Viola Dana
Dana in 1922
Born
Virginia Flugrath

(1897-06-26)June 26, 1897
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 3, 1987(1987-07-03) (aged 90)
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Forever Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
Years active1900–1933
Spouses
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​
(m. 1915; died 1918)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1925; div. 1929)​
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1930; div. 1945)​
      RelativesEdna Flugrath (sister)
      Shirley Mason (sister)

      Viola Dana (born Virginia Flugrath; June 26, 1897 – July 3, 1987) was an American film actress who was successful during the era of silent films. She appeared in over 100 films, but was unable to make the transition to sound films.

      Early life

      Born Virginia Flugrath on June 26, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York City, where she was raised, she was the middle sister of three siblings who all became actresses. Her sisters were known as Edna Flugrath and Shirley Mason.[1] Dana appeared on the stage at the age of three. She read Shakespeare and particularly identified with the teenage Juliet. She enjoyed a long run at the Hudson Theater in Manhattan. Between 1910 and 1912, she made four small appearances in the emergent film industry in New York, using the name Viola Flugrath. A particular favorite of audiences was her performance at age 16 (billed as Viola Dana) in the Broadway play The Poor Little Rich Girl by Eleanor Gates.[2]

      She began performing in vaudeville with Dustin Farnum in The Little Rebel and played a bit part in The Model by Augustus Thomas.[1]

      Film career

      Metro Pictures advertisement for the filmmaking team of Viola Dana and John H. Collins (1916)
      Robert D. Walker and Dana in still for Aladdin's Other Lamp (1917)

      With the stage name of Viola Dana, she entered films in 1910, including A Christmas Carol (1910). Her first motion picture was made at a former Manhattan (New York) riding academy on West 61st Street. The stalls had been transformed to dressing rooms. Dana became a star with the Edison Manufacturing Company, working at their studio in the Bronx. She fell in love with Edison director John Hancock Collins, and they married in 1915. Dana's success in Collins's Edison features such as Children of Eve (1915) and The Cossack Whip (1916) encouraged producer B.A. Rolfe to offer the couple lucrative contracts with his company, Rolfe Photoplays, which released through Metro Pictures Corporation. Dana and Collins accepted Rolfe's offer in 1916 and made several films for Rolfe/Metro, notably The Girl Without a Soul and Blue Jeans (both 1917). Rolfe closed his New York-area studio in the face of the 1918 flu pandemic and sent most of his personnel to California. Dana left before Collins, who was finishing work at the studio; however, Collins contracted influenza and died in a New York hotel room on October 23, 1918.

      Dana remained in California acting for Metro throughout the 1920s, but her popularity gradually waned. One of her latter roles was in Frank Capra's first film for Columbia Pictures, That Certain Thing (1928). She retired from the screen in 1929. Her final screen credits are roles in Two Sisters (1929), One Splendid Hour (1929), and with her sister Leonie Flugrath, better known as Shirley Mason (years earlier she had appeared with her older sister, Edna Flugrath, in the 1923 film The Social Code), in The Show of Shows (1929). By the time she made her final film appearance in 1933, she had appeared in over 100 films. She briefly came out of retirement to appear in her first and only television role in a small part on Lux Video Theatre in 1956.[3]

      More than 50 years after her retirement from the screen, Dana appeared in the Kevin Brownlow/David Gill documentary series Hollywood (1980), discussing her career as a silent film star during the 1920s. Footage from the interview was used in the later documentary series Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987) from the same team.[4]

      Personal life

      Dana's first husband was Edison director John Collins who died in the influenza pandemic of 1918. In 1920, she began a relationship with Ormer "Lock" Locklear, an aviator, military veteran and budding film star. Locklear died when his aircraft crashed on August 2, 1920, during a nighttime film shoot for The Skywayman. Although married, Locklear had been dating Dana, and on the night before his death, in a premonition, gave her some of his personal effects. Dana witnessed the 1920 crash and did not fly again for 25 years.[5][N 1]

      Locklear was reputed to be the prototype for the character of Waldo Pepper played by Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper (1975). Dana was an honored guest at its premiere.[6]

      Dana was married to Yale football star and actor Maurice "Lefty" Flynn in June 1925.[7] They divorced in February 1929.[8] Her third and final marriage was to golfer Jimmy Thomson from 1930 to March 1945.[9] In later years, she volunteered at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, and she moved there permanently in 1979.[10] In 1986, one year before her death, she was the subject of a documentary short by Anthony Slide titled Vi: Portrait of a Silent Star, in which she talks of her life and career.

      Death

      Dana died on July 3, 1987, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles at the age of 90.[11] Her urn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery lists her as Viola Dana as well as her birth name Flugrath.

      For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Viola Dana has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard.

      Filmography

      Short subject

      Year Title Role Notes
      1910A Christmas Carol
      1912Children Who LaborThe Immigrant's Older Daughter
      The Butler and the MaidThe Statue
      How Father Accomplished His WorkThe Second Daughter
      The Lord and the PeasantMary's Sister
      The Third Thanksgiving
      1914Molly the Drummer BoyMolly Mason
      My Friend from IndiaGertie Underholt
      Treasure TroveCora Fairfield
      The Blind FiddlerThe Fairy
      The Adventure of the Hasty ElopementRuth
      Seth's SweetheartSally
      Who Goes There?Kate - Toppy's Sweetheart
      1915LenaEuphemia Miggles
      A Thorn Among Roses
      The Stone HeartNan Cowles
      The Glory of ClementinaEtta Concanna
      A Spiritual ElopementEvelyn Banks
      The Portrait in the AtticThelma
      A Theft in the DarkLady Genevieve
      The StoningRuth Fenton
      The Slavey StudentAlma Picket
      Her HappinessViola Winters
      1933The Strange Case of Poison Ivy

      Features

      Lobby card from Naughty Nannette-1927
      Year Title Role Notes
      1915The House of the Lost CourtDolores EdgertonLost film
      Cohen's LuckMinnie CohenLost film
      On Dangerous PathsEleanor ThurstonLost film
      GladiolaGladiola BainLost film
      Children of EveFifty-Fifty Mamie
      1916The Innocence of RuthRuth Travers
      The Flower of No Man's LandEchoLost film
      The Light of HappinessTangletopLost film
      The Gates of EdenEve / EvelynLost film
      The Cossack WhipDarya Orlinsky
      1918Threads of FateDorotheaLost film
      Rosie O'GradyRosie O'GradyLost film
      The Mortal SinJane AndersonLost film
      God's Law and Man'sAmeiaLost film
      Lady BarnacleLakshimaLost film
      Aladdin’s Other LampPatricia Smith (Patsy)Lost film
      The Girl Without A SoulUnity Beaumont / Priscilla Beaumont
      Blue JeansJune
      1918The Winding TrailAudrey GrahamLost film
      A Weaver of DreamsJudith SylvesterLost film
      Breakers AheadRuth BowmanLost film
      Riders of the NightSally Castleton
      The Only RoadNita
      OpportunityMary Willard
      Flower of the DuskBarbara North
      1919The Gold CureAnnice PaischLost film
      Satan JuniorDiana Ardway
      The Parisian TigressJeanneLost film
      False EvidenceMadelon MacTavish
      Some BridePatricia MorleyLost film
      The MicrobeHappy O'Brien, The MicrobeLost film
      Please Get MarriedMuriel AshleyLost film
      1920The Willow TreeO-Riu
      Dangerous to MenElizaLost film
      The Chorus Girl's RomanceMarcia MeadowsLost film
      BlackmailFlossie GoldenLost film
      Cinderella's TwinConnie McGillLost film
      1921The Off-Shore PirateArdita FarnamLost film
      Puppets of FateSorrentina PalombraLost film
      Home StuffMadge Joy
      Life's Darn FunnyZoe RobertsLost film
      The Match-BreakerJane MorganLost film
      There Are No VillainsRosa MorelandLost film
      1922The Fourteenth LoverVi Marchmont
      Glass HousesJoy DuvalLost film
      Seeing's BelievingDiana Webster
      They Like 'Em RoughKatherineLost film
      The Five Dollar BabyRuthLost film
      June MadnessClytie WhitmoreLost film
      Love in the DarkMary DuffyLost film
      1923Crinoline and RomanceMiss Emmy LouLost film
      Her Fatal MillionsMary BishopLost film
      HollywoodViola DanaLost film
      Rouged LipsNorah MacPherson
      The Social CodeBabs Van BurenLost film
      In Search of a ThrillAnn Clemance
      A Noise in NewboroMartha MasonLost film
      1924The Heart BanditMolly O'HaraLost film
      Don't Doubt Your HusbandHelen BlakeLost film
      The Beauty PrizeConnie Du BoisLost film
      RevelationJoline Hofer
      Merton of the MoviesSally Montague, 'Flips'Lost film
      Open All NightThérèse Duverne
      Along Came RuthRuth AmbroseLost film
      As Man DesiresPandora La CroixLost film
      1925Forty WinksEleanor ButterworthLost film
      The Necessary EvilShirley HolmesLost film
      Winds of ChanceRouletta Kirby
      The Great LoveMinette BunkerLost film
      1926Wild Oats LaneMarie, the GirlLost film
      Bigger Than Barnum'sJuanita Calles
      Kosher Kitty KellyKitty KellyIncomplete film, missing a reel
      The Ice FloodMarie O'Neill
      The Silent LoverScadsza
      Bred in Old KentuckyKatie O'Doone
      1927Home StruckBarbara Page
      Salvation JaneSalvation Jane
      Naughty NanetteNanette Pearson
      Lure of the Night ClubMary Murdock
      1928That Certain ThingMolly Kelly
      1929Two SistersJean / JaneLost film
      One Splendid HourBobbie Walsh
      The Show of ShowsPerformer in 'The Pirate,' 'Meet My Sister' & 'Ladies of the Ensemble' NumbersBlack-and-white version is extant, and the technicolor version is partially extant

      References

      Notes

      1. ↑ In the "Hazards of the Game" episode of Hollywood (1980), actresses Leatrice Joy and Viola Dana recalled Locklear and the making of his last film. Dana described his final flight.[5]

      Citations

      1. 1 2 Stone, Tammy. "Viola Dana." The Silent Collection; retrieved October 22, 2014.
      2. ↑ The Poor Little Rich Girl as presented on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre January 21, 1913 to June 1913; IBDb.com
      3. ↑ Lussier, Tim. "The tragic Flugrath sisters: Hard to believe, But all three experienced the same loss." silentsaregolden.com, 1999. Retrieved: October 22, 2014.
      4. ↑ "Viola Dana, 1897–1987." Golden Silents, 2014. Retrieved: October 22, 2014.
      5. 1 2 Farmer 1984, p. 23.
      6. ↑ Anderson, Nancy. "Viola Dana Loved the Real Waldo Pepper". Greeley Daily Tribune, April 28, 1975, p. 23. Retrieved: October 22, 2014.
      7. ↑ "Viola Dana Marries Maurice "Lefty" Flynn." The Norwalk Hour, June 22, 1925, p. 5. Retrieved: May 1, 2013.
      8. ↑ "Viola Dana To Wed Professional Golfer." The Portsmouth Sunday Times, October 11, 1930, p. 2. Retrieved: May 1, 2013.
      9. ↑ "Divorce Granted Viola Dana." St. Petersburg Times, March 31, 1945, p. 8. Retrieved: May 1, 2013.
      10. ↑ "Actress Viola Dana, 90, Star of 50 silent movies." Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1987. Retrieved: October 22, 2014.
      11. ↑ "Silent Movie Star Viola Dana Dies." The Bryan Times, July 11, 1987, p. 3. Retrieved: May 1, 2013.

      Bibliography

      • Farmer, James H. Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. ISBN 978-0-83062-374-7.
      • "From the Movies to Stardom". Ogden Standard, January 10, 1914, p. 27.
      • "Little Viola Dana Ambitious to Become Grown-Up Actress". Indianapolis Star, January 15, 1914, p. 13.
      • "Viola Dana In Person at Faurot". Lima News, March 23, 1930, p. 24.
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