# Helen Gardner (actress)

Helen Louise Gardner (September 2, 1884 – November 20, 1968) was an American stage and film actress, screenwriter, film producer and costume designer. She was the first film actor to form her own production company. Her productions were primarily feature-length films, making her one of the earliest adopters of the feature film. Gardner's work was distinct for frequently centering female characters. Gardner is also considered one of the screen's first vamps.

## Career

Gardner was born to a wealthy family in Binghamton, New York. She spent much of her youth in European boarding schools, taking an interest in performance and often participating in private theatricals. Gardner continued pursuing theater while attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduating, she studied under Broadway actress and playwright Maude Fulton. In 1910 she became a Vitagraph Studios player. Her breakthrough role came in 1911, when she portrayed Becky Sharp in the film version of the novel Vanity Fair. Gardner received widespread critical acclaim for her performance.

### The Helen Gardner Picture Players

In 1912, following her success with Vitagraph Studios, Gardner formed her own production company: The Helen Gardner Picture Players. The company was established in Tappan, New York with capital provided by Gardner's mother. It was the first film production company to be owned by an individual actor. Gardner hired former Vitagraph collaborator Charles L. Gaskill as a director and scenarist. Gardner's first production was Cleopatra (1912), one of the first American full-length films. Following Cleopatra's success, Gardner continued to release popular films, specializing in feature-length motion pictures of at least five or six reels in length.
Gardner frequently acted in her own productions. Trained as a dancer, Gardner was known for her physically expressive performances. Her sensual, commanding portrayal of female characters was entirely new at the time, leading to her classification as the screen's first vamp, predating Theda Bara, Valeska Suratt and Louise Glaum. Beyond personal performance, Gardner's work was frequently centered on female stories. Her three most popular films — Cleopatra, A Sister to Carmen and A Daughter of Pan — all center female protagonists.
Gardner produced eleven feature films through The Helen Gardner Picture Players. In 1914, competition from better funded studios forced her to permanently close her production company. In 1915, she returned to Vitagraph briefly before signing with Universal. By this time, her popularity began to wane and she retired from acting in 1924.

## Personal life

Before Gardner embarked on an acting career, she married socially prominent businessman Duncan Clarkson Pell Sr., on October 16, 1902, in West Haven, Connecticut. The marriage took place shortly after Gardner's 18th birthday and one week after Pell's divorce from his first wife, Anna. Duncan and Anna Pell's divorce was covered in the gossip columns of The New York Times. The couple had one child in 1904. Gardner left Pell in 1906 to continue her acting career but they never divorced. They remained married until Pell's death in 1964.
Some sources state that Gardner married for a second time to Charles Gaskill, the director of many of her films. Gardner's granddaughter and biographer, Dorin Gardner Schumacher, states that this is incorrect and that Gardner never divorced Duncan C. Pell Sr.

## Later years and death

In the 1950s, Gardner returned to Orlando, Florida where she had previously lived with her estranged husband. Gardner died in Orlando on November 20, 1968, at the age of 84.

## Selected filmography

Short subject :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1910 | How She Won Him | Muriel Hanson | |
| 1911 | A Tale of Two Cities | | Uncredited |
| 1911 | The Inherited Taint | The nurse | |
| 1911 | The Wooing of Winifred | Winifred | |
| 1911 | The Show Girl | Audrey, an actress | |
| 1911 | For Her Brother's Sake | Bessie Black - the Sister | |
| 1911 | Barriers Burned Away | John's wife | |
| 1911 | A Quaker Mother | Lois Pearson Harmon - A Quaker Wife | |
| 1911 | She Came, She Saw, She Conquered | Rose Leigh - a Young Schoolteacher | |
| 1911 | The Death of King Edward III | Alice Ferrers | |
| 1911 | For Love and Glory | Rose Seaton | |
| 1911 | By Woman's Wit | The wife | |
| 1911 | Ups and Downs | The Young Wife | |
| 1911 | Regeneration | Elfie - Ross' sweetheart | |
| 1911 | Madge of the Mountains | Madge of the Mountains | |
| 1911 | Arbutus | The Mountain Woman | |
| 1911 | The Girl and the Sheriff | The Mountain Girl | |
| 1911 | Freshet | Meg Matthews | |
| 1911 | Vanity Fair | Becky Sharp | |
| 1911 | A Reformed Santa Claus | The Widow | |
| 1912 | Where the Money Went | Mrs. Fred Hart - the Jealous Wife | |
| 1912 | She Came, She Saw, She Conquered | Rose Leigh - a Young Schoolteacher | |
| 1912 | A Problem in Reduction | Mrs. Smartly - a Woman Who Wants to Reduce | |
| 1912 | Her Boy | Sue - Harry's Sweetheart | |
| 1912 | The Love of John Ruskin | The wife | |
| 1912 | The Love of John Ruskin | Mrs. John Ruskin | |
| 1912 | The Old Silver Watch | | Credited as Miss Gardner |
| 1912 | The Illumination | Sabina | |
| 1912 | The Serpents | Linda | |
| 1912 | An Innocent Theft | Malcolm's mother | |
| 1912 | Yellow Bird | Song Bird, a Young Indian | |
| 1912 | The Miracle | Abbasah, the Caliph's Wife | |
| 1912 | The Heart of Esmeralda | Louise Lennox - a Novelist | |
| 1912 | The Party Dress | Lydia Borne | |
| 1913 | Becky, Becky | Becky | Writer |
| 1913 | Alixe; or, The Test of Friendship | Alixe | |
| 1913 | Eureka! | The Castaway | |
| 1913 | Vampire of the Desert | Lispeth, Vampire of the Desert | |
| 1913 | The Wife of Cain | Save - the Wife of Cain | Producer |
| 1913 | A Daughter of Pan | Dusa - a Daughter of Pan | Producer |
| 1914 | The Girl with the Hole in Her Stocking | | Producer |
| 1914 | Fleur de Lys | | Producer |
| 1914 | And There Was Light | | Producer |
| 1914 | Butterfly | Nancy North - the Butterfly | |
| 1914 | Underneath the Paint | Tryphena Winter | |
| 1914 | The Strange Story of Sylvia Gray | Sylvia Gray/Silvery Gray | |
| 1915 | The Breath of Araby | Clothilde | |
| 1915 | The Still, Small Voice | Musa | |
| 1915 | Snatched from a Burning Death | Joan Le Grande | |
| 1915 | Miss Jekyll and Madame Hyde | Madeleine Jekyll/Madame Hyde | |
Features :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1912 | Cleopatra | Cleopatra - Queen of Egypt | Producer, costume designer, editor (uncredited) Credited as Miss Gardner |
| 1913 | A Sister to Carmen | Margo | Producer |
| 1913 | A Princess of Bagdad | Princess Ojira | Producer |
| 1914 | Pieces of Silver: A Story of Hearts and Souls | Sister Berenice | Producer |
| 1914 | The Strange Story of Sylvia Gray | Sylvia Gray/Silvery | |
| 1914 | The Moonshine Maid and the Man | Nancy - the Moonshine Maid | |
| 1920 | The Sleep of Cyma Roget | Cyma Roget | |
| 1924 | Sandra | La Flamme's wife | |