Kathlyn Williams

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From Wikipedia

Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams on May 31,

1879 in Butte, Montana, and the only child born to Joseph

Edwin"Frank" Williams, a boarding house proprietor, and Mary C. Boe

(1846-1908) of Welsh and Norwegian descent. Many biographies state her birth

year as 1888; however,she is listed on the 1880 United States Census as being a

year old. Williams displayed an early interest in becoming an actress in her

youth which lead her to become a member of a community thespian group. She also

joined the Woman's Relief Corps that allowed her to showcase her vocal prowess

at local recitals.

Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in

Chicago, Illinois and made her first film in 1908 under the direction of

Francis Boggs. By 1910, she was transferred to the company's Los Angeles film

studio. Williams played "Cherry Malotte" in the first movie based

upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers in 1914, a role portrayed in

subsequent versions by Betty Compson (1930), Marlene Dietrich (1942), and Anne

Baxter (1955). In 1916, she starred in the thirteen episode adventure film

serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn. She was busy throughout the silent film era

but age and the advent of talkies saw her make only five sound films, the last

in 1935. Kathlyn evolved from a comedian and serial player in silents to

portraying character roles in the early 1930s.

Williams was married three times. Although many biographies

erroneously cite her first husband as being Victor Kainer, he was in fact named

Otto H. "Harry" Kainer (1876-1952), who ran an import and export

business on Wall Street in New York City. They were wed on October 2, 1903, and

their son, Victor Hugo, was born in 1905. They supposedly divorced over Kainer's disapproval of his

wife having an acting career,and Williams subsequently obtained a divorce from

Kainer in 1909 in Nevada. On March 4, 1913, she married Frank R. Allen, also an

actor, but the marriage was a failure from the start and lasted a little over a

year. On June 30, 1914, she filed for divorce in Los Angeles and listed

desertion as the reason as the failure of their marriage

She later married Paramount Pictures executive Charles Eyton

on June 2, 1916, in Riverside, California. The Eytons eventually divorced in

On December 29, 1949, Williams was involved in a deadly

automobile accident, which claimed the life of her friend, Mrs. Mary E. Rose,

while they were returning home from a social engagement in Las Vegas. As a

result of the accident, Williams lost her right leg. On April 8, 1950, Williams

sued the estate of Rose for $136,615, citing negligence and claiming that the

automobile had inefficient brakes. In June 1951, Williams accepted the offer of

$6,500 dollars from the Rose estate. Kathlyn Williams died of a heart attack in

Hollywood, California in 1960.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Kathlyn

Williams has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7038 Hollywood Blvd.

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