- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCorinne Mae Griffin
- Nickname
- Orchid Lady
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- 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. She appeared in one final film, Paradise Alley (1962), a low-budget Hugo Haas potboiler.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous) - Corinne Griffith was educated in public schools. After retiring from films, she appeared on stage in the 1930s in the Noël Coward play "Design for Living". She was a member of the American Newspaper Women Club in Washington, DC, and joined the American Society of Composers and Publishers in 1950, collaborating musically with Barnee Breeskin. Her song compositions include "Hail to the Redskins", "Chanson du Bal" and "October".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!
- Corinne Griffith was born in 1894 and appeared in the first of her sixty films at the age of 22 in 1916. She was the executive producer of eleven of her films starting with Single Wives (1924) and ending with Three Hours (1927). She was known as "The Orchid Lady." Unlike many other silent stars. she did not fade into obscurity in taking smaller and smaller roles. She was also not crushed by the advent of sound. She starred in her last film, Lily Christine (1932) , and then decorously retired. She invested her money well in real estate and became very wealthy. For unknown reasons she came out of her self-imposed retirement to appear in one more film, Paradise Alley (1962). She received fifth billing in the Hugo Haas potboiler. Haas is an interesting story in himself. Paradise Alley (1962) was his last film as well. As usual for him he produced, wrote, directed and starred in it.
In 1966 she filed for an annulment from her fourth husband, Broadway actor Danny "Call Me Mister" Scholl. They had only been married a few days. In court, she testified that she was not Corinne Griffith. She claimed that she was the actresses' younger (by twenty years) sister who had taken her place upon the famous sister's death. Contradicting testimony by actresses Betty Blythe and Claire Windsor , who had both known her since the twenties, did not shake her story.
In 1974 Adele Whitely Fletcher, editor of Photoplay, said Corinne was still claiming that she was her own younger sister. Her other marriages were to actor Webster Campbell (1920-23), producer Walter Morosco (1924-34) and to the owner of the Washington Redskins football team George Preston Marshall (1936-58).
She was an accomplished writer who published over a dozen books including two best sellers. Papa's Delicate Condition was made into a movie starring Jackie Gleason, a casting choice that she was not pleased with.- IMDb Mini Biography By: georgeeliot
- SpousesDanny Scholl(February 14, 1965 - May 13, 1966) (divorced)George Preston Marshall(June 27, 1936 - April 29, 1958) (divorced, 2 children)Walter Morosco(February 1924 - May 2, 1934) (divorced)Webster Campbell(April 22, 1916 - October 15, 1923) (divorced)
- 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.
- Authored 11 books published between 1947-73.
- 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.
- The film version of her best-selling memoir 'Papa's Delicate Condition' misspelled her name as "Corrine Griffith" in the credits. Griffith was not fond of the film and had unsuccessfully campaigned for Fred Astaire to play her father and was disappointed with the choice of Jackie Gleason.
- Her parents were John Lewis Griffin and Ambolyn (Ghio) Griffin.
- Transgression (1917) - $3,000 per week
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