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Elsie Ferguson (born August 19, 1883; died
November 15, 1961) was an United states|American
stage and film Actor|actress.

Born Elsie Louise Ferguson in New York City, she
was the only child of a successful attorney.
Raised and educated in Manhattan, she became
interested in the theater at a young age and made
her stage debut at seventeen as a chorus girl in a
musical comedy. By 1909, she was a major Broadway
star. In 1910 she spent time on the stage in
London.

During World War I, a number of Broadway stars
organized a campaign to sell War bond|Liberty
Bonds from the theatre stage prior to the
performance as well as at highly publicized
appearances at places such as the New York Public
Library. Ferguson, noted for her great beauty and
as one of the "Park Avenue aristocrats," on one
occasion is reputed to have sold $85,000.00 worth
of bonds in less than an hour.

At the peak of her popularity, several film
studios offered her a contract but she declined
them all until the widely respected New York based
France|French director Maurice Tourneur proposed
she appear in the lead role as a sophisticated
patrician in his 1917 silent film, "Barbary
Sheep". Following this first film, Elsie Ferguson
starred in two more films directed by Tourneur
under a lucrative contract from Paramount Pictures
that paid her $1,000 per day of filming.
Continuing to play roles of elegant society women,
Ferguson was quickly dubbed "The Aristocrat of the
Silent Screen."  But the aristocratic label was
also because she was known as a difficult and
sometimes arrogant personality to work with. Many
of the films she agreed to do were because they
were adaptations of stage plays with which she was
familiar.

Elsie Ferguson eventually followed the move west
and bought a home in the hills of Hollywood,
California. In 1920, she traveled to the Middle
East and Europe. She fell in love with Paris and
the French Riviera and within a few years bought a
permanent home there. In 1921, she accepted
another contract offer from Paramount Pictures to
star in four films to be spread over a two-year
period. One of these was the 1921 film entitled
Forever (silent film)|Forever in which she starred
opposite the leading heartthrob of the day,
Wallace Reid. It is considered her best work in
film.

In 1925 she made one film only before returning to
the Broadway stage. In 1930 she made her first
talkie that would also be her final film. Although
her voice came across well enough, at age 47 she
was well past her prime for fans who wanted to see
her as the great youthful beauty she had once
been. Despite her wealth and fame and glamorous
lifestyle, Elsie Ferguson's personal life had more
than its share of turmoil. Married four times,
following her final marriage at age 51 she and her
husband acquired a farm in Connecticut and divided
their time between it and her Antibes|Cap
d'Antibes home on the Mediterranean Sea in the
south of France. Ferguson made her final
appearance on Broadway in 1943 at the age of 60
that met with critical acclaim.

A very wealthy woman with no heirs, and a lover of
animals, on her passing in 1961 she left a large
part of her considerable estate to a variety of
charities including several for animal welfare.

Elsie Ferguson was interred in the Duck River
Cemetery in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

==External links==

*imdb name|id=0272425|name=Elsie Ferguson

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Elsie Ferguson (born August 19, 1883; died
November 15, 1961) was an United states|American
stage and film Actor|actress.

Born Elsie Louise Ferguson in New York City, she
was the only child of a successful attorney.
Raised and educated in Manhattan, she became
interested in the theater at a young age and made
her stage debut at seventeen as a chorus girl in a
musical comedy. By 1909, she was a major Broadway
star. In 1910 she spent time on the stage in
London.

During World War I, a number of Broadway stars
organized a campaign to sell War bond|Liberty
Bonds from the theatre stage prior to the
performance as well as at highly publicized
appearances at places such as the New York Public
Library. Ferguson, noted for her great beauty and
as one of the "Park Avenue aristocrats," on one
occasion is reputed to have sold $85,000.00 worth
of bonds in less than an hour.

At the peak of her popularity, several film
studios offered her a contract but she declined
them all until the widely respected New York based
France|French director Maurice Tourneur proposed
she appear in the lead role as a sophisticated
patrician in his 1917 silent film, "Barbary
Sheep". Following this first film, Elsie Ferguson
starred in two more films directed by Tourneur
under a lucrative contract from Paramount Pictures
that paid her $1,000 per day of filming.
Continuing to play roles of elegant society women,
Ferguson was quickly dubbed "The Aristocrat of the
Silent Screen."  But the aristocratic label was
also because she was known as a difficult and
sometimes arrogant personality to work with. Many
of the films she agreed to do were because they
were adaptations of stage plays with which she was
familiar.

Elsie Ferguson eventually followed the move west
and bought a home in the hills of Hollywood,
California. In 1920, she traveled to the Middle
East and Europe. She fell in love with Paris and
the French Riviera and within a few years bought a
permanent home there. In 1921, she accepted
another contract offer from Paramount Pictures to
star in four films to be spread over a two-year
period. One of these was the 1921 film entitled
Forever (silent film)|Forever in which she starred
opposite the leading heartthrob of the day,
Wallace Reid. It is considered her best work in
film.

In 1925 she made one film only before returning to
the Broadway stage. In 1930 she made her first
talkie that would also be her final film. Although
her voice came across well enough, at age 47 she
was well past her prime for fans who wanted to see
her as the great youthful beauty she had once
been. Despite her wealth and fame and glamorous
lifestyle, Elsie Ferguson's personal life had more
than its share of turmoil. Married four times,
following her final marriage at age 51 she and her
husband acquired a farm in Connecticut and divided
their time between it and her Antibes|Cap
d'Antibes home on the Mediterranean Sea in the
south of France. Ferguson made her final
appearance on Broadway in 1943 at the age of 60
that met with critical acclaim.

A very wealthy woman with no heirs, and a lover of
animals, on her passing in 1961 she left a large
part of her considerable estate to a variety of
charities including several for animal welfare.

Elsie Ferguson was interred in the Duck River
Cemetery in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

==External links==

*imdb name|id=0272425|name=Elsie Ferguson