Sybil Rhoda

Born in Plymouth, England in 1902, Sybil Fowler's family never had any money. Her father, although a dentist, drank heavily. She went to a local convent school until the age of 16 and was expected to become a teacher. To everyone's horror she said she was going to be a stage actress. Leaving Plymouth for the first time in her life she went to London and joined a touring musical revue. From there she became a chorus girl. Then an American director spotted her and made her his leading lady's understudy. She was asked to go to America, but fear of the foreign land and of the director's intentions ended that. After five years in the chorus and being the face in advertisements for cigarettes, baby milk, corsets and false teeth Sybil Rhoda, as she was known then, became a movie star. She landed a contract with Stoll's Production Company after winning a beauty contest. Against the orders of her theater manager, Sybil went to Spain to film Sahara Love(1926)_. And she made her next two movies without the manager's knowledge, having to film in the daytime and rush to the theater for the evening performance, often running across London still in full costume. In 1928 she married a wealthy Anglo-Austrian businessman and went to Vienna to live. Her movie career was over. They returned to England prior to the war as her husband was Jewish. She did not return to the stage and stayed home to raise their daughter. Eventually they moved to the US. Sybil Rhoda died in London in August 2005, aged 102 years.