# Nell Franzen

Nell W. Franzen (November 17, 1889 – August 21, 1973) was an American film and stage actress of the silent era. A native of Portland, Oregon, Franzen began her career acting in local theatre. She signed with the Baker Theatre Company and performed in various stage productions, becoming a prolific stage actress in the Pacific Northwest.
She later moved to Los Angeles in 1913 to pursue a career in silent films, signing a contract with the America Film Company. One of her earliest film appearances was in Love and the Law (1913) with Wallace Reid, followed by 1916's Lord Loveland Discovers America, and Embers. Franzen made her final film appearance in 1924 before retiring from acting.

## Early life

Nell Franzen was born on November 17, 1889, in Portland, Oregon to John O'Flarrity Franzen and Mary Ellen Coshow. According to the 1930 United States Census, Franzen's father was from Massachusetts, and her mother a native of Missouri. She was the second of two children; she had one older sister, Mae Frances Franzen.

## Career
### Stage career

She began her career as an actress working in stock theater. She began performing onstage with the Baker Stock Company at their Baker Theatre location in Portland in 1910, under stage director Marshall Farnum. She appeared in the stage production of The Toyshop in 1908, and also performed with the Sanford Stock Company in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In 1912, Franzen appeared with the Harry Corson Clarke theatre company in Honolulu, Hawaii.

### Films

After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in silent films, Franzen toured the world performing for veterans in soldier's camps during World War I alongside fellow silent film star Neva Gerber.
Among her earliest credits was opposite Wallace Reid in Love is the Law (1913). In a 1916 issue of Motography, it was noted: "Nell Franzen, who has been playing minor parts in American film productions, is climbing up in the profession...Miss Franzen won her advancement through the good work done in the small parts given her. She is small and pretty and has a pleasing screen appearance."
Her success with audiences and critics led to larger roles in silent films, most of them with the American Film Company of Santa Barbara, in which she often acted opposite Constance Crawley and Arthur Maude; these roles included parts in Lord Loveland Discovers America (1916) and Embers (1916). She also appeared in the first chapter of the film serial The Diamond from the Sky with Lottie Pickford.
She also continued to work in theatre, performing in a touring one act play titled "Room 13," written by Sherwood MacDonald, opposite Helen Emma Reaume, wife of Tyrone Power. The one-act toured throughout southern California in 1919.

## Personal life

According to the California Death Index, she died on August 21, 1973, in Orange, California, at the age of 83. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, alongside her mother, Mary, and sister, Mae.

## Credits
### Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1913 | Love and the Law | — | |
| 1913 | The Ashes of Three | — | |
| 1915 | Ima Simp, Detective | — | |
| 1915 | The Ladder of Love | John's Sister | |
| 1915 | The Diamond from the Sky | — | Ch. 1 of serial |
| 1915 | The Trail of the Serpent | Carlotta | |
| 1915 | Film Tempo | Charlotte Briggs | |
| 1915 | In the Sunset Country | Madge, The Lost Soul | |
| 1915 | Yes or No | — | |
| 1916 | Time and Tide | Ruth Walters | |
| 1916 | Dust | — | |
| 1916 | Lord Loveland Discovers America | Izzy | |
| 1916 | Life's Blind Alley | Rose McKee | |
| 1916 | Embers | Maysie Stafford | |
| 1916 | Revelations | Marie | |
| 1916 | The Courtesan | Bettie Howard | |
| 1916 | Purity | Maiden | |
| 1916 | The Strength of Donald McKenzie | — | |
| 1924 | Sagebrush Gospel | Mrs. Harper | |

### Stage credits

| Year | Title | Role | Location |
| 1908 | The Toyshop | Doll | Baker Theatre, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1909 | Merely Mary Ann | Sister Trippitt | Baker Theater, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1910 | Under Southern Skies | Anner Lizer | The Spokane in Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
| 1910 | The Prince Chap | Phoebe Puckers | Baker Theater, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1910 | The Man from Mexico | — | Baker Theater, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1910 | All the Comforts of Home | Emily Pettibone | Baker Theater, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1910 | Sapho | Soubrise | Baker Theater, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1911 | Brown's in Town | Freda Von Hollenbeck | Bungalow Theater, Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| 1919 | Room 13 | — | San Diego, California; Los Angeles, California, U.S. |