Helen Ferguson

Helen Ferguson

Born: July 23, 1901
Died: March 14, 1977
in Decatur, Illinois, USA
From Wikipedia

Helen Ferguson (July 23, 1901 – March 14, 1977) was an American actress later turned publicist.

Born in Decatur, Illinois in 1901, she graduated from Nicholas High School of Chicago and the Academy of Fine Arts. Ferguson was a newspaper reporter before entering the motion picture field. It is thought she made her debut in films in 1914, although her first recorded credits are in 1917. She soon starred in roles for Fox Film Corporation by 1920, which is when her career really took off with films such as Hungry Hearts (1922) for Samuel Goldwyn. She was cast mostly in westerns, comedies, and serials. She was selected as a WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1922.

She married actor William Russell in 1925, but he died in 1929. The following year, she married wealthy banker Richard L. Hargreaves. Following her second marriage, she left films to concentrate on stage work, though she only received minimal success in this medium.

In 1933, she left acting altogether to focus on publicity work, a job she became very successful in and which made her a major power in Hollywood, because she was representing such big name stars as Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Taylor, among others. Ferguson represented actress Loretta Young for more than nineteen years. She kept reporters from needlessly disturbing Young and was considered one of the foremost "suppress agents" in Hollywood.

In 1941, her second husband died, and she retired from publicity work in 1967. She died in Clearwater, Florida in 1977, aged 75. She is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale in Glendale, California.

Helen Ferguson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures at 6153 Hollywood Blvd.

Movies for Helen Ferguson...

Kid Millions
Title: Kid Millions
Character: Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Released: November 10, 1934
Type: Movie
A musical comedy about a Brooklyn boy who inherits a fortune from his archaeologist father, but has to go to Egypt to claim it.
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Scarlet Pages
Title: Scarlet Pages
Character: Miss Hutchinson
Released: September 27, 1930
Type: Movie
Nora Mason becomes entangled in a family mix-up of murder and scandal that threatens to ruin her career and entire future; Unless the mother she does not know can find a way to save her.
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Poor Aubrey
Title: Poor Aubrey
Character: Amy Piper
Released: January 30, 1930
Type: Movie
A poor clerk pretends that he has lots of money.
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Finders Keepers
Title: Finders Keepers
Released: December 27, 1929
Type: Movie
This Vitaphone one-reel short, written by the author of "Show-Off", George Kelly
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Jaws of Steel
Title: Jaws of Steel
Character: Mary Warren
Released: September 10, 1927
Type: Movie
Our doggy hero is abandoned in the desert while in pup-hood. Upon reaching maturity, Tin Tin has undeservedly earned the reputation as a killer canine. Thus, the human characters spend most of their time hunting down the dog in hopes of collecting a huge bounty.
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Spook Ranch
Title: Spook Ranch
Character: Elvira
Released: September 20, 1925
Type: Movie
Bill Bangs and his Negro valet, George Washington Black, stray into a mining town and are arrested when they attempt to steal something to eat. The sheriff promises them their freedom if they solve the mystery of a haunted house near the town. Bill agrees.....
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The Isle of Hope
Title: The Isle of Hope
Character: Dorothy Duffy
Released: August 16, 1925
Type: Movie
A ship captain's beautiful daughter and a wealthy playboy who is searching for buried treasure find themselves stranded on a desert island.
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The Scarlet West
Title: The Scarlet West
Character: Nestina
Released: July 26, 1925
Type: Movie
Cardelanche, the son of an Indian chief, returns from the East to find himself rejected by his own people. He is made captain of the U.S. army when he saves a detachment of cavalry from a group of renegade Indians, and further removes himself from his race when he develops a relationship with Miriam, the daughter of the Fort Remmington commandant. Lieutenant Parkman (Walker) gets into a fight with Cardelanche when Parkman is demoted, while General Custer's troops are slaughtered by Cardelanche's people. Cardelanche decides that his true allegiance is to his own race, and gives up Miriam to return to them.
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The Cloud Rider
Title: The Cloud Rider
Character: Zella Wingate
Released: February 15, 1925
Type: Movie
Bruce Torrence is an aviator and member of the secret service. His rival for the hand of Zella Wingate is Juan Lascelles, a drug smuggler. To get rid of Torrence, Lascelles loosens a wheel on one of his planes, but Zella is the one who goes up in it. Torrence goes up in another plane and attaches a fresh wheel to Zella's plane. In spite of his efforts he later finds her in Lascelles' arms.
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Chalk Marks
Title: Chalk Marks
Character: Virginia Thompson
Released: September 14, 1924
Type: Movie
Young Herbert Thompson, wanting to attain wealth and social status, marries Ann Morton, who comes from a rich and prominent family, throwing over pretty young Angelina Kilboure, who really loves him. Years later Herbert has become the local District Attorney and has two children, Bert and Virginia. One night Bert, a patron at a seedy roadhouse, defends his sister's honor from a ruffian and winds up killing the man. Angelina persuades Herbert to leave his post as D.A. to defend his son in his murder trial. Herbert wins the case, but it turns out to have unexpected consequences.
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The Valley of Hate
Title: The Valley of Hate
Character: Millie Hendricks
Released: June 20, 1924
Type: Movie
A young man in South Carolina inherits property in a valley he has never visited before. On arriving he is mistaken by the locals for a revenue officer intent on enforcing the Volstead Act on Prohibition. As the whole area lives off the moonshining trade, this prevents problems - particularly when he falls in love with the daughter of the head of the local producers.
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Valley of Hate
Title: Valley of Hate
Character: Millie Hendricks
Released: June 20, 1924
Type: Movie
A city visitor falls for a mountain girl and collides with her family of rustic moonshiners.
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The Unknown Purple
Title: The Unknown Purple
Character: Ruth Marsh
Released: October 1, 1923
Type: Movie
Inventor Peter Marchmont has discovered a purple light that renders the user invisible. On his release from prison, Marchmont, disguised as Victor Cromport, uses the light to revenge himself against his former wife, Jewel, and her partner, James Dawson, who framed him for theft. Making himself invisible, Marchmont gradually ruins Dawson. He so wins Jewel's confidence and love that she is willing to kill Dawson at Marchmont's request. Finally, Marchmont leaves the scheming couple to their own misery and marries Jewel's sister, Ruth Marsh.
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Double Dealing
Title: Double Dealing
Character: The Slavey
Released: May 21, 1923
Type: Movie
The servant girl of a wealthy young man helps him fend off criminals who are trying to steal his property.
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Within the Law
Title: Within the Law
Character: Helen Morris
Released: April 28, 1923
Type: Movie
When Mary Turner is sent to prison for a crime she did not commit, she vows upon her release to take vengeance on those who wronged her, always staying however within the letter of the law.
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Brass
Title: Brass
Character: Rosemary Church
Released: March 4, 1923
Type: Movie
With her marriage on the verge of breaking up, a young wife attempts to win back the love of her husband and child.
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The Famous Mrs. Fair
Title: The Famous Mrs. Fair
Character: Peggy
Released: February 19, 1923
Type: Movie
A silent film drama based on the Broadway play of the same name by James Forbes..
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Hungry Hearts
Title: Hungry Hearts
Character: Sara
Released: November 26, 1922
Type: Movie
A family of Russian Jews living in New York struggles to survive, while the mother strives to better their lives, but she finds that most of her efforts costs more then they are worth.
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The Crusader
Title: The Crusader
Character: Mary
Released: September 9, 1922
Type: Movie
Veteran action hero William Russell starred opposite his offscreen wife Helen Ferguson in this typical Fox oater about a miner who finds himself up against a master swindler (George Webb).
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Roughshod
Title: Roughshod
Character: Betty Lawson
Released: June 4, 1922
Type: Movie
A ranch foreman helps his fiancé--the ranch's owner--who is having problems with a gang of cattle rustlers. Her girlfriend from back East is visiting her and has fallen for a cowboy who is secretly a member of the rustlers. He tells this to the gang's leader, who plans to use the owner's friend in a scheme to gain control of the ranch.
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According to Hoyle
Title: According to Hoyle
Character: Doris Mead
Released: May 6, 1922
Type: Movie
"'Boxcar' Simmons, a tramp, represents himself as a mining millionaire in a small town. The population accepts him at his own valuation, and two of the town's 'slickers' make desperate efforts to 'take him for his roll.' One of their schemes is to sell him a worthless ranch, but he turns the tables on them by making them believe that the ranch is a veritable bed of silver ore, and then, after they buy it, he presents the major part of the proceeds to the girl who owns the place and with whom he had fallen in love." (Moving Picture World, 24 Jun 1922, p. 736.)
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The Wampas Baby Stars of 1922
Title: The Wampas Baby Stars of 1922
Character: Self
Released: March 15, 1922
Type: Movie
The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which honored 13 (15 in 1932) young actresses each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. 1922 was the first.
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The Call of the North
Title: The Call of the North
Character: Elodie Albret
Released: November 27, 1921
Type: Movie
Galen Albret (Noah Beery) is the factor, or manager, of an important trading post of the Hudson Bay Company. He's also a jealous and vindictive man, and because he believes that Graham Stewart (Edward Martindel) has slept with his wife, he sends him into the Northwoods to die. Stewart's son, who grows up with the name Ned Trent (Jack Holt), swears revenge.
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Miss Lulu Bett
Title: Miss Lulu Bett
Character: Diana Deacon
Released: November 1, 1921
Type: Movie
Lois Wilson (as Lulu) is the spinsterish member of the Deacon family: "The family beast of burden, whose timid soul has failed to break the bonds of family servitude." Her brother-in-law is patriarchal Theodore Roberts (as Dwight Deacon); running the house with an iron fist, he is both a dentist and a Justice of the Peace. As the latter, he accidentally marries Ms. Wilson to his visiting brother Clarence Burton (as Ninian Deacon) while they are out for dinner. Schoolteacher Milton Sills (as Neil Cornish) is also interested in Wilson...
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To a Finish
Title: To a Finish
Character: Doris Lane
Released: August 21, 1921
Type: Movie
A small Western community is terrorized by an unscrupulous empire-builder.
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Straight from the Shoulder
Title: Straight from the Shoulder
Character: Maggie
Released: June 19, 1921
Type: Movie
Played mostly for laughs, this silent Western featured the"The Mediator," a drifter who manages to restore peace both within a family and between miners and their powerful employer.
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The Freeze-Out
Title: The Freeze-Out
Character: Zoe Whipple
Released: April 9, 1921
Type: Movie
Into the town of Broken Buckle rides a stranger who threatens to open a new gambling establishment to rival the one operated by Denver Red and Headlight Whipple. The latter's sister, Zoe, who disapproves of her brother's saloon and is the local schoolteacher and owner of a notions store, tries to interest The Stranger in reforming the vice-ridden community.
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The Right Way
Title: The Right Way
Character: The Poor Boy's Sweetheart
Released: February 28, 1921
Type: Movie
Two young boys get in trouble with the law and wind up in prison. One, who was raised in poverty in the slums, goes to a reformatory and picks up tips on how to become a master criminal.
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Just Pals
Title: Just Pals
Character: Mary
Released: October 21, 1920
Type: Movie
Bim (Buck Jones) seems to be his town's biggest loser, but when he takes a needy 13-year-old boy named Bill (George Stone) under his wing, it seems there may be some hope for Bim. After learning about Bill, a young teacher, Mary (Helen Ferguson), whom Bim secretly adores, helps get the young boy into school. And when Bim then helps Mary repay a loan, defaulted on by shifty boyfriend (William Buckley), it becomes evident that Bim can reform. As the plot in this captivating film twist and turns, the stakes get higher, the action gets more intense and hope for Bim bounds upward.
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The Challenge of the Law
Title: The Challenge of the Law
Character: Madeline Du Barre
Released: October 10, 1920
Type: Movie
A Canadian Mountie pursues an outlaw across the border into the America...
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The Lost Battalion
Title: The Lost Battalion
Character: The Stenographer
Released: July 2, 1919
Type: Movie
World War I, October 1918. The more than 500 men of the 77th Infantry Division of the United States Army, who have been recruited in New York City and trained in Yaphank, are sent to France, to help break down the German defenses located in the Argonne forest…
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The End of the Road
Title: The End of the Road
Character: Maid
Released: February 16, 1919
Type: Movie
Childhood friends Mary Lee and Vera receive two different versions of the 'birds and the bees' from their mothers. Mary Lee gets the facts, while Vera gets a prudish fairytale version. Their lives separate after graduation, Mary Lee becomes a nurse who falls in proper love with a Doctor, whereas Vera follows her mother's advice and seeks to marry a rich man, but falls for the unlawful and syphilitic charms of a wealthy cad. Mary Lee and her Doctor rescue Vera and help her get proper care after a series of revelations showing actual patients of the loathsome disease. Finally, Mary Lee and her new husband volunteer to help our boys fighting the Huns in France.
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Life's Greatest Problem
Title: Life's Greatest Problem
Character: Miriam Craig
Released: November 3, 1918
Type: Movie
Big Steve and Little Lefty, a pair of hobos, are happily drifting through life until the First World War comes and enter it and find their lives forever changed.
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The Small Town Guy
Title: The Small Town Guy
Character: Eleanor Ramsdell
Released: December 3, 1917
Type: Movie
Coaxed by sharpers, who seek to profit by his rustic innocence, the boy from the small town goes to the city with them and become, innocently enough, a successful swindler, but he learns of the deception and returns home, too ashamed to seek his old sweetheart. The crooks return to try a blackmail game, but Ernie's eyes are opened now. He cleans up in whirlwind fashion.
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Fools For Luck
Title: Fools For Luck
Character: Brunhilda
Released: October 8, 1917
Type: Movie
Philander has embraced every superstition imaginable, from hoarding rabbit's foots and horseshoes to avoiding the third light on a match. But his luck manages to run out anyway -- he loses his girl, Brunhilda and his job.