Corinne Griffith

Corinne Griffith was a popular star of the silent movies. She started her film career at Vitagraph in 1916 and later moved to First National, where she became one of that studio's biggest stars. At the height of her popularity she was known as the "Orchid Lady of the Screen.

" Black Oxen (1923) was one of her most popular films.

In 1925 she made Déclassé (1925), which featured a young extra named Clark Gable.

Corinne received an Academy Award nomination for her work in The Divine Lady (1928), but sound did not embrace her in the same way that the silent films had. Music was a popular device used in many early sound movies, but she quickly proved that she was not cut out to be a singer, and the fact that her acting style remained rooted in the wooden pre-sound days didn't help matters.

Her last Hollywood film was released in 1930.

After appearing in an English film in 1932, she retired.

The December 20, 1941 edition of The Los Angeles Times featured a story about Griffith adopting two daughters: Cynthia, aged 10, and Pamela, aged 12, and included a picture of the actress with the girls. No further information can be found on the two and neither are mentioned in any of Corinne Griffith's obituaries.

Corinne's claim not to have been the silent actress Corinne Griffith during her 1965 divorce trial inspired the Tom Tryon novel "Fedora", which was later filmed by Billy Wilder and released in 1979, coincidentally the year of her death.

An astute businesswoman after leaving her film career behind, she soon amassed a fortune in real estate holdings. At the time of her death on July 13, 1979, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world, leaving an estate of $150 million.