Alma Rubens

Alma Rubens

1897-02-17 – 1931-01-22 (age 33) San Francisco, California, USA
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Biography

From Wikipedia

Alma Rubens (February 19, 1897 – January 22, 1931) was an American film actress and stage performer. Rubens began her career in the mid 1910s. She quickly rose to stardom in 1916 after appearing opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Half Breed. For the remainder of the decade, she appeared in supporting roles in comedies and drama. In the 1920s. Her first stage opportunity came when a chorus girl in a musical comedy theater troupe became ill. Rubens was chosen to take her place and joined the troupe as a regular performer. There she met Franklyn Farnum who was also a member. He later convinced Rubens to leave the troupe and try her hand at film acting. Her breakthrough performance was in 1916 in the movie Reggie Mixes In. She made six more films in that same year. In 1917 she starred in The Firefly of Tough Luck, which was a big success. She gained fame when she became Douglas Fairbanks's leading lady in The Half Breed (1916), and supported Fairbanks and Bessie Love in the cocaine comedy The Mystery of the Leaping Fish later that same year. In 1918, Alma announced that she was changing the spelling of her last name of Rueben to "Rubens" because it caused too much confusion in the movie industry and in publications. She later told Photoplay magazine, "As a matter of fact my name is not the same [spelling] as the painter's. It's either Reubens or Ruebens-I forget which. I never could spell it. Couldn't remember where the 'e' came. So I let it go Rubens." In 1920, she completed The World and His Wife, opposite Montague Love which further solidified her popularity. In 1924, she starred in The Price She Paid and Cytherea. Rubens developed a drug addiction which eventually ended her career. She died of pneumonia shortly after being arrested on narcotics charge in January 1931. A funeral service was held on January 24 at the Little Church of the Flowers at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. Her body was then shipped to Fresno where a second service was held at the Christian Science Church on January 26. She was interred in Ararat Massis Armenian Cemetery in Fresno. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Alma Rubens has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6409 Hollywood Blvd.

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Known For

The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation

1915

as Belle of 1861 (uncredited)

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

1916

as Girl at the Marriage Market (uncredited)

Siberia
Siberia

1926

as Sonia Vronsky

Fine Clothes
Fine Clothes

1925

as Paula

East Lynne
East Lynne

1925

as Lady Isabel

Death Scenes
Death Scenes

1989

as Self (archive footage)

Show Boat
Show Boat

1929

as Julie Dozier

The Half-Breed
The Half-Breed

1916

as Teresa

The Children Pay
The Children Pay

1916

as Editha, the Girls' Stepmother

Cytherea
Cytherea

1924

as Savina Grove

Under the Red Robe
Under the Red Robe

1923

as Renee de Cocheforet

The World and His Wife
The World and His Wife

1920

as Teodora

The Dancers
The Dancers

1925

as Maxine

The Ghost Flower
The Masks of the Devil
The Masks of the Devil

1928

as Countess Zellner

Enemies of Women
Enemies of Women

1923

as The Duchess de Lille

Diane of the Green Van
Diane of the Green Van

1919

as Diane Westfall

🎦
A Woman's Faith

1925

as Nerée Caron

The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish

1916

as Wealthy Gent's Female Confederate