Viola Dana
(06/28/1897 - 07/03/1987)
Dana was a child star, appearing on the stage at the age of three. She read Shakespeare and particularly identified with the teenage Juliet. She enjoyed a long run at the Hudson Theater in New York City. A particular favorite of audiences was her performance in David Belasco's Poor Little Rich Girl, when she was 16. She went into vaudeville with Dustin Farnum in The Little Rebel and played a bit part in The Model by Augustus Thomas.
Born Virginia Flugrath, Dana entered films in 1910 by the time she made her final film appearance in 1929, she had appeared in almost 100 films. Her first motion picture was made for the Edison Company at a former Manhattan (New York) riding academy on West 61st Street. The stalls had been transformed to dressing rooms. Dana became a star with Biograph Studios.
Unable to make a successful transition to 'talkies', she retired in 1929. Her final screen credits are roles in Two Sisters (1929), One Splendid Hour (1929), and The Show of Shows (1929).