Colleen Moore was born August 19, 1900 in Port Huron, Michigan with the birth name of Kathleen Morrison. Her father was an irrigation engineer and his job was good enough to where the family had middle-class environment. She was convent educated and studied at the famed Detroit Conservatory.
Although born in Michigan, Colleen's family moved to Atlanta, Georgia and later to Tampa, Florida where she spent some of her happiest years. She described her childhood as a happy one where her parents were very much in love. In fact, she claims she never heard her parents argue with each other although she admitted they had their differences.
As a child, she was fascinated with films and the queens of the day such as Marguerite Clark and Mary Pickford. She kept a scrapbook of those actresses. Colleen even kept a blank space for the day when she would be one of the actresses featured therein. When a neighbor had a piano delivered down the street from her, she talked the delivery men into taking the wooden packing crate to her house where she set up a stage. It was the beginning of her career as she and her friend performed plays for the other neighborhood children.
By 1917 she would be on her way to becoming a star. Colleen's uncle. Walter Howey was the editor of the Chicago Tribune and he helped D.W. Griffith clear INTOLERANCE and BIRTH OF A NATION through the censors. Knowing her niece's penchant for acting, he asked Griffith about helping Colleen get a start in the motion picture industry. No sooner than she got to Hollywood that she played in five films that year with THE SAVAGE being her first.
Her first starring role was as Annie in LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE in 1918. She was on her way. She also starred in a number of westerns opposite Tom Mix. The movie that defined her as a flapper was the 1923 classic FLAMING YOUTH where she played Patricia Fentriss.
By 1927, she was the top box-office draw in the US pulling in the phenomenal sum of $12,500 a week! Much of this was not spent frivolously. Instead she put the money into the stack market, making very shrewd investments.
She successfully made the transition into the "talkie" era making sound films. Her final movie was as Hester Payne in 1934's THE SCARLET LETTER. She did make one final appearance in the TV mini-series, HOLLYWOOD, in 1980. But it was her silver screen appearnces that mattered most.
After she retired she wrote two books on investing and went so far as to marry two stockbrokers.
On January 25, 1988 Colleen died of an undisclosed ailment in Paso Robles,
California. She was 87.
Colleen Moore Photos Below!!!
Colleen Pic 1
Colleen Pic 2
Colleen Pic 3
Colleen Pic 4
Colleen Pic 5
Colleen Pic 6
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