Lucille Ricksen
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Lucille Ricksen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ingeborg Myrtle Elisabeth Ericksen August 22, 1910 |
| Died | March 13, 1925 (aged 14) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Tuberculosis |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Lucille Rickson |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, model |
| Years active | 1913–1923 |
Lucille Ricksen (August 22, 1910 – March 13, 1925) was an American motion picture actress during the silent film era.
Early life
She was born Ingeborg Myrtle Elisabeth Ericksen in Chicago to Danish immigrants Samuel and Ingeborg Nielsen Ericksen in 1910. Although her birth year has been widely reported as being 1909, her birth certificate states 1910 as her true birth year. She had an older brother, Marshall, who was born in 1907 in Chicago, who also appeared in early silent films.
Career
Ricksen began her career as a professional child model and actress similar to other actresses her age such as Madge Evans, Helen Chandler and Kittens Reichert, starting at age 4.[1] She soon rose to fame and provided a revenue for her parents.[1] In 1920 she arrived with her mother Ingeborg in Hollywood at the request of Samuel Goldwyn who immediately cast the eleven-year-old in comedy serial entitled The Adventures of Edgar Pomeroy. The serial shorts ran in approximately twelve installments and were based on the stories of Booth Tarkington, with actor Edward Peil, Jr. taking the role of Edgar.
After leaving the Edgar Pomeroy serials, Ricksen was next cast in the 1922 Stuart Paton directed comedy The Married Flapper opposite Marie Prevost and Kenneth Harlan and the thirteen-year-old's career opportunities began to improve dramatically. In 1922, Ricksen was signed to a contract with actor and director Marshall Neilan who cast her in the commercially and critically successful Neilan directed drama The Stranger's Banquet opposite Claire Windsor and Hobart Bosworth.
Ricksen spent the early-1920s appearing in a number of high profile acting roles. One notable performance was her role as Ginger in the 1923 John Griffith Wray directed drama Human Wreckage, which was a drug prevention film produced by and starring actress Dorothy Davenport. It was made in reaction to the death of Davenport's husband, the actor Wallace Reid as a result of a morphine addiction.[2]
From 1920 to 1925, Ricksen starred opposite some of the most popular actors of the silent era including Conrad Nagel, James Kirkwood, Sr., Jack Pickford, Louise Fazenda, Laura La Plante, Anna Q. Nilsson, Blanche Sweet, Bessie Love, Cullen Landis and Patsy Ruth Miller. Ricksen often portrayed characters who were much older than herself and she garnered critical acclaim from the public and within the motion picture industry for her maturity at handling adult themes. In 1924, at the age of fourteen, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars; a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States, which honored thirteen young women each year who they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. Other actresses named that year included Dorothy Mackaill and Clara Bow.
Death
While filming the Del Andrews directed comedy The Galloping Fish in 1924 opposite Sydney Chaplin and Louise Fazenda, Ricksen became ill. She had appeared in prominent roles in ten films that year, including the popular drama The Painted Lady opposite George O'Brien and Dorothy Mackaill. However, by early 1925, her condition worsened and she was diagnosed as having tuberculosis.[3] During her illness, her father disappeared.[1] Ricksen's last screen appearance was opposite Claire Windsor and William Haines in the drama The Denial, filmed in 1924 and released in early 1925.
Bedridden for the last few months of her life, Ricksen's mother Ingeborg became distraught and kept a bed-side vigil over her daughter. In late February 1925, her mother succumbed to a fatal heart attack and collapsed on top of her bedridden daughter. Afterwards, she spent her days being taken care of by others from the movie colony, including actress Lois Wilson.[1] Ricksen died two weeks after her mother's death, on March 13, 1925 at the age of fourteen.[4]
Posthumous
After her death, the media wrote that her illness was caused by working non-stop for twelve years under poor conditions. Her death was used as an example for parents not to exploit their children to the showcase its talent.[1]
A photo article of Ricksen is featured in the 2011 film The Artist. In the film, she is mistakenly listed as a newcomer in 1929, four years after she had died in real life.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | Edgar and the Teacher's Pet | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar's Hamlet | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar's Jonah Day | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar Takes the Cake | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar's Sunday Courtship | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar Camps Out | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar's Little Saw | Short film | |
| 1920 | Edgar, the Explorer | Short film | |
| 1921 | Edgar's Country Cousin | Short film | |
| 1921 | Edgar's Feast Day | Short film | |
| 1921 | Edgar, the Detective | Short film | |
| 1921 | The Old Nest | Kate at 9 | |
| 1922 | The Married Flapper | Carolyn Carter | |
| 1922 | Remembrance | Child | |
| 1922 | The Girl Who Ran Wild | Clytie | |
| 1922 | Forsaking All Others | May Wharton | |
| 1922 | The Strangers' Banquet | Flapper | |
| 1923 | The Social Buccaneer | Lucille Vail | Lost film |
| 1923 | One of Three | Short film | |
| 1923 | Under Secret Orders | Short film | |
| 1923 | Trimmed in Scarlet | Faith Ebbing | Lost film Credited as Lucille Rickson |
| 1923 | The Secret Code | Short film | |
| 1923 | The Radio-Active Bomb | Short film | |
| 1923 | The Showdown | Short film | |
| 1923 | Human Wreckage | Ginger | Lost film |
| 1923 | The Rendezvous | Vera | |
| 1923 | The Judgment of the Storm | Mary Heath | |
| 1924 | The Galloping Fish | Hyla Wetherill | |
| 1924 | The Hill Billy | Emmy Lou Spence | |
| 1924 | Those Who Dance | Ninon | |
| 1924 | Young Ideas | Eloise Lowden | |
| 1924 | Behind the Curtain | Sylvia Bailey | |
| 1924 | Vanity's Price | Sylvia, Teddy's fiancee | Alternative title: This House of Vanity |
| 1924 | The Painted Lady | Alice Smith | |
| 1924 | Idle Tongues | Faith Copeland | |
| 1925 | The Denial | The daughter | Partially lost film |
Further reading
- Michael G. Ankerich (2010). Dangerous Curves atop Hollywood Heels: The Lives, Careers, and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen. BearManor. ISBN 1-59393-605-2.
References
- ^ a b c d e "A Child Star", The Port Arthur News, March 21, 1925, p. 4
- ^ Wallace Reid, The Life And Death of a Hollywood Idol by E. J. Fleming c. 2007; McFarland Publishing
- ^ [1] AllMovie.com
- ^ New York Times Movies article referencing Lucille Ricksen
External links
- Lucille Ricksen at IMDb
- Lucille Ricksen at Young Hollywood Hall of Fame
- Lucille Ricksen at Silent Ladies & Gents
- Lucille Ricksen at AllMovie
- 1910 births
- 1925 deaths
- 20th-century actresses
- Actresses from Chicago, Illinois
- American child actresses
- American child models
- American female models
- American film actresses
- American people of Danish descent
- American silent film actresses
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
- Deaths from tuberculosis
- Infectious disease deaths in California