Miss Blanche Sweet

Another one of those cases where I thought I had written about Blanche Sweet but apparently was thinking about an alternate universe where I do everything in an organized, perfect manner. Oy vey!

Blanche Sweet was born Sarah Blanche Sweet on June 18, 1896 in Chicago, Illinois. From what I can find, it appears she was the only child of stage actors Gilbert and Cora Sweet. Now, I am not sure if something happened to her parents or if they were just constantly touring, but Blanche ended up being raised mostly by her grandmother whom she was named after, Blanche Alexander. Grandma wanted little Blanche to follow in the family footsteps and get into the acting business as well, so she put her on stage at only a few months old. She started touring with companies when she was four.

Around age 13, she signed with Biograph Studios and it only took a few months before she became a rival of Mary Pickford. The had quiet different screen personas though. While Mary was the typical Griffith heroine, demure and virginal, Blanche was gutsy and adventurous. Another rival of hers was Lillian Gish, who won the lead role in Birth of a Nation over Blanche. It was soon after this blow that she left Biograph and moved to Famous Players-Lasky...for way more money it should be noted.

The change in studios didn't hinder her career because she continued to be an audience favorite. And even better, the critics thought she was great too!

What did stall her career, like almost every silent actor's career, was the talkies. It wasn't that she had a bad voice, she had theatre training after all. But, times were changing and people's tastes were changing and they wanted to see new faces on the screen. Her last film appearance was in the 1930 movie, Show Girl in Hollywood with Alice White and Ford Sterling.

Blanche Sweet passed away on September 6, 1986 in New York City. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. They were also cultivated into a special area with soil that hold beautiful lilies.

Blanche was married twice. Her first husband was director/producer, Marshall Neilan. The two began an affair during the 1920s while he was married to actress, Gertrude Bambrick. When Gertrude found out about the affair, she filed for divorce from Neilan. Blanche and he married in 1922, but divorced in 1929 because he just could not stop cheating.

Her second marriage was to actor Raymond Hackett in 1935. The marriage lasted until his death in 1958. Neither marriage resulted in children.

After she retired from the screen in 1930, she did some performances on stage and for radio and even worked at a department store for a bit. During the 1960s, she worked with film historians in studying not only her work, but the silent film era in general.

When she was touring and staying at hotels, she would check in using the name "Daphne Wayne."

"...and, you know, I haven't the faintest idea how many silent films I made. I couldn't begin to count them." ~~ Blanche Sweet