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Lilyan Tashman (October 23, 1899 – March 21,
1934) was an United States|American actor|actress.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Tashman was the
youngest of ten children, and as a teenager worked
as an model (person)|model.   By 1914 she had also
starting working in vaudeville, on a bill that
included the up and coming double act Eddie Cantor
and Al Lee. Tashman and Lee were married in 1914. 
Cantor and Lee broke up, with Cantor going on to a
successful solo career, Lee going on to become a
manager for George White's Scandals and Tashman
trying out for whatever Broadway show she could
find.  In 1916 she made the first of her Ziegfeld
Follies appearances with a cast of newcomers that
included Marion Davies.  She stayed with the show
for its 1917 and 1918 seasons and in 1919 Tashman
left the Ziegfeld company.

Later in 1919 she was given a job by the producer
David Belasco in a comedy called The Gold Diggers
starring Ina Claire.  The show was a success, and
ran for two years and in addition to her own
supporting role, Tashman acted as Claire's
understudy. 

In 1921 she made her first film Experience (1921)
with Richard Barthelmess and Nita Naldi.   After a
period of misfortune in New York, New York|New
York in which one show closed, and she was fired
from another, Tashman decided to move to Hollywood
to further her film career.  By this time she and
Al Lee had divorced, and she had started dating
the actor Edmund Lowe, who had already moved to
Hollywood.  Tashman followed and was soon cast in
a supporting role in a Mabel Normand film, Head
Over Heels.

By 1925 Tashman had built a reasonable career as a
film actress.  She appeared in Pretty Ladies (with
Joan Crawford and Myrna Loy also taking small
roles) and Ports of Call with Lowe, whom she
married later in the year.

As a couple Tashman and Lowe became more prominent
in Hollywood than they had as single people.  They
entertained lavishly in their Art Deco Beverly
Hills home, and Tashman began appearing on "Best
Dressed" lists. Their respective film careers
began to improve as a result of the publicity they
were beginning to generate.

Over the next few years Tashman appeared in
numerous supporting roles, and several starring
roles, and with the advent of talking pictures
made an easy transition.  She had a rich,
contralto voice, and a confident delivery after
years spent on the stage.    After a busy year in
1931 in which Tashman appeared in eight films, she
began to reduce her work schedules while
newspapers speculated about the state of her
health.   After denying repeatedly that there was
a problem with her health, Tashman was eventually
hospitalised, and upon her release answered
further rumors with a statement saying that she
had undergone an apendectomy.  It was only when
she died soon after, that it was revealed she had
died from cancer. 


==External links==
*imdb name|id=0850896|name= Lilyan Tashman
*http://silent-movies.com/Ladies/PTashman.html
Lilyan Tashman photo gallery
*http://www.classicimages.com/1997/august97/tashma
n.html Classic Images article on Lilyan Tashman