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)

Restless Souls
Restless Souls

1919

as Marion Gregory

Humoresque
Humoresque

1920

as Gina Berg (formerly Minnie Ginsberg)

The Regenerates
The Regenerates

1917

as Catherine Ten Eyck

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

1916

as Girl at the Marriage Market (uncredited)

Madame Sphinx
Madame Sphinx

1918

as Celeste

🎦
A Woman's Faith

1925

as Nerée Caron

The Answer
The Answer

1918

as Lorraine Van Allen

Diane of the Green Van
Diane of the Green Van

1919

as Diane Westfall

The Children Pay
The Children Pay

1916

as Editha, the Girls' Stepmother

The Ghost Flower
Gerald Cranston's Lady
Gerald Cranston's Lady

1924

as Hermione, Lady Gerald Cranston

The Half-Breed
The Half-Breed

1916

as Teresa

Death Scenes
Death Scenes

1989

as Self (archive footage)

She Goes to War
She Goes to War

1929

as Rosie

The Rejected Woman
The Rejected Woman

1924

as Diane Du Prez

Cytherea
Cytherea

1924

as Savina Grove

The Masks of the Devil
The Masks of the Devil

1928

as Countess Zellner

The Dancers
The Dancers

1925

as Maxine

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

1916

as Wealthy Gent's Female Confederate