Priscilla Dean

Priscilla Dean
Priscilla Dean, 1922
Born	(1896-11-25)November 25, 1896 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	Leonia, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1912—1932
Spouse(s)	Leslie Arnold (19??-19??) Wheeler Oakman (19??-19??; divorced)

Priscilla Dean (November 25, 1896 – December 27, 1987) was an American actress popular in silent film as well as in theatre, with a career spanning two decades.

Life and career

Born in New York to an active theatrical family (her mother was popular stage actress Mary Preston Dean), Priscilla Dean made her stage debut at the age of four, appearing in plays starring her parents. From then on, she pursued her stage career at the same time as being educated at a convent school until the age of fourteen. Following her leave from school, Priscilla went to work on stage, then tried to get into the movies.

Dean made her film debut at the age of fourteen in one-reelers for Biograph and several other studios. She was finally signed on to Universal (then called IMP) in 1911. She soon gained popularity as the female lead in the comedy series of Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran.

She was propelled to stardom after she appeared in The Gray Ghost in 1917. Following this film, she became very successful in her work. However, when the age of sound dawned, Priscilla's career was severely damaged. She continued to do several low-budget films for minor independent studios during the 1930s, but never regained the popularity she had earned in silent films.

Marriages

She married Wheeler Oakman, who was also under contract at Universal and appeared in The Virgin of Stamboul and Outside the Law with Priscilla. They divorced in the mid-1920s, and at the end of the decade, she married Leslie Arnold, who was famous as one of the "Around The World Flyers". They remained married until his death in the 1960s. She had no children. Ephraim Katz stated that she had been a school bus driver sometime in the 1970s.

Death

Priscilla Dean died in Leonia, New Jersey at the age of 91 on December 27, 1987 from injuries related to a fall she had suffered the previous September.

Filmography

Silent

• A Blot on the 'Scutcheon (1912)(short)
• He Had But Fifty Cents (1912)(short)
• The Man Who Wouldn't Marry (1913)(short)
• Mother (1914)(short)
• The Heiress and the Crook (1914)(short)
• Oh, for the Life of a Fireman (1916)(short)
• Bungling Bill's Burglar (1916)(short)
• Igorrotes' Crocodiles and a Hat Box (1916)(short)
• Heaven Will Protect a Woiking Goil (1916)(short)(*extant;Library of Congress)
• Love, Dynamite and Baseballs (1916)(short)
• More Truth Than Poetry (1916)(short)
• Bungling Bill's Peeping Ways (1916)(short)
• Search Me! (1916)(short)
• The Social Pirates (1916)(short)
• The Lion Hearted Chief (1916)(short)
• Knocking Out Knockout Kelly (1916)(short)
• Caught with the Goods (1916)(short)(extant;Library of Congress)
• Beer Must Go Down (1916)(short)
• He Maid Me (1916)(short)
• All bets Off (1916)(short)
• The Battle of Chili Con Carne (1916)(short)
• Broke But Ambitious (1916)(short)
• The Terrible Turk (1916)(short)
• Tigers Unchained (1916)(short)
• The Boy from the Gilded East (1916)(short)
• Nobody Guilty (1916)(short)
• A Silly Sultan (1916)(short)
• Model 46 (1916)(short)
• With the Spirit's Help (1916)(short)
• When the Spirits Fell (1916)(short)
• Almost Guilty (1916)(short)
• His Own Nemesis (1916)(short)
• The Barfly (1916)(short)
• Love and a Liar (1916)(short)
• A Political Tramp (1916)(short)
• Knights of a Bathtub (1916)(short)
• How Do You Feel? (1916)(short)
• The White Turkey (1916)(short)
• Pass the Prunes (1916)(short)
• Two Small Town Romeos (1916)(short)
• It Sounded Like a Kiss (1916)(short)
• The Bad Man of Cheyenne (1917)(short)
• Treat 'Em Rough (1917)(short)
• Why Uncle! (1917)(short)
• Goin' Straight (1917)(short)

• Even As You and I (1917)(short)
• Somebody Lied (1917)(short)
• Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1917)
• The Gray Ghost (1917)
• Beloved Jim (1917)
• The Two-Soul Woman (1918)
• Which Woman? (1918)
• The Brazen Beauty (1918)
• Kiss or Kill (1918)
• The Wildcat of Paris (1918)
• She Hired a Husband (1918)
• Klever Kiddies (1919) (short)
• The Wicked Darling (1919)
• The Silk-Lined Burglar (1919)
• The Exquisite Thief (1919)
• Pretty Smooth (1919)
• Paid in Advance (1919)
• Forbidden (1919)
• The Virgin of Stamboul (1920)
• Outside the Law (1920)
• Reputation (1921)
• The Conflict (1921)
• Wild Honey (1922)
• Under Two Flags (1922)
• The Flame of Life (1923)
• Drifting (1923)
• White Tiger (1923)
• The Storm Daughter (1924)(*fragment; BFI archive)
• The Siren of Seville (1924)
• A Cafe in Cairo (1924)
• The Crimson Runner (1925)
• The Danger Girl (1926)
• Forbidden Waters (1926)
• The Dice Woman (1926)
• The Speeding Venus (1926)
• West of Broadway (1926)
• Jewels of Desire (1927)
• Birds of Prey (1927)
• Slipping Wives (1927)(short)
• The Honorable Mr. Buggs (1927)(short)
• All for Nothing (1928)(short)

Sound

• Trapped (1931)
• Law of the Sea (1931)
• Hollywood Halfbacks (1931)
• Behind Stone Walls (1932)
• Klondike (1932)

External links

• Priscilla Dean at the Internet Movie Database
• Priscilla Dean photographs and articles
• Photographs
• Priscilla Dean in a chorus in 1910 on the right (Univ. of Washington, Sayre collection)