Helen Gilmore was an American actress of the stage and silent motion pictures from Chicago, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. She left acting to become a magazine editor.

Stock company player

Gilmore came to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1917 and studied for a time at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. In 1922 she made her acting debut in When We Were Young with Henry Hull

Henry Hull

Henry Watterson Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London .-Life and career:Hull was born in Louisville, Kentucky...

. She appeared with the stock company of George Cukor

George Cukor

George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...

 in Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

. On tour she acted in support of Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

, William Hodge, Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...

, and other stars.

Silent film actress

As an actress in silent films Gilmore appeared in more than one hundred features, beginning with a role in Notoriety in 1914. As Mrs. Hobbs, in A Petticoat Pilot (1918), Helen was commended for her careful character study. The Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 film was directed by Rollin S. Sturgeon and was based on the novel by Evelyn Lincoln

Evelyn Lincoln

Evelyn Maurine Norton Lincoln was the personal secretary to John F. Kennedy from his election to the United States Senate in 1953 until his 1963 assassination in Dallas. Mrs...

. She played the head nurse in Too Much Business (1922). This was a comedy which originated with a Saturday Evening Post story by
Earl Derr Biggers

Earl Derr Biggers

Earl Derr Biggers was an American novelist and playwright. He is remembered primarily for adaptations of his novels, especially those featuring the Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:...

. In it Gilmore was cast with Elsa Lorimer and Mack Fenton. Her final motion picture credit is for the role of a motorist in Two Tars (1928).

Magazine editor

Helen left the theater in 1933. She became affiliated with Liberty Magazine

Liberty Magazine

Liberty is a magazine published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church that covers issues involving separation of church and state, and current events in politics...

. In 1938 she was appointed editor of Movie Mirror Magazine, a Macfadden publication. She became editor of Photoplay

Photoplay

Photoplay was one of the first American film fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded a similar magazine entitled Motion Picture Story...

 in 1941 after the periodical merged with Movie Mirror. Her career as an editor lasted approximately a decade.

In private life Helen was Mrs. Richard Florac.

Helen Gilmore died at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, of acute leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

, in 1947. She was 47 years old.

External links