  barbara la marr (july 28, 1896&nbsp;&ndash; january 30, 1926) was an american stage and film actress, cabaret artist, and screenwriter. la marr was known as "the girl who is too beautiful," after a hearst newspaper feature writer, adela rogers st. johns, saw a judge sending her home during the police beat in los angeles because she was too beautiful and young to be on her own in the big city. ==early life== la marr was born in 1896 as reatha dale watson to william wallace and rosana "rose" watson in yakima, washington (la marr later claimed she was born in richmond, virginia). her father was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother had a son, henry, born in 1878, and a daughter, violet, born in february 1881, from a previous marriage. the couple wed some time during 1884, and had a son, william watson, jr., born in june 1886 in washington. in the 1920s, watson become a vaudeville comedian under the stage name of "billy devore." the watsons lived in various locations during la marr's formative years. by 1900, she was living with her parents in portland, oregon, with her brother william, her half-sister violet ross, and violet's husband arvel ross. as a child, la marr also performed in a few stage productions and performed as a dancer in vaudeville. by 1910, la marr was living in fresno, california, with her parents. some time after 1911, the family moved to los angeles. in january 1913, la marr's half-sister, now going by the name of violet ake, took her 16-year-old sister on a three-day automobile excursion with a man named c.c. boxley. they drove up to santa barbara, but after a few days la marr felt that they were not going to let her return home. ake and boxley finally let la marr return to los angeles after they realized that there were warrants issued for their arrests accusi
1896_births 1926_deaths 20th-century_American_actresses Actresses_from_Washington_(state) American_child_actresses American_film_actresses American_silent_film_actresses American_stage_actresses American_women_screenwriters Burials_at_Hollywood_Forever_Cemetery Deaths_from_nephritis Deaths_from_tuberculosis Drug-related_deaths_in_California People_from_Yakima,_Washington Vaudeville_performers