Georgia Hale
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Georgia Theodora Hale (born ✦June 25, 1900 in St. Joseph, Missouri – Died †June 17, 1985 in Hollywood, California) was an actress of the silent movie era. Georgia Hale landed one of the lead roles in Charlie Chaplin’s film The Gold Rush (1925) when her friend Lita Grey, initially cast in the role, became pregnant and had to back out. The role won her instant star status. Her previous roles had either been uncredited or she was simply known as “the girl.” She was an actress from 1925 until 1931.
Career
Hale was Miss Chicago 1922 and competed in the Miss America Pageant. She began acting in the early 1920s and achieved one of her most notable successes with her role in Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925). She played Myrtle Wilson in the first filmed version of The Great Gatsby (1926).
Chaplin cast Hale in his film based on her performance in The Salvation Hunters, which also came out in 1925. The Gold Rush temporarily made her a star, but she did not survive the transition from silent film to sound and did not act in films after 1928. The documentary Unknown Chaplin revealed that Chaplin hired Hale to replace actress Virginia Cherrill as the female lead in the film City Lights (1931) briefly after he had fired Cherrill (and before he re-hired her). Approximately seven minutes of test footage of Hale in the role survives and is included in the DVD release of the film, and excerpts appear in Unknown Chaplin. The editor's introduction to Hale's memoir also reveals that she was Chaplin's original choice for the female lead in his film The Circus, a role eventually played by Merna Kennedy.
Personal life
Hale was a close companion to Chaplin in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She went on to teach dance and later became wealthy through real estate investments in Southern California. She never married, but she lived with a male companion the last fifteen years of her life, and he received most of her estate upon her death on June 17, 1985.
According to her memoir, she became a follower of Christian Science. Hale met with Chaplin during his brief return to the United States in 1972.
Writings
Hale spoke warmly of her time with Chaplin in Unknown Chaplin. She also wrote a book about her experiences with him, "Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups." Written in the 1960s, it was not published until 1995, a decade after her death, when Heather Kiernan edited the manuscript and The Scarecrow Press published it.
Georgia Hale landed one of the lead roles in Charlie Chaplin’s film The Gold Rush (1925) when her friend Lita Grey, initially cast in the role, became pregnant and had to back out. The role won her instant star status. Her previous roles had either been uncredited or she was known as “the girl.”
Following The Gold Rush, Georgia appeared in a mere 12 films before leaving acting. Her last role was in a Rin-Tin-Tin “serial” (The Lightning Warrior, 1939).
Georgia Theodora Hale was born on June 27, 1900 in St. Joseph, Missouri. She won a beauty contest in Chicago in 1922 and used the award money to move to New York City, hoping to break into theater. When she was unsuccessful in theater, rather than thinking, “I can’t do this…” and heading back home, Georgia simply decided to move to Hollywood and give them a chance to cash in on what theater was obviously missing.
In Hollywood, Georgia immediately found work in By Divine Right (1924), and she danced in the chorus of Vanity’s Price (1924). Her big break came with Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, turning in a memorable and superb performance as a gorgeous dance hall girl who catches the little tramp’s eye and wins his heart.
'The Gold Rush' was, understandably, a big hit and catapulted Georgia to instant fame. It is, in fact, Charlie Chaplin’s favorite film that he created. From Georgia’s perspective, the best part of the movie is that a very long, close relationship developed between her and Charlie Chaplin. Her love for him prevented her from ever marrying. In her heart, it seems, she believed she was “spoken for.” Ironically (and very sadly, in my opinion), Chaplin had many other relationships and married multiple times.
Georgia Hale was signed by Paramount Pictures and found herself in another hit, The Great Gatsby in 1926. In The Great Gatsby, she played the role of Myrtle Wilson. The cast included Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson, Neil Hamilton (best known as the Commissioner Gordon in the Batman TV series) and future STAR (all caps) William Powell.
Georgia’s last silent picture was The Last Moment in 1928.
Georgia wrote two versions of her autobiography (as well as a fictional love story) but had difficulty finding a publisher for her writing. Ten years after her death, a publisher published her book, Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Closeups.
Georgia Hale died on June 7, 1985 in Hollywood, California at the age of 84.
External links
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Georgia_Hale ]
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