Ruth Chatterton

Ruth Chatterton

Born: December 23, 1892
Died: November 25, 1961
in New York City, New York, USA
Ruth Chatterton (December 24, 1892 – November 24, 1961) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was at her most popular in the early to mid-1930s, and in the same era gained prominence as an aviator, one of the few female pilots in the United States at the time. In the late 1930s, Chatterton retired from film acting but continued her career on the stage. She had several TV roles beginning in the late 1940s and became a successful novelist in the 1950s.

Movies for Ruth Chatterton...

Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Title: Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Character: Alison Drake (archive footage)
Released: March 3, 2008
Type: Movie
A look at the forces that shaped Pre-Code Hollywood and brought about the strict enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934.
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Complicated Women
Title: Complicated Women
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 6, 2003
Type: Movie
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.
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Title: Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Queen Gertrude
Released: December 24, 1951
Type: TV
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
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Title: The Philco Television Playhouse
Released: October 3, 1948
Type: TV
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
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A Royal Divorce
Title: A Royal Divorce
Character: Joséphine de Beauharnais
Released: September 21, 1938
Type: Movie
The love affair between the French Emperor Napoleon and the lady Josephine leads through Napoleon's rise to power and their eventual divorce.
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The Rat
Title: The Rat
Character: Zelia de Chaumont
Released: November 11, 1937
Type: Movie
Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.
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Dodsworth
Title: Dodsworth
Character: Fran Dodsworth
Released: September 23, 1936
Type: Movie
A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.
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Girls Dormitory
Title: Girls Dormitory
Character: Professor Anna Mathe
Released: August 8, 1936
Type: Movie
When a busybody teacher in a girls' finishing school finds a love letter from a student to an unknown man, a minor scandal erupts.
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Lady of Secrets
Title: Lady of Secrets
Character: Celia Whittaker
Released: February 21, 1936
Type: Movie
Because of a very unhappy affair she had earlier in her life, a woman shuts herself off from the rest of the world.
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Journal of a Crime
Title: Journal of a Crime
Character: Francoise Mollet
Released: March 10, 1934
Type: Movie
A woman murders her husband's mistress and someone else gets accused of the crime.
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Female
Title: Female
Character: Alison Drake
Released: November 11, 1933
Type: Movie
Alison Drake, the tough-minded executive of an automobile factory, succeeds in the man's world of business until she meets an independent design engineer.
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Lilly Turner
Title: Lilly Turner
Character: Lilly 'Queenie' Turner Dixon
Released: May 13, 1933
Type: Movie
One woman faces many trials on the road to romance after unwittingly marrying a bigamist, then a carnival's barker and then falling for a young engineer.
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Frisco Jenny
Title: Frisco Jenny
Character: Frisco Jenny Sandoval
Released: January 14, 1933
Type: Movie
Jenny is carrying the child of a young man who dies in the San Francisco earthquake (1906). After giving birth, she decides to place her child in the custody of a wealthy married couple. Years later, thanks to the protection of a corrupt politician, she becomes the main "madame" of San Francisco, in addition to participating in various illegal activities.
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The Crash
Title: The Crash
Character: Linda Gault
Released: October 9, 1932
Type: Movie
Linda Gault is a luxury loving wife who casually seduces other men while getting investment tips from one of her lovers.
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The Rich Are Always with Us
Title: The Rich Are Always with Us
Character: Caroline Van Dyke Grannard
Released: May 19, 1932
Type: Movie
A wealthy couple's marriage is falling apart due to the man's infidelity. The wife's male friend has long loved her and sees his big opportunity.
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Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Title: Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Character: Eve Redman
Released: February 5, 1932
Type: Movie
A young wife wants to have children, but her husband neglects her. She confides her longings to a handsome brain surgeon. Complications ensue.
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Once a Lady
Title: Once a Lady
Character: Anna Keremazoff
Released: November 7, 1931
Type: Movie
A young Russian woman marries a wealthy Englishman, and has a daughter with him. After she has an affair with one of his friends, she is forced to leave Britain and moves to Paris. Many years later, her daughter approaches her, needing her help.
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The Magnificent Lie
Title: The Magnificent Lie
Character: Poll
Released: July 25, 1931
Type: Movie
A nightclub singer, taking pity on a blind soldier, pretends that she is the woman he once loved before he was wounded.
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The House That Shadows Built
Title: The House That Shadows Built
Character: (archive footage)
Released: July 8, 1931
Type: Movie
The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. It was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release and includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.
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Unfaithful
Title: Unfaithful
Character: Lady Fay Kilkerry
Released: March 14, 1931
Type: Movie
In this society drama set in contemporary England, a noblewoman pretends to be an adulteress in order to protect her sister-in-law, who actually is.
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The Right to Love
Title: The Right to Love
Character: Brooks Evans / Naomi Kellogg
Released: December 27, 1930
Type: Movie
A woman becomes estranged from her daughter when the girl learns that she is illegitimate.
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Anybody's Woman
Title: Anybody's Woman
Character: Pansy Gray
Released: August 15, 1930
Type: Movie
A lawyer, left by his wife, gets drunk and marries a chorus girl, or so he learns the morning after.
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Galas de la Paramount
Title: Galas de la Paramount
Character: Self (from original version)
Released: July 31, 1930
Type: Movie
Spanish-language version of PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (q.v.), with new sequences of interest to Spanish-speaking audiences mixed with original- version sequences.
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The Lady of Scandal
Title: The Lady of Scandal
Character: Elsie
Released: May 24, 1930
Type: Movie
A famous British actress gets involved with two members of a reserved British noble family, whose plan to get rid of her backfires.
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Paramount on Parade
Title: Paramount on Parade
Character: Floozie
Released: April 22, 1930
Type: Movie
This 1930 film, a collection of songs and sketches showcasing Paramount Studios' contract stars, credits 11 directors
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Sarah and Son
Title: Sarah and Son
Character: Sarah Storm
Released: March 14, 1930
Type: Movie
A ne'er-do-well husband, after years of abusing his wife, disappears with their son, and winds up selling him to a wealthy family. Years later, the wife, now a world-famous opera singer, finally has enough time and money to begin a search for him.
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The Laughing Lady
Title: The Laughing Lady
Character: Marjorie Lee
Released: December 28, 1929
Type: Movie
A society woman wrongly -- and very publicly -- accused of infidelity is dropped by her friends, spurned by her husband, and faced with the loss of her child.
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Charming Sinners
Title: Charming Sinners
Character: Kathryn Miles
Released: August 17, 1929
Type: Movie
Charming Sinners was a stilted adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife. Robert Miles (Clive Brook) starts the ball rolling when he falls in love with Anne-Marie Whitley (Mary Nolan), the best friend of his own wife Kathryn (Ruth Chatterton). In retaliation, Kathryn begins a flirtation with her former boyfriend Karl Kraley (William Powell). After reels and reels of verbal fencing, the status quo is re-established, and Robert and Kathryn are reunited.
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Madame X
Title: Madame X
Character: Jacqueline Floriot
Released: August 17, 1929
Type: Movie
A young, unfaithful wife and mother is thrown out by her cold, unforgiving husband, the Attorney General of France. She is barred from ever seeing her three year old son again despite her earnest attempts to make amends. For many years the mother seeks refuge overseas and in Absinthe. In the end, her son, a young and promising lawyer unknowingly defends her in court. Ruth Chatterton gives a marvelous performance in this early talkie in her portrayal of Madame X.
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The Dummy
Title: The Dummy
Character: Agnes Meredith
Released: March 9, 1929
Type: Movie
The title character is office-boy Barney. Pretending to be a deaf-mute, Barney tries to trump his detective boss Walter Babbing by tracking down the person who kidnapped Peggy Meredith, the daughter of wealthy Agnes and Trumbull Meredith.
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The Doctor's Secret
Title: The Doctor's Secret
Character: Lillian Garson
Released: January 26, 1929
Type: Movie
The Doctor's Secret is a 1929 American drama film directed by William C. deMille and written by William C. deMille. The film stars Ruth Chatterton, H. B. Warner, John Loder, Robert Edeson, Wilfred Noy and Ethel Wales. It is based on a play by J. M. Barrie.
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Sins of the Fathers
Title: Sins of the Fathers
Character: Greta Blanke
Released: December 28, 1928
Type: Movie
A married restaurant owner is persuaded to become a bootlegger by a beautiful young girl. When he starts making money at it, she steals it, then runs off with another man. His wife finds out what happened. Complications ensue.