misbehaving Ladies (1931)

Woman Hungry (1931)

The Gorilla (1931)

Murder Will Out (1930}

Those Who Dance (1930)

Second Wife (1930)

The Unholy Three (1930)

Double Cross Roads (1930)

Love, Live and Laugh (1929)

Show of Shows (1929)

The Sacred Flame (1929)

Queen of the Nightclubs (1929)

Flight (1929)

The Argyle Case (1929)

Honky Tonk (1929)

Dark Streets (1929)

Drag (1929)

Top Sergeant Mulligan (1928)

The Man in Hobbles (1928)

The Black Pearl (1928)

The Little Wild Girl (1928)

Black Butterflies (1928)

The Adorable Cheat (1928)

Thundergod (1928)

United States Smith (1928)

A Bit of Heaven (1928)

You Can't Beat the Law (1928)

Top Sergeant Mulligan (1928)

Million Dollar Mystery (1927)

One Increasing Purpose (1927)

Fascinating Youth (1926)

The New Klondike(1926)

Broken Hearts (1926)

Coming Through (1925)

Old Home Week (1925)

The Midnight Girl (1925)

Another Man's Wife (1924)

Wandering Husbands (1924)

Love's Whirlpool (1924)

Woman-Proof (1923)

Hollywood (1923)

Homeward Bound (1923)

The Ne'er-Do-Well (1923)

Ebb Tide (1922)

Rent Free (1922)

Back Home and Broke (1922)

The Ghost Breaker (1922)

Blood and Sand (1922)

The Dictator (1922)

Is Matrimony a Failure? (1922)

One Glorious Day (1922)

The Fast Freight (1921)

After the Show (1921)

Crazy to Marry (1921)

Gasoline Gus (1921)

Dollar a Year Man (1921)

The Easy Road (1921)

Charm School (1921)

Midsummer Madness (1920)

The Prince Chap (1920)

The Soul of Youth (1920)

Terror Island (1920)

Male and Female (1919)

Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1919)

The Lottery Man (1919)

The Heart of Youth (1919)

Rose o' the River (1919)

A Daughter of the Wolf (1919)

Rustling a Bride (1919)

Puppy Love (1919)

The Secret Garden (1919)

Jane Goes A' Wooing (1919)

Such a Little Pirate (1918)

The Cruise of the Make-Believes (1918)

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