Blanche Sweet
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Child stage actress who began her screen career at the age of 14 and appeared in movies consistently through the silent era. The gifted Sweet is best known for her roles in the Biograph films of D.W. Griffith, for whom she played a number of often gentle and demure but also strong-willed heroines. Her two most famous Griffith films are "The Lonedale Operator" (1911), in which defends herself against thieves, and the epic Biblical spectacle, "Judith of Bethulia" (1913), in which she plays the title character who attempts to save her city by assassinating the conqueror Holofernes.
She made her film debut in 1909 and was active through 1930. Among her later features were "Anna Christie" (1923), "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (1924), "The Sporting Venus" (1925) and "The Silver Horde" (her last, 1930). Sweet's first husband, Marshall Nielan, directed her in a number of films, including "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (1924). Her second husband was her stage co-star, Raymond Hackett. She spent her long retirement living in New York, a major crusader for film preservation, and was interviewed frequently by film historians.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Short)
Life Events
1909
Entered films working for D.W. Griffith
1909
Film debut, "The Man With Three Wives"
1915
Joined Lasky company, where she starred in films by C.B. DeMille
1930
Starred in several talkies before retiring to pursue career in vaudeville and stock
1959
Returned to film with bit part in "The Five Pennies"
Companions
