Vola Vale was a silent motion picture actress from Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

. She was born Vola Smith.

Early career

A demure type, she was regarded as one of the screen's most beautiful women. Vale was educated in Chevy Chase, Maryland

Chevy Chase, Maryland

Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names...

. She began her career in amateur theatricals in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

. Then she played in stock companies for a while.

Her first movie experience was with Biograph

American Mutoscope and Biograph Company

The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, and for two decades was one of the most prolific, releasing over three thousand short...

, under the tutelage of the great film director D.W. Griffith. After a month of playing atmosphere parts, Vola was offered a genuine role. She wore a velvet gown with a train and a feathered hat. Soon she was appearing in short reel films for Biograph. Among the actors she was cast with were William Hart

William Hart

William Hart may refer to:In arts and entertainment:* William Hart , English Caroline actor* William Hart , Scottish-American painter* William Matthew Hart , British lithographer and bird artist...

, Sessue Hayakawa

Sessue Hayakawa

was a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors...

, Tsuru Aoki

Tsuru Aoki

was a popular Japanese-American stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top-billing in American motion pictures.-Life and career:...

, William Haines

William Haines

Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...

, Harry Carey

Harry Carey

Harry Carey was an American actor and one of silent film's earliest superstars. He was the father of Harry Carey Jr., who was also a prominent actor.-Early life and career:...

, Tully Marshall

Tully Marshall

William Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...

 and William Russell.

Vale was typically cast in mountain maid roles. She was also adept in playing Spanish, Italian, French, and Gypsy roles. Aside from Biograph Vola worked for Fox Film, Famous Players-Lasky

Famous Players-Lasky

Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company created on July 19, 1916 from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company -- originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays -- and Jesse L...

, Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

, and 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...

.

Serious Actress

Her ambition was to play Madame Butterfly with an actual Japanese company. Also to act as Lorna Doone. She was most inspired by Hayakawa and hoped to learn to act inside, as he did. With Sessue Hayakawa

Sessue Hayakawa

was a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors...

 she made Each To His Kind (1917). Before filming began it was decided that the name Smith was too common to be used by a motion picture star. She changed her professional
name to Vola Vale.

Vale reflected in the early 1920s about observation, particularly its power in attaining one's acting proficiency. It is the ability of the actress to see and note of the little things in life and then store them in her subconscious mind where they await her call to use at the psychological moment before the camera that enables her to either register success in her chosen work, or be merely mediocre. She began this process as a youth acting with D.W. Griffith. She observed how the director took notice of everything the actors did.

Model

Vola Vale modeled clothes for the Broadway Department Store in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. A 1916 photo from the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

 shows her in an exclusive Betty Wales frock from Broadway. This was a very popular dress among college women of the era.

Private life

Vola was married for a time to film director and producer Al Russell. They had a son.

She was a member of Our Club, a group of seventeen of Hollywood's baby cinema stars. Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

 served as honorary president. Fellow members were Mildred Davis

Mildred Davis

Mildred Hillary Davis was an American actress who appeared in many of Harold Lloyd's classic silent comedies and eventually became his wife.-Early life and career:...

, Helen Ferguson

Helen Ferguson

Helen Ferguson was an American actress later turned publicist.Born in Decatur, Illinois in 1901, she graduated from Nicholas High School of Chicago and the Academy of Fine Arts. Ferguson was a newspaper reporter before entering the motion picture field.It is thought she made her debut in films in...

, Patsy Ruth Miller

Patsy Ruth Miller

Patsy Ruth Miller was an American film actress.After being discovered by the actress Alla Nazimova at a Hollywood party, Patsy Ruth Miller got her first break with a small role in Camille, which starred Rudolph Valentino...

, Clara Horton, Gertrude Olmstead

Gertrude Olmstead

Gertrude Olmstead was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929.-Career:...

, Laura La Plante

Laura La Plante

Laura La Plante was an American actress, best-known for her roles in silent films.-Early acting career:...

, Virginia Fox

Virginia Fox

Virginia Fox was an American actress who starred in many silent films of the 1910s and 1920s. In 1924 she married film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, with whom she had three children, Darrylin Zanuck, Susan Zanuck, and Richard Zanuck...

, Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore was an American film actress, and one of the most fashionable stars of the silent film era.-Early life:...

, ZaSu Pitts

ZaSu Pitts

ZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, transitioning to comedy sound films.-Early life:ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas to Rulandus and Nellie Pitts; she was the third of four children...

, Lois Wilson, May McAvoy

May McAvoy

May McAvoy was an American actress, who worked mainly during the silent film era. She starred in Hollywood's revolutionary part talking film, The Jazz Singer.-Career:...

, Gloria Hope

Gloria Hope

Gloria Hope was an American silent film actress.Her original given name was Olive Frances.-Life and career:She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1901...

, Virginia Valli

Virginia Valli

Virginia Valli was an American stage and film actress whose motion picture career started in the silent film era and lasted until the beginning of the sound film era of the 1930s....

, Carmel Myers

Carmel Myers

Carmel Myers was an American actress who worked chiefly in silent movies.Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of an Australian rabbi and Austrian Jewish mother. Her father became well-connected with California's emerging film industry, and introduced her to film pioneer D. W. Griffith,...

, Edna Murphy, and Carmelita Geraghty

Carmelita Geraghty

Carmelita Geraghty was an American silent-film actress.-Early life:Her father was screenwriter Tom Geraghty. She was the sister of writers Maurice Geraghty and Gerard Geraghty....

Vola Vale died in Hawthorne, California

Hawthorne, California

Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. The city at the 2010 census had a population of 84,293, up from 84,112 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

 in 1970, aged 73, of heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

. She is interred at the Roosevelt Memorial Park in Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...

, USA.