Anita Stewart

For the culinary author, see Anita Stewart (culinary author).

Anita Stewart
File:Anitastewart.jpg Anita Stewart in the late 1910s
Born	Anna May Stewart (1895-02-07)February 7, 1895 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, film producer
Years active	1911–1932
Spouse(s)	Rudolph Cameron (m. 1917–28) George Peabody Converse (m. 1929–46)

Anita Stewart (February 7, 1895 – May 4, 1961) was an American actress and film producer of the early silent film era.

Biography

She was born in Brooklyn, New York as Anna May Stewart on February 7, 1895.

She began her acting career in 1911 while still attending Erasmus High School in extra and bit parts for the Vitagraph film studios at their New York City location. Stewart was one of the earliest film actresses to achieve public recognition in the nascent medium of motion pictures and achieved a great deal of acclaim early in her acting career. Among her earlier popular roles were 1911's enormous box office hit adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, directed by William J.Humphrey, and having an all-star cast including Mabel Normand, Dorothy Kelly, Norma Talmadge and John Bunny, as well as roles in 1913's The Forgotten Latchkey and The White Feather.

In 1917, she married Rudolph Cameron and became the sister-in-law of film director and actor Ralph Ince, who began giving the young actress more prominent roles in films for Vitagraph. Throughout the 1910s and into the early 1920s, Anita Stewart was one of the silent screen's most popular actresses and was often paired in romantic roles with real-life husband, actor Rudolph Cameron. Stewart was also featured opposite such screen legends as Mae Busch, and Barbara La Marr.

Stewart left her lucrative Vitagraph Studios career in 1918 to accept a contract with fledgling film mogul Louis B. Mayer by the terms of which she would head her own production company at the Mayer studios in Los Angeles. It was alleged that Stewart was recovering from an illness in a Los Angeles hospital when Mayer convinced her to leave Vitagraph for an undisclosed but exorbitant sum of money. Between 1918 and 1919 Stewart produced seven moderately successful vehicles, starring in all of them. Throughout the 1920s, Stewart continue to be featured in prominent roles in silent films.

Following Stewart's divorce from Cameron in 1928, Stewart married George Peabody Converse the following year.

Like many of her silent film contemporaries, Stewart found the transition to sound film extremely difficult. After making just one musical short in 1932, The Hollywood Handicap, Stewart retired from the screen.

On May 4, 1961, Stewart died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California.

Legacy

For her contribution to motion picture industry as an actress, Anita Stewart was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6724 Hollywood Boulevard.

Selected filmography

File:The Combat.jpg

The Combat (1916)

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1911	Prejudice of Pierre Marie		Credited as Anna Stewart
1912	Her Choice	May - The Vain Niece
1912	Billy's Pipe Dream	Pert Dawson
1913	The Swan Girl	The Swan Girl
1914	The Girl from Prosperity	Bessie Williams
1915	The Awakening	Jo
1916	The Suspect	Sophie Karrenina
1916	The Daring of Diana	Diana
1916	The Combat	Muriel Fleming
1917	The Glory of Yolanda	Yolanda
1917	Clover's Rebellion	Clover Dean
1918	Virtuous Wives	Amy Forrester
1919	The Painted World	Yvette Murree
1919	Human Desire	Bernice
1919	In Old Kentucky	Madge Brierly
1920	The Fighting Shepherdess	Kate Prentice	Alternative title: Vindication Producer
1921	Playthings of Destiny	Julie Arnold	Producer
1922	Rose o' the Sea	Rose Elton	Producer
1923	The Love Piker	Hope Warner
1923	Mary of the Movies	herself
1924	The Great White Way	Mabel Vandegrift
1925	Never the Twain Shall Meet	Tamea
1926	The Prince of Pilsen	Nellie Wagner
1927	Wild Geese	Lind Archer
1928	Sisters of Eve	Beatrice Franklin

External links

• Anita Stewart at the Internet Movie Database
• Anita Stewart at AllMovie
• Anita Stewart at the Internet Broadway Database
• Anita Stewart at the Women Film Pioneers Project
• Literature on Anita Stewart
• 1924 passport photo (flickr.com)
• Anita Stewart at Find a Grave