Aileen Pringle

Aileen Pringle (born Aileen Bisbee; July 23, 1895 – December 16, 1989) was an American stage and film actress during the silent film era.

Aileen Pringle
Pringle in 1926
Born	Aileen Bisbee July 23, 1895 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	December 16, 1989 (aged 94) New York, New York, U.S.
Other names	Aileen Savage
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1920–1944
Spouse(s)	Charles McKenzie Pringle ​ ​ (m. 1916; div. 1926)​ James M. Cain ​ ​ (m. 1944; div. 1946)​

Biography

Early life

Born into a prominent and wealthy San Francisco family and educated in Europe, Pringle began her acting career shortly after her 1916 marriage to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son of a wealthy titled British Jamaican landowner and a member of the Privy and Legislative Councils of Jamaica.[1]

Career rise

One of Pringle's first high-profile roles was in the Rudolph Valentino film Stolen Moments (1920). Many of Pringle's early roles were only modestly successful, and she continued to build her career until the early 1920s when she was selected by friend and romance novelist Elinor Glyn to star in the 1924 film adaptation of her novel Three Weeks with matinee idol Conrad Nagel.[2] The role catapulted Pringle into leading-lady status and her career began to build momentum.

Scandal

Pringle in 1925

On November 15, 1924, a Sunday, Pringle was among a select group of Hollywood elites who boarded the Oneida, a yacht owned by newspaper scion and billionaire William Randolph Hearst, in San Pedro, California,.[3] The event was a 42nd-birthday party organized by Hearst for film producer and director Thomas Ince.

Other prominent guests included columnist Louella Parsons, actor Charlie Chaplin, actress Marion Davies (who was also Hearst's lover) and actresses Seena Owen, Jacqueline Logan and Julanne Johnston.

Early Monday morning, Ince was taken from the yacht by water taxi and brought ashore, accompanied by Dr. Goodman a licensed, though non-practicing, physician. By Tuesday night, Ince was dead.

Ince's death was ruled to have been caused by a gastro-intestinal illness, but the press frenzy that followed turned the event into a Hollywood legend; with various enigmatic and lurid stories being proffered by gossips. Among these, was a story of Hearst accidentally shooting Ince while aiming for Chaplin, who he believed to be having an affair with Marion Davies. Pringle's career weathered the controversy.

Later career

Pringle's acting career continued throughout the early 1920s, however, she allegedly was disliked by many of her co-workers for her allegedly haughty and dismissive behavior. She was prone to make witty, sometimes caustic, comments on Hollywood and her fellow actors. During a romantic scene in Three Weeks, in which actor Conrad Nagel carried her in his arms to the bedroom, lip readers saw her say: "If you drop me, you bastard, I'll break your neck".[4] Pringle's apparent disdain for her profession began to hurt her career, and by the late 1920s her roles became fewer.

During the late silent and early period of talking pictures, Pringle co-starred in a series of light films with actor Lew Cody, including Adam and Evil (1927), Tea for Three (1927), Wickedness Preferred (1928), The Baby Cyclone (1928), Beau Broadway (1928), A Single Man (1929) and By Appointment Only (1933). Of Pringle’s performance in Adam and Evil, Mourdant Hall in the August 9, 1927 edition of The New York Times wrote, “Evelyn Trevelyn, the Eve of this tale, is alluded to by Ralph Spence is (sic) one of the titles as a “spare rib.” She is impersonated by Aileen Pringle and therefore is an asset to the scenes.”

Pringle in 1952, photographed by Carl Van Vechten.

Although disliked by some Hollywood insiders, Aileen Pringle often was dubbed by the press as the "Darling of the Intelligentsia" because of her close friendship with such literary figures as Carl Van Vechten, Joseph Hergesheimer, Rupert Hughes, and H.L. Mencken who became a lifelong friend of the actress.[5] She brokered the meeting of Mencken and Valentino,[6] of which Mencken wrote an account, some weeks after Valentino had died. Mencken does not name her but describes her as "discreet as she is charming." Ralph Barton, American artist, was also a devoted friend and used her as the model for Dorothy in his illustrations for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos.[7] Another admirer was George Gershwin who met her in Hollywood and wrote much of the Second Rhapsody at her Santa Monica, California, home.[8] Her wit, keen intellect and sparkling personality made her a sought-after companion.[5]

After her 1926 divorce from Charles Pringle, Aileen Pringle further focused on her acting career, including Dream of Love (1928) with Joan Crawford and Wall Street (1929) co-starring Ralph Ince, brother of Thomas Ince. However, with the advent of sound film, the studios heavily began promoting a new crop of starlets and Pringle's career faded.

During the sound era, she continued to take small parts in major films and even uncredited roles. In 1944 Pringle married the author James M. Cain, but the union lasted only two years and ended in divorce. By the late 1940s, Pringle retired from the screen and lived a wealthy retirement in New York City, where she died in 1989 at the age of 94.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Aileen Pringle was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6723 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1920	The Cost	Olivia	as Aileen Savage
	The Sport of Kings		as Aileen Savage
	Earthbound		as Aileen Savage
	Stolen Moments	Inez Salles	as Aileen Savage Short film; Extant
1922	Oath-Bound	Alice
	The Strangers' Banquet	Mrs. Schuyler-Peabody
	My American Wife	Hortensia deVereta	Lost film
1923	The Christian	Lady Robert Ure	Extant
	The Tiger's Claw	Chameli Brentwood
	Souls for Sale	Lady Jane	Extant (Turner/Warner Brothers)
	Don't Marry for Money	Edith Martin
	In the Palace of the King	Princess Eboli	Lost film
1924	Name the Man	Isabelle
	Three Weeks	The Queen	Extant
	True As Steel	Mrs. Eva Boutelle	fragment
	His Hour	Tamara Loraine	Extant
	The Wife of the Centaur	Inez Martin	Lost film
1925	A Thief in Paradise	Rosa Carmino	Lost film
	One Year to Live	Elsa Duchanier
	A Kiss in the Dark	Janet Livingstone
	Wildfire	Claire Barrington	Extant (Library of Congress)
	The Mystic	Zara	Extant (Turner/Warner Brothers)(Trailer-Library of Congress)
	Soul Mates	Velma	Extant
1926	Camille	Estelle	Short film
	The Wilderness Woman	Juneau MacLean	Lost
	The Great Deception	Lois	Lost
	Tin Gods	Janet Stone	Lost
1927	Adam and Evil	Evelyn Trevelyan	Lost
	Body and Soul	Hilda
	Tea for Three	Doris Langford	Lost
1928	Wickedness Preferred	Kitty Dare	Lost
	Beau Broadway	Yvonne	Lost
	The Baby Cyclone	Lydia	Lost
	Show People	Herself	Cameo appearance; Extant (Turner/Warner Brothers)
	Dream of Love	The Duchess	Lost film
1929	A Single Man	Mary Hazeltine	Lost film
	Night Parade	Paula Vernoff	Incomplete (Library of Congress)
	Wall Street	Ann Tabor
1930	Puttin' On the Ritz	Mrs. Teddy Von Rennsler
	Prince of Diamonds	Eve Marley
	Soldiers and Women	Brenda Ritchie
1931	Subway Express	Dale Tracy
	Murder at Midnight	Esme Kennedy
	Convicted	Claire Norville
1932	Police Court	Diana McCormick
	The Age of Consent	Barbara
	The Phantom of Crestwood	Mrs. Herbert Walcott
1933	By Appointment Only	Diane Manners
1934	Love Past Thirty	Caroline Burt
	Jane Eyre	Lady Blanche Ingram
	Once to Every Bachelor	Judy Bryant
	Sons of Steel	Enid Chadburne
1935	Vanessa: Her Love Story	Herries Servant	Uncredited
1936	Wife vs. Secretary	Mrs. Anne Barker	Uncredited
	The Unguarded Hour	Diana Roggers
	Piccadilly Jim	Paducah Pomeroy
	Wanted! Jane Turner	Norris' Secretary	Uncredited
1937	Criminal Lawyer	Mrs. Manning	Uncredited
	The Last of Mrs. Cheyney	Maria
	John Meade's Woman	Mrs. Melton
	Thanks for Listening	Lulu, Blackmailer Leader
	She's No Lady	Mrs. Douglas
	Nothing Sacred	Mrs. Bullock	Uncredited
1938	Man-Proof	Second Gossipy Woman	Uncredited
	Too Hot to Handle	Mrs. Arthur MacArthur	Uncredited
1939	The Hardys Ride High	Miss Booth, Dress Saleslady
	Calling Dr. Kildare	Mrs. Thatcher	Uncredited
	Should a Girl Marry?	Mrs. White
	The Women	Miss Carter (saleslady)	Uncredited
	The Night of Nights	Dress Saleslady	Uncredited
1941	Appointment for Love	Nurse Gibbons	Uncredited
	They Died with Their Boots On	Mrs. Sharp	Uncredited
1942	Between Us Girls	Guest	Uncredited
1943	The Youngest Profession	Miss Farwood	Uncredited
	Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case	Chaperon	Uncredited
	Happy Land	Mrs. Prentiss	Uncredited
1944	Since You Went Away	Woman at Cocktail Lounge	Uncredited
	A Wave, a WAC and a Marine	Newswoman
	Laura	Woman	Uncredited

References

Notes

1. De Witt Bodeen. Films in Review Vol.XXX No.8, Oct. 1979, p.468 ISSN 0015-1688
2. Elinor Glyn. Romantic Adventure. Ivor Nicholson and Watson Ltd., London 1936, p.300
3. Kenneth Anger. Hollywood Babylon. San Francisco, California:Straight Arrow Books, 1979 p.97 ISBN 0-87932-086-9
4. Richard Griffith and Arthur Mayer. The Movies. Simon and Schuster, 1970 ISBN 067120680X
5. Marion Elizabeth Rogers. Mencken: The American Iconoclast. Oxford University Press. 2005 ISBN 0-19-507238-3
6. Allan R. Ellenberger. The Valentino Mystique:The Death and Afterlife of the Silent Film Idol, McFarlan & Co., North Carolina, 2005
7. Anita Loos. A Girl Like I, New York: The Viking Press, 1966, pp. 120, 275
8. Robert Kimball and Alfred Simon. The Gershwins, New York: Atheneum, 1973. pp 133-135.

Bibliography

• Kenneth Anger, "Hollywood Babylon", San Francisco California: Straight Arrow Books, 1975. ISBN 0-87932-086-9
• "Films In Review", October 1979, Vol.XXX No.8. Article on Aileen Pringle by De Witt Bodeen. ISSN 0015-1688.
• "Films In Review", March 1990, Vol.XLI No.3. Article on Aileen Pringle by Stuart Oderman. ISSN 0015-1688
• Rodgers, Marion Elizabeth (2005) Mencken: The American Iconoclast. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507238-3
• Bruce Kellner. The Last Dandy: Ralph Barton, American Artist, 1891-1931. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8262-0774-X

External links

• Aileen Pringle at IMDb
• Aileen Pringle at Silent Ladies & Gents
• Aileen Pringle Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
• Aileen Pringle at Virtual History