Juanita Hansen
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Juanita Hansen | |
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Born | Juanita Cecilia Hanson March 3, 1895 |
Died | September 26, 1961 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 66)
Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1915–1933 |
Juanita Hansen (born Juanita Cecilia Hanson; March 3, 1895 – September 26, 1961)
Early life
Juanita Cecilia Hanson was born in Thor, Iowa to Henry George Hanson, who was originally from Wisconsin,[
She began acting in films when she was 16,
Early in her career the actress was also associated with Famous Players–Lasky and acted with Jack Pickford. In 1915, Hansen appeared in six films. One of her early feature roles was in The Secret of the Submarine. The following year, her good looks landed her work as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties doing comedy shorts at Keystone/Triangle Studios. Although she told reporters she liked working for Mack Sennett, she wanted to do more than slapstick comedy.
Serial career
After Hansen left Keystone, she soon began playing serious roles for
Hansen's performance in the Universal productions led to a 1920 deal with Pathé to star with Warner Oland and William Bailey in the 15-episode serial The Phantom Foe. She made a second Pathé serial, The Yellow Arm (1921).[citation needed] In 1928, Hansen retired from movies after she was scalded in a bathroom accident in the Hotel Lincoln in New York City.[4] She was awarded $109,269 in damages and interest following a long legal battle.[5]
Personal problems
When she returned to work, behavioral problems caused by her drug addiction disrupted filming and ended her relationship with Pathé. She appeared in secondary roles in two more films, but by 1923 her film career was over at the age of 28.
In 1923, Hansen wrote a nationally syndicated "lengthy account of her journey through addiction".[6] She attributed her recovery to treatment by Dr. John Baker at Oakland Sanitarium.[6] She also spent a year on the Pantages vaudeville circuit speaking about the dangers of addiction to drugs.[7]
Her life became a series of constant ups and downs fighting her addictions. Hansen and Anna Luther were named as two co-respondents in a divorce suit brought by Evelyn Nesbit against Jack Clifford. Clifford left Nesbit in 1918, and she divorced him in 1933.[8][9]
She began working in live theatre, appearing as The Lady in Black in the Broadway production The High Hatters (1928).
At one point, she attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She survived, and the experience helped turn her around. Although her acting career was long over, and her drug habit had left her penniless, she took a job as a clerk for a railroad company. She also worked in the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. In 1940, she was living in Chicago at the Lorraine Hotel.[citation needed]
Later career and charitable work
Eventually, the former actress went public with her story. She created the Juanita Hansen Foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs. She was jailed in 1937 on a
In 1938 she wrote the book The Conspiracy of Silence, arguing that drug addicts should be sent to specialized medical institutions for treatment instead of being sent to prison.
Hansen died in 1961 at her home in West Hollywood, California, of heart failure. Her residence was 858 Hilldale Avenue. Her body was found by her maid, Pearl Edwards, who told deputy sheriffs the actress was suffering from a heart ailment.[citation needed] She was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery[1] in Culver City, California. In the years before her death, she resided in a neighborhood only a few miles from where she once made motion pictures.[citation needed]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1914 | The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
Bell Ringer | Uncredited |
The Magic Cloak of Oz | Short | ||
1915 | The Love Route | Lilly Belle | Lost film |
The Absentee | Genevieve Rhodes / Vanity | Lost film | |
Betty in Search of a Thrill | June Hastings | Lost film | |
The Secret of the Submarine | Cleo Burke | Lost film | |
The Failure | Ruth Shipman | Lost film | |
Martyrs of the Alamo | Old Soldier's Daughter | ||
1916 | The Mediator | Maggie | Lost film |
1917 | Glory | Glory | Lost film |
Dangers of a Bride | The Country Girl | Short Lost film | |
A Clever Dummy | A Leading Lady | ||
Whose Baby? | Short, Uncredited | ||
1918 | Broadway Love | Cherry Blow | |
Fast Company | Alicia Vanderveldt | Lost film | |
The Risky Road | Lottie Bangor | ||
The Mating of Marcella | Lois Underwood | Lost film | |
The Brass Bullet | Rosalind Joy | Lost film | |
The Rough Lover | Helen | Lost film | |
The Sea Flower | Lurline | Lost film | |
1919 | Breezy Jim | Patricia Wentworth | Lost film |
A Midnight Romance | Blondie Mazie | Incomplete film | |
The Poppy Girl's Husband | Polly Dutton | ||
Devil McCare | Mary Archer | Lost film | |
Rough Riding Romance | The Princess | Lost film | |
Lombardi, Ltd. | Phyllis Manning | ||
1920 | The Lost City | Princess Elyata of Tarik | |
The Phantom Foe | Janet Dale | ||
The Jungle Princess | Zoolah / Princess Elyata of Tarik | ||
1921 | The Yellow Arm | Suzanne Valette | Lost film |
The Red Snow | Lost film | ||
1922 | The Eternal Flame | ||
The Broadway Madonna | Gloria Thomas | Lost film | |
1923 | Girl from the West | Lost film | |
1933 | Sensation Hunters | Trixie Snell | (final film role) |
Bibliography
- Michael G. Ankerich (2010). Dangerous Curves atop Hollywood Heels: The Lives, Careers, and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen. BearManor. ISBN 978-1-59393-605-1.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-0983-9. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- ^ "Notes." Time Magazine.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-351-03548-4. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 9780316396677– via Google Books.
- ^ "Time". Time Incorporated. September 6, 1924 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Juanita Hansen". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- "Arrest Noted Film Actress As Hop User." Davenport Democrat and Leader. January 12, 1923, Page 19.
- "Star of Silent Films Juanita Hansen Dies." Los Angeles Times. September 27, 1961, Page 2.
- "Juanita Hansen, 66, Film-Serials Star." New York Times. September 28, 1961, Page 41.
- Hansen, Juanita and Preston Langley Hickey. The Conspiracy of Silence. Educational Associates. 1938.