Nance O'Neil

Nance O'Neil

Birth : 1874-10-08, Oakland, California, USA

Death : 1965-02-07

History

Nance O'Neil, born Gertrude Lamson, was an American stage and screen actress. When she decided to become an actress, her religious father, George Lamson, an auctioneer, denounced his daughter in church for going on the stage and asked the congregation to pray for her. O'Neil's first performance in a professional production was in the role of a nun in Sarah at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco on October 16, 1893. At the height of her career, she was promoted on theatre bills and in period trade publications and newspapers as the "American Sarah Bernhardt".

Profile

Nance O'Neil

Movies

A Criminal at Large
Lady Lebanon
At Marks Priory, Lady Lebanon is eager for her son, Lord William Lebanon, to marry Isla Crane, his cousin. But Isla is reluctant to do so, and is also frightened by the two footmen of the household who she suspects of locking her in her room at night. Following a village dance, the household's chauffeur is found strangled with an Indian scarf.
False Faces
Mrs. Finn
The philandering Dr. Silas Brenton is fired from his position at a large hospital and given 24 hours to vacate the state. He sets himself up in Chicago as a "prestigious" plastic surgeon to the stars. However, Brenton's silver tongue can't cover up his dubious methods, and an investigation into his practice is launched by the examining board of plastic surgeons. A delirious film à clef based on the loathsome career of Henry J. Schireson, the self-styled “King of Quacks”.
Westward Passage
Mrs. von Stael (uncredited)
A struggling writer divorces his wife to pursue his career without interference, but they meet in Europe years later after she has remarried.
Secret Service
Mrs. Varney
In 1864 a Secret Service agent for the Union army goes undercover in Richmond and pretends to be a Confederate captain.
Their Mad Moment
Grand Mere
Dorothy Mackaill stars in this old-fashioned melodrama set in the Basque country of Spain. She is Emily Stanley, betrothed to foppish Englishman Sir Harry Congers (Lawrence Grant), but in love with Basque peasant Esteban Cristera (Warner Baxter). Deciding on a final fling before wedlock, Emily goes to Esteban's village in the mountains, but is wounded in a car accident. Recuperating, she learns about the hardships endured by Basque women from Esteban's grandmother (Nance O'Neil) and former girlfriend,Stancia (Mary Doran), and decides to return to Sir Harry in Biarritz.
A Woman of Experience
Countess Runyi
It is 1915 in Vienna and the Great War has caused many casualties. Elsa, a beautiful prostitute, wants to help the war effort, but is rejected as a nurse, but a government official thinks that she will make an excellent spy.
Transgression
Honora 'Nora' Maury
When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife Elsie finds romance with a Spanish playboy.
The Good Bad Girl
Mrs. Henderson
A woman's former association with a gangster threatens to destroy her marriage to an upstanding young man.
Resurrection
Princess Marya
Katusha, a country girl, is seduced and abandoned by Prince Nekludov. Nekludov finds himself, years later, on a jury trying the same Katusha for a crime he now realizes his actions drove her to. He follows her to imprisonment in Siberia, intent on redeeming her and himself as well.
Cimarron
Felice Venable
When the government opens up the Oklahoma territory for settlement, restless Yancey Cravat claims a plot of the free land for himself and moves his family there from Wichita. A newspaperman, lawyer, and just about everything else, Cravat soon becomes a leading citizen of the boom town of Osage. Once the town is established, however, he begins to feel confined once again, and heads for the Cherokee Strip, leaving his family behind. During this and other absences, his wife Sabra must learn to take care of herself and soon becomes prominent in her own right.
The Royal Bed
Martha, the Queen
The hapless king of a small European nation must put up with a domineering queen, a daughter who wants to elope with her boyfriend, a peasant revolt and a scheming general.
The Eyes of the World
Myra Willard
The Eyes of the World is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Henry King and written by Brewster Morse and Clarke Silvernail. The film stars Eulalie Jensen, Florence Roberts, Una Merkel, and Nance O'Neil.
Call of the Flesh
Mother Superior
A student nun falls in love with a Mexican singer starring in a cafe next door to her convent.
The Florodora Girl
Mrs. Vibart
A chorus girl gets bad advice from her fellow chorines in handling a rich suitor who assumes she is a gold digger.
The Lady of Scandal
Lady Trench
A famous British actress gets involved with two members of a reserved British noble family, whose plan to get rid of her backfires.
Ladies of Leisure
Mrs. Strong
Kay Arnold is a gold digger who wanders from party to party with the intention of catching a rich suitor. Jerry Strong is a young man from a wealthy family who strives to succeed as an artist. What begins as a relationship of mutual convenience soon turns into something else.
The Rogue Song
Princess Alexandra
In czarist Russia, a princess falls for a dashing bandit leader, but their romance proves a stormy one.
His Glorious Night
Eugenie
Being engaged against her will with a wealthy man, Princess Orsolini (Catherine Dale Owen) is in love with Captain Kovacs (John Gilbert), a cavalry officer she is secretly meeting. Her mother Eugenie (Nance O'Neil), who has found out about the affair forces her to dump Kovacs and take part in the arranged marriage. Though not believing her own words, Orsolini reluctantly tells Kovacs she cannot ever fall in love with a man with his social position. Feeling deeply hurt, Kovacs decides to take revenge by indulging in blackmail, spreading a rumor that he is an imposter and a swindler.
The Fall of the Romanoffs
Czarina Alexandra
The overthrow of Czar Nicholas II in Russia was such big news that the then-fledgling art of cinema couldn't help but jump on it immediately and create a couple of dramatizations.
Hedda Gabler
Mrs. Balfame
Mrs. Balfame
Mrs. Balfame is a 1917 Mystery Drama
The Seventh Sin
One of seven films based on the Seven Deadly Sins.
Seven Deadly Sins: Greed
Eve Leslie and Adam Moore become interested in the stock market. Eve decides to try to add to her fortunes by plunging. Tempted by the sin of greed, Eve becomes reckless. At first she wins, then she begins to lose, and desperately tries to recover her losses.
The Iron Woman
Kreutzer Sonata
Miriam Friedlander
Based -- loosely -- on Leo Tolstoy, this film starred feted stage star Nance O'Neil but is rather better remembered as Theda Bara's follow-up to the sensational A Fool There Was (1914).
The Count of Monte Cristo
Mercedes
A French sailor, imprisoned for years on false charges of conpiring against the king, escapes and exacts revenge on his accusers.