Ella Hall

A silent screen siren of considerable beauty was blonde, blue-eyed Ella Hall. As a small child, she already performed on stage with the company of David Belasco. She was later chosen to understudy Mary Pickford for "The Warrens of Virginia". Ella entered films in 1910 as a fifteen-year old ingénue with D.W. Griffith at Biograph. In the course of the next three years she honed her acting skills in scores of one and two-reel short comedies and melodramas. By 1915, she had become one of the hottest box-office properties at Universal, going on to make headlines as star of feature films like Jewel (1915), The Bugler of Algiers (1916) and Polly Redhead (1917). A devotee of ballroom dancing and fast cars, Ella was rumoured to have been romantically involved with film maker Robert Z. Leonard, but instead ended up marrying the less prominent actor/director Emory Johnson. Though still young, Ella's career faded after 1923 and a comeback attempt in talkies failed to revive her fortunes. In 1933, she left the industry to work behind the counter of the most exclusive ladies dress shop on Hollywood Boulevard.