Alma Rubens

Alma Rubens

Born: February 17, 1897
Died: January 22, 1931
in San Francisco, California, USA
From Wikipedia

Alma Rubens (February 19, 1897 – January 22, 1931) was an American film actress and stage performer. Rubens began her career in the mid 1910s. She quickly rose to stardom in 1916 after appearing opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Half Breed. For the remainder of the decade, she appeared in supporting roles in comedies and drama. In the 1920s. Her first stage opportunity came when a chorus girl in a musical comedy theater troupe became ill. Rubens was chosen to take her place and joined the troupe as a regular performer. There she met Franklyn Farnum who was also a member. He later convinced Rubens to leave the troupe and try her hand at film acting. Her breakthrough performance was in 1916 in the movie Reggie Mixes In. She made six more films in that same year. In 1917 she starred in The Firefly of Tough Luck, which was a big success. She gained fame when she became Douglas Fairbanks's leading lady in The Half Breed (1916), and supported Fairbanks and Bessie Love in the cocaine comedy The Mystery of the Leaping Fish later that same year. In 1918, Alma announced that she was changing the spelling of her last name of Rueben to "Rubens" because it caused too much confusion in the movie industry and in publications. She later told Photoplay magazine, "As a matter of fact my name is not the same [spelling] as the painter's. It's either Reubens or Ruebens-I forget which. I never could spell it. Couldn't remember where the 'e' came. So I let it go Rubens." In 1920, she completed The World and His Wife, opposite Montague Love which further solidified her popularity. In 1924, she starred in The Price She Paid and Cytherea. Rubens developed a drug addiction which eventually ended her career. She died of pneumonia shortly after being arrested on narcotics charge in January 1931. A funeral service was held on January 24 at the Little Church of the Flowers at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. Her body was then shipped to Fresno where a second service was held at the Christian Science Church on January 26. She was interred in Ararat Massis Armenian Cemetery in Fresno. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Alma Rubens has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6409 Hollywood Blvd.

Movies for Alma Rubens...

Show Boat
Title: Show Boat
Character: Julie Dozier
Released: July 27, 1929
Type: Movie
This film sticks very closely to the Edna Ferber novel, rather than the musical based on the novel. There are only two major changes from Ferber's book : *Julie in this version is a white woman, not a racially mixed one; therefore she and her husband are not unlawfully married. * Ravenal returns at the end, instead of dying as in the novel
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She Goes to War
Title: She Goes to War
Character: Rosie
Released: June 7, 1929
Type: Movie
A young woman disguises herself as a man and follows her fiancéé into the trenches during World War I to find out what war is really like.
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The Masks of the Devil
Title: The Masks of the Devil
Character: Countess Zellner
Released: November 17, 1928
Type: Movie
Baron Reiner, a charming though unscrupulous Viennese aristocrat, becomes infatuated with Virginia, an innocent schoolgirl who is engaged to his best friend, Manfred. In order to seduce the girl, Reiner finances an oceanographic expedition for Manfred that takes him away for months (TCM).
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The Heart of Salome
Title: The Heart of Salome
Character: Helene
Released: May 8, 1927
Type: Movie
1927 picture starring Alma Rubens and Walter Pidgeon.
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Marriage License?
Title: Marriage License?
Character: Wanda Heriot
Released: September 5, 1926
Type: Movie
1926 picture starring Alma Rubens and Walter McGrail.
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Siberia
Title: Siberia
Character: Sonia Vronsky
Released: March 28, 1926
Type: Movie
Officer in the Imperial Russian Army, Petroff, is in love with Sonia, a schoolteacher who casts her lot with revolutionaries. During a time of suppression, she is exiled with her brother to Siberia. There Petroff is sent in the discharge of his official duties and secretly renews their romance. When the Bolsheviki overthrow the government, Sonia is freed and aids in the escape of Petroff, who incurs the enmity of Egor, the revolutionary leader, because he is a royalist. Together they escape across the frozen wastes in a sledge, pursued by wolves and Egor, who has used patriotism as a cloak to conceal personal ambitions.
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The Gilded Butterfly
Title: The Gilded Butterfly
Released: January 3, 1926
Type: Movie
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East Lynne
Title: East Lynne
Character: Lady Isabel
Released: November 23, 1925
Type: Movie
This most famous of Victorian melodramas was more than half a century old, and had already been filmed several times when it came to the screen once again in 1925. Director Emmett J. Flynn had an all-star cast and kept close to the original story.
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The Winding Stair
Title: The Winding Stair
Character: Marguerite
Released: October 25, 1925
Type: Movie
Paul is a fearless French Foreign Legion officer. Ordered to quell a native uprising at a far-away outpost, he discovers that the revolt is actually a subterfuge hatched by the Arabs, so that the city under Paul's command will be left unguarded and defenseless.
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Fine Clothes
Title: Fine Clothes
Character: Paula
Released: August 9, 1925
Type: Movie
The owner of a London clothing store is driven out of business, but later makes a triumphant return.
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The Dancers
Title: The Dancers
Character: Maxine
Released: January 4, 1925
Type: Movie
Young Tony, unable to make a living in crowded and fast-paced London, goes to South America in search of his fortune. He soon becomes the owner of a saloon and dance hall. One of the dancers in his place, Maxine, falls in love with him, but Tony is still in love with his childhood sweetheart Una, although Una is now a "party girl" back in London and has forgotten about Tony. However, Tony comes into an unexpected inheritance, along with a title, and returns to London for Una. Although disappointed with Una's current lifestyle, he asks her to marry him despite her "indiscretions". However, the night before they are to be married Una confesses a deep, dark secret to Tony that could change their lives forever.
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Is Love Everything?
Title: Is Love Everything?
Character: Virginia Carter
Released: November 30, 1924
Type: Movie
Virginia Carter accedes to her family's pressures and marries Jordan Southwick, who comes from a wealthy and socially prominent family. However, she soon regrets her actions because she still loves her ex-boyfriend, Robert Whitney. Due to the instigation of his jealous brother Boyd, Jordan suspects Virginia of being unfaithful with Whitney.
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The Rejected Woman
Title: The Rejected Woman
Character: Diane Du Prez
Released: May 4, 1924
Type: Movie
Diane Duprez falls in love with Leslie in the snows of a Canadian village. And when they are trapped by a blizzard, her father thinks wrong of her...
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Cytherea
Title: Cytherea
Character: Savina Grove
Released: May 4, 1924
Type: Movie
Lee Randon, weary of business duties and a conventional home life, acquires a long-lost sense of excitement and romance with young flapper Claire Morris. When he meets her married aunt, Savina Grove, she appears to be the woman he imagines whenever he gazes at a doll he has christened Cytherea, goddess of love -----Cytherea features two dream sequences filmed in an early version of the Technicolor color film process.
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Under the Red Robe
Title: Under the Red Robe
Character: Renee de Cocheforet
Released: November 12, 1923
Type: Movie
A young man is tasked by the powerful Cardinal Richelieu to capture one of the cardinal's enemies but falls in love with his target's sister. The film marks the last motion picture appearance by stage actor Robert B. Mantell who plays Cardinal Richelieu and the only silent screen performance of opera singer John Charles Thomas.
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Enemies of Women
Title: Enemies of Women
Character: The Duchess de Lille
Released: April 15, 1923
Type: Movie
The dashing but arrogant Prince Michael Fedor Lubimoff has to flee Tsarist Russia after falling into disgrace and settles in Monte Carlo, where he resumes his life of debauchery while World War I ravages the fields of Europe… (Partially lost film; reels 3 and 9 of a total of 11 are missing.)
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The Valley of Silent Men
Title: The Valley of Silent Men
Released: September 10, 1922
Type: Movie
The hunter becomes the hunted, an officer of the Royal Mounted, fleeing, fighting for his life. Guided to a secret valley in the frozen North by a hot-blooded French-Canadian beauty, with a secret of her own...
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Find the Woman
Title: Find the Woman
Character: Sophie Carey
Released: April 2, 1922
Type: Movie
This whodunit bears no relation to the 1918 picture of the same name, but both films coincidentally had the same director, Tom Terriss. When sleazy theatrical agent Maurice Beiner (Arthur Donaldson) is found stabbed to death in his office, just about everybody is a suspect -- there's aspiring actress Clancy Deane (Eileen Huban), who was one of the last people to see him alive, and Sophie Carey (Alma Rubens) who knows he has some love letters she wrote to Judge Walbrough (George MacQuarrie) before she married her alcoholic husband, Don (Henry Sedley). Or is it Marc Weber (Norman Kerry), who had a falling out with Beiner, or Weber's devoted wife, Fay (Ethel Duray)?
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The World and His Wife
Title: The World and His Wife
Released: July 18, 1920
Type: Movie
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Humoresque
Title: Humoresque
Character: Gina Berg (formerly Minnie Ginsberg)
Released: May 29, 1920
Type: Movie
Young Leon Kanter dreams of being a great violinist. His parents scrape up the money for a violin and for lessons, and Leon rewards them by becoming a great player. But as an adult, Leon finds that people want more from him than just music.
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A Man's Country
Title: A Man's Country
Character: Kate Carewe
Released: July 13, 1919
Type: Movie
Dance-hall queen Kate Carewe is the toast of the gold-mining camp of Huxley's Gulch. One day a minister, Ralph Bowen, arrives to "clean up" the town. He is scorned by the miners, gamblers and "loose women" of the place, especially Kate, who resents that Bowen calls her a "scarlet woman".
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Diane of the Green Van
Title: Diane of the Green Van
Character: Diane Westfall
Released: February 9, 1919
Type: Movie
An heiress takes a road trip in a green van. Unbeknownst to her, she has four pursuers.
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The Ghost Flower
Title: The Ghost Flower
Released: August 18, 1918
Type: Movie
Giulia, a Neapolitan girl, much against her will, becomes the mistress of a wealthy gangster. Her "protector" is stabbed to death by Giulia's hot-headed musician lover Tony (Francis McDonald), whereupon the heroine takes refuge in the villa of French playwright La Farge. Under La Farge's careful tutelage, Giulia develops into a famous actress, capturing the heart of the Duke De Chaumont. Though LaFarge himself has fallen in love with the girl, he does not stand in her way when she accepts the Duke's proposal. But Giulia has not reckoned with Tony, who is still crazy about her and still willing to kill any man who stands in his way. Tony murders LaFarge, then sets his sights on the Duke, intending to kill the poor fellow during the wedding ceremony. Hoping to save the Duke's life, Giulia pretends to have fallen out of love with him and returns to Tony.
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The Gown Of Destiny
Title: The Gown Of Destiny
Released: December 30, 1917
Type: Movie
Rejected by the army because of his petite size, French dress designer Andre Leriche conceives the idea of designing a gown that will aid his country. His employer, Madame Felice, sells the gown to Mrs. Mortimer Reyton, a middle-aged woman who is gradually losing the love of her husband. The gown so transforms her that, in honor of their wedding anniversary, Reyton buys three ambulances for France. Mrs. Reyton then sends the gown to her cousin Natalie. The garment so inspires Englishman Neil Cunningham that, to win Natalie's love, he returns home to enlist. In France, Neil proves himself a hero and, while leading an attack on a German stronghold, saves Andre's father, the mayor of the town, from death. Thus, the gown made a reality of Andre's dream to serve his country.
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The Cold Deck
Title: The Cold Deck
Character: Coralie
Released: October 31, 1917
Type: Movie
Gambler "On-the Level" Leigh (William S. Hart) is forced to leave his high rolling lifestyle to move his ailing sister Alice (Mildred Harris) to the healing climate the mountains. Financial strain compels him to resume his favored vocation. Unfortunately for Level, the dance hall girl Coralie (Alma Rubens) doesn't take rejection well and convinces the dealer to clean him out with a "cold deck". A desperate robbery ensues, leading to Level wanted for murder!
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Master of His Home
Title: Master of His Home
Released: August 12, 1917
Type: Movie
Unhappy with her daughter's choice to marry a miner instead of her choice, a man of wealth, a mother tries to convince her daughter to get an abortion.
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An Old Fashioned Young Man
Title: An Old Fashioned Young Man
Released: April 14, 1917
Type: Movie
A 1917 film directed by Lloyd Ingraham.
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A Woman's Awakening
Title: A Woman's Awakening
Character: Cousin Kate (as Alma Rueben)
Released: March 24, 1917
Type: Movie
A 1917 film directed by Chester Withey.
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Truthful Tulliver
Title: Truthful Tulliver
Character: Grace Burton
Released: January 7, 1917
Type: Movie
Truthful Tulliver, a Westerner and a journeying newspaperman, followed by Silver Lode Thompson, printer and compositor, arrives in Glory Hole to start a newspaper.
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The Americano
Title: The Americano
Character: Juana de Castalar
Released: December 23, 1916
Type: Movie
Doug is an American mining engineer. Pres. Valdez of Paragonia wants him to reopen the country's mines. Doug is not interested ... until he sees the President's beautiful daughter, Juana. Valdez returns to Paragonia, but is deposed by Generals Sanchez and Garcia and locked in San Mateo Prison. The Americano arrives...
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The Children Pay
Title: The Children Pay
Character: Editha, the Girls' Stepmother
Released: November 26, 1916
Type: Movie
What will become of the Children in a home divided....
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Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Title: Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Character: Girl at the Marriage Market (uncredited)
Released: September 4, 1916
Type: Movie
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
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The Half-Breed
Title: The Half-Breed
Character: Teresa
Released: July 30, 1916
Type: Movie
In an attempt to brand himself as a serious actor, the smiling swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks starred in THE HALF-BREED (1916), a Western melodrama written by Anita Loos and directed with flair by Allan Dwan. Fairbanks stars as Lo Dorman, who has been ostracized from society because of this mixed ethnicity - his Native American mother was abandoned by his white father. When Lo catches the eye of the rich white debutante Nellie (Jewel Carmen), he becomes a target for the racist Sheriff Dunn (Sam De Grasse), who wants to break them up and take Nelli for his own. This love triangle becomes a quadrangle with the arrival of Teresa (Alma Rubens), who is on the run from the law. Through fire and fury Lo must decide who and what he truly loves.
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The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
Title: The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
Character: Wealthy Gent's Female Confederate
Released: June 11, 1916
Type: Movie
Coke Ennyday, the scientific detective, divides his time into periods of "Sleep", "Eat", "Dope" and "Drinks". In fact, he overcomes every situation with drugs: consuming cocaine to increase his energy or injecting it in his opponents to incapacitate them. To help the police, he tracks down a contraband of opium (which he eagerly tastes) transported within "leaping fishes", saving a "fish-blower" girl from blackmail along the way.
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Reggie Mixes In
Title: Reggie Mixes In
Character: Lemona Reighley
Released: June 10, 1916
Type: Movie
Reggie, a wealthy young man about town, is eager for excitement, so he takes to visiting the rougher sections of the city in search of thrills. He meets and falls for a cabaret singer, but she turns out to be the inamorata of the local gang boss. The gangster sends his men after Reggie, but eventually it comes down to a duel between the two men themselves.
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The Birth of a Nation
Title: The Birth of a Nation
Character: Belle of 1861
Released: February 8, 1915
Type: Movie
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
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The Gangsters and the Girl
Title: The Gangsters and the Girl
Released: August 7, 1914
Type: Movie
Molly Ashley, a child of the slums, is charged with being an accomplice to a shoplifter. Although innocent, she is convicted of shoplifting and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Jim Tracy, the leader of a band of gangsters, rescues Molly. The following morning Detective Stone is assigned the task of locating and running down Jim Tracy's gang. In order to secure evidence against the gang, he disguises himself as one of the gangsters, runs into their place and pretends that the "cops" are after him. Tracy and the gang take him in. Molly falls in love with Stone and discovers his true identity. One of the crooks gets sore at Jim Tracy and betrays them to the police. Jim accuses Molly of betraying them. Stone resents his accusation.