# Marguerite De La Motte

Marguerite De La Motte (June 22, 1902 – March 10, 1950) was an American film actress, most notably of the silent film era.

## Early years

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, De La Motte was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph De La Motte. She was a 1917 graduate of the Egan School of drama, music, and dancing.
De La Motte began her entertainment career studying ballet under Anna Pavlova. In 1919, she became the dance star of Sid Grauman on the stage of his theater. In 1918, at the age of 16, she made her screen debut in the Douglas Fairbanks-directed romantic comedy film Arizona. In 1920, both of her parents died, her mother in January in an automobile accident and her father in August from heart disease. Film producer J.L. Frothingham assumed guardianship of her and her younger brother.

## Career

De La Motte spent the 1920s appearing in numerous films, often cast by Douglas Fairbanks to play opposite him in swashbuckling adventure films such as 1920's The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers. She developed a close friendship with Fairbanks and his wife, actress Mary Pickford. Her career as an actress slowed dramatically at the end of the silent film era of the 1920s. She did continue acting in bit parts through the sound era and made her final appearance in the 1942 film Overland Mail opposite both Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr., as well as Lon Chaney Jr.

## Personal life

De La Motte was married twice. She first wed silent film actor John Bowers in 1924, who was then a matinee idol of the silver screen. That marriage ended with Bowers's suicide in 1936. De La Motte later married attorney Sidney H. Rivkin whom she divorced after four years of marriage. Her cousin, Clete Roberts, was an American war correspondent and journalist, who appeared in two episodes of the television series M*A*S*H* in the 1970s.

### Later years

After her film career ended, De La Motte worked as an inspector in a southern California war plant during World War II. Later she came to San Francisco, California, where she worked in the Red Cross office.

### Death

On March 10, 1950, De La Motte died of cerebral thrombosis in San Francisco at the age of 47.

### Recognition

On February 8, 1960, De La Motte was awarded a star in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6902 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1918 | Arizona | Lena | Lost film |
| 1919 | Josselyn's Wife | Lizzie | Lost film |
| 1919 | A Sagebrush Hamlet | Dora Lawrence | |
| 1919 | The Pagan God | Beryl Addison | |
| 1919 | For a Woman's Honor | Helen Rutherford | Lost film |
| 1919 | Dangerous Waters | Cora Button | |
| 1919 | In Wrong | Millie Fields | A copy is held at the Library of Congress |
| 1920 | The Hope | Lady Brenda Carylon | A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum |
| 1920 | Trumpet Island | Eve de Merincourt | |
| 1920 | The U.P. Trail | Allie Lee | |
| 1920 | The Sagebrusher | Mary Warren | |
| 1920 | The Mark of Zorro | Lolita Pulido | |
| 1920 | The Broken Gate | Anne Oglesby | Lost film |
| 1921 | The Nut | Estrell Wynn | |
| 1921 | The Ten Dollar Raise | Dorothy | |
| 1921 | The Three Musketeers | Constance Bonacieux | |
| 1922 | Shadows | Sympathy Malden | |
| 1922 | Shattered Idols | Sarasvati | |
| 1922 | The Jilt | Rose Trenton | Lost film |
| 1922 | Fools of Fortune | Marion DePuyster | A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum |
| 1923 | The Famous Mrs. Fair | Sylvia Fair | |
| 1923 | What a Wife Learned | Sheila Dorne | |
| 1923 | Scars of Jealousy | Helen Meanix | Copies are held at the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, UCLA Film and Television Archive, and George Eastman Museum |
| 1923 | Just Like a Woman | Peggy Dean | Copies are held at the Library of Congress and the George Eastman Museum |
| 1923 | A Man of Action | Helen Sumner | A copy is held at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands |
| 1923 | Wandering Daughters | Bessie Bowden | |
| 1923 | Desire | Ruth Cassell | Lost film |
| 1923 | Richard the Lion-Hearted | Lady Edith Plantagenet | A copy is held at the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée |
| 1924 | The Beloved Brute | Jacinta | A copy is held at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands |
| 1924 | Behold This Woman | Sophie | Incomplete film |
| 1924 | The Clean Heart | Essie Bickers | Lost film |
| 1924 | East of Broadway | Judy McNulty | |
| 1924 | When a Man's a Man | Helen Wakefield | An incomplete copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive |
| 1924 | Gerald Cranston's Lady | Angela | Lost film |
| 1924 | Those Who Dare | Marjorie | A copy is held at the Cineteca Italiana |
| 1924 | In Love with Love | Ann Jordan | A copy is held at the Library of Congress |
| 1925 | Cheaper to Marry | Doris | Lost film |
| 1925 | Daughters Who Pay | Sonia Borisoff/Margaret Smith | A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum |
| 1925 | Flattery | Betty Biddle | Lost film |
| 1925 | Children of the Whirlwind | Maggie | |
| 1925 | Off the Highway | Ella Tarrant | Lost film |
| 1925 | The People vs. Nancy Preston | Nancy Preston | A copy is held at the Library of Congress |
| 1925 | The Girl Who Wouldn't Work | Mary Hale | A copy is held at the Library of Congress |
| 1926 | Red Dice | Beverly Vane | Lost film |
| 1926 | Meet the Prince | Annabelle Ford | Lost film |
| 1926 | Fifth Avenue | Barbara Pelham | Lost film |
| 1926 | Hearts and Fists | Alexia Newton | |
| 1926 | The Last Frontier | Beth | A copy is held at the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée |
| 1926 | The Unknown Soldier | Mary Phillips | Copies are held at the Library of Congress and the UCLA Film and Television Archive |
| 1926 | Pals in Paradise | Geraldine "Jerry" Howard | Lost film |
| 1927 | The Final Extra | Ruth Collins | |
| 1927 | Held by the Law | Mary Travis | Lost film |
| 1927 | The Kid Sister | Helen Hall | Lost film |
| 1927 | Ragtime | Beth Barton | Lost film |
| 1927 | Broadway Madness | Maida Vincent | Lost film |
| 1929 | The Iron Mask | Constance | |
| 1929 | Montmartre Rose | Jeanne | |
| 1930 | Shadow Ranch | Ruth Cameron | A copy is held at the Library of Congress |
| 1934 | A Woman's Man | Gloria Jordan | |
| 1941 | Reg'lar Fellers | Mrs. Dugan | |
| 1942 | The Man Who Returned to Life | Mrs. Hibbard | |
| 1942 | Overland Mail | Rose, the Waitress | |