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Pearl Fay White, born March 4, 1889 in Greenridge,
Missouri, United States ? died August 4, 1938 in
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy, France,
was a singer and star of silent film.


The daughter of a poor Missouri farmer, Pearl
White grew up in Springfield, Missouri where in
High School she became interested in acting and
participated in a local theatre company. At age
18, she joined the Trousedale Stock Company as a
part-time performer, working the evening shows
while keeping her day job to help support her
family. Before too long she was able to join the
company full time, touring with the group
throughout the American Midwest. In 1907 she
married fellow actor Victor Sutherland (1889-1968)
but they soon separated and eventually divorced. 

In 1910, Pearl White was offered a chance by
Pathé Frères to perform in The Girl From
Arizona, the France|French company's first
American film produced at their new studio in
Bound Brook, New Jersey. She then worked at Lubin
Studios and several other of the independents
until the Crystal Film Company in Manhattan, gave
her top billing in numerous short films. Having
gained some degree of public recognition, in 1914
the Pathé director Louis J. Gasnier (1875-1963)
offered Pearl White the starring role in The
Perils of Pauline, a film based on a story by
playwright, Charles W. Goddard (1879-1951). The
film was not about a helpless woman, but one where
"Pauline" was the central character in a story
involving considerable action for which the
athletic and unblinking Peal White proved ideally
suited.

The Perils of Pauline consisted of twenty episodes
that enlarged upon the damsel in
distress|heroine-in-jeopardy cliffhanger style of
film. An enormous box-office success, it made
Pearl White a major celebrity and she was soon
earning the astronomical sum of $3,000 a week. She
followed this major achievement with an even
bigger box-office winner, The Exploits of Elaine.
While flying airplanes, racing cars, swimming
across rivers, and other assorted feats, she did
four more successful serials based on the same
theme. For these action-packed films, Pearl White
did much of her own dangerous stunt work and as a
result she suffered a number injuries that forced
her to begin using a stunt double in her later
films. 

By 1919, Pearl White was a wealthy young woman
when she met and married World War I veteran Major
Wallace McCutcheon (1880-1928) who had become an
actor, director and cinematographer. This marriage
did not last and they divorced in 1921 and two
years later White made her last American film.
Influenced by the French friends she made while
working for Pathé, and someone who appreciated
different cultures, Pearl White was drawn to the
great gathering of artistic genius happening in
the Montparnasse|Montparnasse Quarter of Paris,
France. While living there she made her last film
for her friend, the Belgium|Belgian-born director
Edward José (1880-1930), who had directed her in
several serials in the USA. Silent films could be
made in any country and because White was a highly
recognizable star worldwide, in France she was
offered many roles but chose to perform live on
stage in a Montmartre production called, "Tu Perds
la Boule" (You Lost the Ball). Enjoying this type
of performance, in 1925 she accepted an offer to
star with comedian Max Wall in the "London Review"
at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

Pearl White's childhood poverty made her frugal
with money. A shrewd businesswoman, she invested
in a successful Parisian nightclub, a Biarritz
resort hotel/casino, plus a profitable stable of
thoroughbred race horses. Living in a fashionable
town house in the exclusive Parisian suburb of
Passy, she also owned a villa in Rambouillet. The
poor girl from Missouri hobnobbed with the elite
of European society, and in time became involved
with Greek businessman, Theodore Cossika who
shared her interest in travel. Together they
acquired a home near Cairo, Egypt and White
further expanded her cultural horizons by touring
with her companion throughout the Middle East and
the Orient.

Over the years, White's alcohol use increased
substantially, possibly in an attempt to numb the
chronic pain from the injuries resulting from her
film stunts. In 1933 she had to be hospitalized
which led to an addiction to the drugs used to
lessen her suffering. Her last few years were
spent in a painful alcoholic haze and she died
from cirrhosis of the liver at age 49 in the
American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly.
She was buried in the Cimetière de Passy.

Pearl White's place in film is seen as a benchmark
in the evolution of both cinema genres and the
role of women. Her film, The Exploits of Elaine,
has been selected for preservation in the United
States National Film Registry. All her films were
made at East Coast studios and it is believed
White never visited Hollywood who would honor her
contribution to the film industry with a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

==Selected filmography:==
*The Perils of Pauline(1914)
*The Exploits of Elaine  (1914)
*The New Exploits of Elaine  (1915)
*The Romance of Elaine (1915)
*The Iron Claw  (1916)
*Pearl of the Army  (1916)
*The Fatal Ring (1917) 
*The House of Hate  (1918)
*The Lightning Raider  (1919)
*Plunder (film)|Plunder (1923)
*Perils of Paris (1924)