Sam Warner
Who was the spouse of Lina Basquette from 1925 to 1927?
Lina Basquette Lina Basquette ( born Lena Copeland Baskette ; April 19 , 1907 – September 30 , 1994 ) was an American actress . She is noted for her 75-year career in entertainment , which began during the silent film era . Talented as a dancer , she was paid as a girl for performing and gained her first film contract at age nine . In her acting career , Basquette may have been best known for her role as Judith in The Godless Girl ( 1929 ) The film was based on the life of Queen Silver , known as a 20th-century child prodigy , and feminist and socialist activist . Basquette also was noted for her several marriages , including her first , to the much older noted producer , Sam Warner , founder of Warner Bros . film studio . When her film career declined , she returned for a period to dancing and stage performances . After she retired from the entertainment world , in 1947 Basquette moved to Bucks County , Pennsylvania , where she became a noted breeder of Great Danes ; her dogs won numerous professional show prizes . She wrote several books on dog breeding as well . Later living in West Virginia , she also served as a judge for the American Kennel Club , and wrote a column . Early years . Basquette was born in April 19 , 1907 as Lena Copeland Baskette , to parents Frank E . Baskette , a drugstore owner , and his wife Gladys Lee ( née Rosenberg ) Baskette in San Mateo , California . She began dancing as a child . A Victor Talking Machine Company representative saw her dancing to a record in her fathers store . He hired her at the age of eight ( through her parents ) to advertise Victrolas at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition , held in San Francisco . Basquette later began studying ballet . Baskette secured her first film contract at the age of nine in 1916 with Universal Studios in Los Angeles for the silent film series Lena Baskette Featurettes . Shortly after she was signed with Universal , her father Frank Baskette committed suicide . Baskette later blamed her fathers death on her mothers ambition for fame and fortune . Within a year , Gladys Baskette married dance director Ernest Belcher . Their daughter Marjorie Belcher , half-sister to Lina , was born in 1919 in Los Angeles , where the family was then living . Marjorie became a dancer and choreographer known as Marge Champion . Career . Early success . In 1923 , Baskette and her mother traveled across the country by train to New York City , so that the girl could audition for John Murray Anderson . Anderson urged her to change the spelling of her surname from Baskette to Basquette . Producer Charles Dillingham changed the spelling of her first name from Lena to Lina saying , Lena is a cook , Lina is an artiste . Before she could sign with Anderson , Florenz Ziegfeld cast the 16-year-old Basquette in his Ziegfeld Follies and cast her as a featured dancer . The Follies producers officially dubbed her Americas Prima Ballerina . The girl gained notice from Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova , who wanted to mentor her in classical ballet . Her mother Gladys Baskette decided that a career as a ballerina would not yield enough money and turned down Pavolvas offer . Basquette later said I dreamed of being in a ballet company and it broke my heart . Marriage and family . By 1925 , at age 18 , Basquette was appearing in two concurrent Ziegfeld productions . She was spotted in Louie the 14th by Sam Warner , film producer and co-founder of Warner Bros . studio . Warner instantly fell in love with her and proposed marriage . Basquette did not want to marry him , as he was considerably older than she . Her mother insisted that Basquette accept Warners proposal , believing that the producer was wealthy ( at the time , Warner Bros . was losing money ) . Basquette and Warner were married in July 1925 . After the marriage , Basquette grew to love and respect Warner ; the couple had a daughter , Lita , in 1926 . Warner died suddenly on October 5 , 1927 , the day before the opening of the highly anticipated Warner Bros . film , The Jazz Singer , which he had been working on tirelessly . Basquette was devastated by his death . She spent years battling Warners family over money and custody of the couples daughter . Return to films . Basquette returned to work in 1928 , appearing in four films . That year , she was named one of thirteen WAMPAS Baby Stars . The following year , she appeared in The Younger Generation , directed by Frank Capra . In 1929 , she starred in the partial-sound film , The Godless Girl , directed by Cecil B . DeMille . This is the role for which she is best known . Basquette plays the title character Judith , who is based on Queen Silver , a child prodigy who early made speeches as a socialist activist . Judith is the leader of a high school atheist society ; she forces members to renounce the Bible while placing a hand on the head of a live monkey . In the films climactic scene , DeMille insisted on realism while filming the reformatory going up in flames . During the filming , Basquettes eyelashes and eyebrows were burned . The Godless Girl was not a box office success in the United States , but it did well in Austria and Germany . Basquette later recalled that she received a fan letter from Adolf Hitler ( before he achieved his political power ) saying that she was his favorite movie star . Decline . After appearing in The Godless Girl , Basquette found her popularity declining and she was offered fewer film roles . She was unofficially blacklisted in Hollywood due to her legal battles with the Warner family , which was trying to take custody of her daughter with Sam Warner in order to rear her as Jewish , and challenged settlement of his estate . She made a successful transition to sound films and appeared in some Western films in the 1930s . In January 1937 , Basquette was offered a contract with the Universum Film AG studio in Germany after the Nazi Party had taken power . After arriving in Germany , she was driven to Berchtesgaden , where she met Adolf Hitler , Rudolf Hess , and Joseph Goebbels . She later claimed that Hitler made a pass at her , and she kicked him in the groin . When he persisted , Basquette told him that her maternal grandfather was Jewish . She left Germany the following day . As her career in films continued to decline , Basquette returned to dancing . She performed in nightclubs and on the vaudeville circuit . In 1939 , Basquette and her fifth husband , English actor Henry Mollison , appeared on stage together in Idiots Delight , which toured in the United States , Australia and New Zealand . After appearing in 1943s A Night for Crime , Basquette retired from films . Later years . On August 9 , 1943 , Basquette was raped and robbed in Burbank , California after she gave a ride to 22-year-old army private George Paul Rimke . Basquette later testified that after she picked up the soldier , he forced her into the backseat and raped her . Rimke denied the charges but was found guilty on August 26 , 1943 and sentenced to life in prison . In 1947 , Basquette used money from a trust fund left to her by her first husband , Sam Warner , and purchased a farm in Bucks County , Pennsylvania . In 1950 , she and her sixth husband Warner Gilmore opened Honey Hollow Kennels ; they began breeding and showing Great Danes . Basquette became the single biggest winner of Great Dane breed shows and was known as a noted dog breeder . She also wrote several books on the subject of dog breeding . She retired from dog handling in 1983 . Basquette moved to Wheeling , West Virginia , after her retirement . She continued to judge dog shows for the American Kennel Club and wrote a monthly column for Kennel Review . Renewed interest in Basquettes films was sparked after a profile of her was published in 1989 in The New Yorker . Her films were screened in Washington , DC at the National Gallery of Art and at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles . Basquette published her autobiography , Lina : DeMilles Godless Girl , in 1991 . That same year she was cast in her first film in 48 years , an independent production titled Paradise Park . She played a grandmother who dreamed God was coming to grant a wish to residents of an Appalachian trailer park . The film also stars Porter Wagoner and Johnny Paycheck . It was her final film role . Personal life . Marriages and children . Basquette was married 8 times . Basquettes first marriage was to Sam Warner , film producer and co-founder of Warner Bros . studio . The two were married on July 4 , 1925 despite Warners familys disapproval because Basquette was Catholic and not Jewish . They had a daughter , Lita ( named after Charlie Chaplins wife Lita Grey ) in October 1926 . After suffering severe headaches and a sinus infection aggravated by several abscessed teeth , Warner was admitted to California Lutheran Hospital in September 1927 . Doctors discovered that he had developed a mastoid infection that was spreading to his brain . After four surgeries to remove the infection , Warner slipped into a coma . He died of pneumonia caused by sinusitis as well as epidural and subdural abscesses on October 5 , 1927 . In January 1929 , Basquette married cinematographer Peverell Marley . Shortly after the marriage , Harry Warner , Sam Warners older brother , asked Basquette give up custody of her daughter Lita . He was concerned that she would raise Lita as a Roman Catholic like her rather than in the Jewish faith . Basquette said that she and Sam Warner had agreed to raise any female children they had as Catholic and any male children as Jewish . Harry Warner and his wife offered Basquette large amounts of money to relinquish custody but she refused . She finally relented after Harry Warner promised her that Lita would receive a $300,000 trust fund . On March 30 , 1930 , Harry Warner and his wife were awarded legal custody of Lita . Basquette quickly regretted her decision and tried to regain custody of her daughter . In August 1930 , Basquette left Marley as she tried to regain custody of Lita . When custody was denied , she attempted suicide by drinking poison at a party . She was saved when a guest heard her screams . Marley and Basquette were divorced in September 1930 . Basquette was never financially stable enough to regain custody of her daughter . The Warner family filed several legal suits against her to win back Sam Warners share of Warner Bros . studio . Over the next 20 years , Basquette saw Lita on only two occasions : in 1935 , when Harry Warner and his family moved to Los Angeles , and in 1947 , when Lita married Dr . Nathan Hiatt . Basquette and her daughter reconnected in 1977 when Basquette backed a lawsuit that Lita brought against her uncle Jack L . Warners estate . Basquettes third marriage was to actor Ray Hallam in 1931 . He died of leukemia three weeks after they were married . On October 31 , 1931 , she married Theodore Hayes , the former trainer of world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey . After discovering that Hayes was still married to another woman , Basquette was granted a Mexican divorce on September 10 , 1932 . In her autobiography , Basquette said that , while she and Hayes were separated , she had an affair with Jack Dempsey . Dempsey ended the affair in July 1932 after which Basquette attempted suicide a second time . She and Hayes eventually reconciled and remarried in 1934 . They had a son , Edward Alvin Hayes , in April 1934 . The following year , they divorced in December 1935 . In April 1937 , Basquette married British actor Henry Mollison in London . They separated in 1940 , and divorced in October 1944 . In 1947 , she married Warner Gilmore , the general manager of the St . Moritz Hotel . They divorced in 1951 . Basquettes final marriage was to artist Frank Mancuso . They married in 1959 and separated that same year , but they were never divorced . Death . On September 30 , 1994 , Basquette died of lymphoma at her home in Wheeling , West Virginia , at the age of 87 . Legacy . For her contributions to the film industry , Basquette has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1529 Vine Street . External links . - Lina Basquette , Virtual History website - Portrait and Biography of Lina Basquette - Wendy McElroy , Queen Silver : The Godless Girl , official website