CONSTANCE TALMADGE

Constance Talmadge was a top actress during the 1910s and 1920s. Her father died when she was just 10, and her mother took in washing, and her 14 year old sister Norma got a job as a model, and helped take care of Constance and her 12 year old sister Natalie. All three of the sisters broke into the movies in the 1910s, and Constance and Norma became big stars. Constance's big break was as the Mountain Girl in D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance". Her sister Norma married studio executive Joseph Schenck in 1916, and Natalie married Buster Keaton in 1921, which caused her to quit acting, but Norma and Constance continued making movies and were big stars in the 1920s, but both sisters abruptly quit the movies when talkies began, and the official story was that they wanted to retire "at the top", but it seems more likely that their harsh New York accents did not adapt well to sound movies, so they wisely retired. Constance was married many times and in later life fell on hard times, and passed away in 1973 at the age of 75.