Kathlyn Williams
Born
May 30, 1879
Died
September 23, 1960 (81 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Butte, Montana, USA
Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams on May 31, 1879 in Butte, Montana, and the only child born to Joseph Edwin "Frank" Williams, a boarding house proprietor, and Mary C. Boe (1846–1908) of Welsh and Norwegian descent. Many biographies state her birth year as 1888; however, she is listed on the 1880 United States Census as being a year old. Williams displayed an early interest in becoming an actress in her youth which lead her to become a member of a community thespian group. She also joined the Woman's Relief Corps that allowed her to showcase her vocal prowess at local recitals.
Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and made her first film in 1908 under the direction of Francis Boggs. By 1910, she was transferred to the company's Los Angeles film studio. Williams played "Cherry Malotte" in the first movie based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers in 1914, a role portrayed in subsequent versions by Betty Compson (1930), Marlene Dietrich (1942), and Anne Baxter (1955). In 1916, she starred in the thirteen episode adventure film serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn. She was busy throughout the silent film era but age and the advent of talkies saw her make only five sound films, the last in 1935. Kathlyn evolved from a comedian and serial player in silents to portraying character roles in the early 1930s.
Williams was married three times. Although many biographies erroneously cite her first husband as being Victor Kainer, he was in fact named Otto H. "Harry" Kainer (1876–1952), who ran an import and export business on Wall Street in New York City. They were wed on October 2, 1903, and their son, Victor Hugo, was born in 1905. They supposedly divorced over Kainer's disapproval of his wife having an acting career, and Williams subsequently obtained a divorce from Kainer in 1909 in Nevada. On March 4, 1913, she married Frank R. Allen, also an actor, but the marriage was a failure from the start and lasted a little over a year. On June 30, 1914, she filed for divorce in Los Angeles and listed desertion as the reason as the failure of their marriage. She later married Paramount Pictures executive Charles Eyton on June 2, 1916, in Riverside, California. The Eytons eventually divorced in 1931.
On December 29, 1949, Williams was involved in a deadly automobile accident, which claimed the life of her friend, Mrs. Mary E. Rose, while they were returning home from a social engagement in Las Vegas. As a result of the accident, Williams lost her right leg. On April 8, 1950, Williams sued the estate of Rose for $136,615, citing negligence and claiming that the automobile had inefficient brakes. In June 1951, Williams accepted the offer of $6,500 dollars from the Rose estate. Kathlyn Williams died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California in 1960.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Kathlyn Williams has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7038 Hollywood Blvd.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Known For

Rendezvous at Midnight
Mrs. Arthur Dewey
1935

Blood Money
Nightclub Woman Wearing Monocle (uncredited)
1933

Unholy Love
Mrs. Bradford
1932

Daddy Long Legs
Mrs. Paula Pendleton
1931

Road to Paradise
Mrs. Wells
1930

Wedding Rings
Agatha
1929

The Single Standard
Mrs. Glendenning
1929
Her Husband's Women
1929

A Single Man
Mrs. Cottrell
1929

Our Dancing Daughters
Ann's Mother
1928

We Americans
Mrs. Bradleigh
1928

Honeymoon Flats
Mrs. Garland
1928

Sally in Our Alley
Mrs. Gordon Mansfield
1927

The Best People
Mrs. Lenox
1925

The Wanderer
Huldah
1925
Locked Doors
Laura Carter
1925

The Enemy Sex
Mrs. Massingale
1924

Wanderer of the Wasteland
Magdalene Virey
1924

When a Girl Loves
Helen - Michael's Wife
1924

The Spanish Dancer
Queen Isabel of Bourbon
1923

Souls for Sale
Self - Celebrity Actress in Commisary
1923

Trimmed in Scarlet
Cordelia Ebbing / Madame de laFleur
1923

The World's Applause
Elsa Townsend
1923

Broadway Gold
Jean Valjean
1923

Clarence
Mrs. Wheeler
1922

A Man's Home
Frances Osborn
1921

Morals
Judith Mainwaring
1921

Morals
1921

A Private Scandal
Carol Lawton
1921

Hush
Isabel Dane
1921

Forbidden Fruit
Mrs. Mallory
1921

Conrad in Quest of His Youth
Mrs. Adaile
1920

The U.P. Trail
"Beauty" Stanton
1920

The Prince Chap
Alice Travers
1920

Just a Wife
Eleanor Lathrop
1920

The Tree of Knowledge
Belle
1920

Her Kingdom of Dreams
Penelope Warren
1919

The Better Wife
Lady Beverly
1919

We Can't Have Everything
Charity Coe Cheever
1918

The Whispering Chorus
Jane Tremble
1918

The Thing We Love
Margaret Kenwood
1918

Big Timber
Stella Benton
1917

The Cost of Hatred
Elsie Graves / Sarita Graves
1917

Redeeming Love
Naomi Sterling
1916

The Valiants of Virginia
Shirley Dandridge
1916

Into the Primitive
Jennie Leslie
1916

Thou Shalt Not Covet
My Neighbor's Wife
1916

The Adventures of Kathlyn
Kathlyn Hare
1916
Sweet Alyssum
Daisy Brooks
1915
The Carpet from Bagdad
Fortune Chedsoye
1915

Chip of the Flying U
Della Whitmore - the 'Little Doctor'
1914

The Leopard's Foundling
Balu
1914

The King's Will
Kathlyn Hare
1914

The Forged Parchment
Kathlyn Hare
1914

The Warrior Maid
Kathlyn Hare
1914

The Spellbound Multitude
Kathlyn Hare
1914

The Spoilers
Cherry Malotte
1914

The Cruel Crown
Kathlyn Hare
1914
The Garden of Brides
Kathlyn Hare
1914

Three Bags of Silver
Kathlyn Hare
1914

A Colonel in Chains
Kathlyn Hare
1914
The Royal Slave
Kathlyn Hare
1914

The Two Ordeals
Kathlyn Hare
1914

The Unwelcome Throne
Kathlyn Hare
1913

The Adventures of Kathlyn
Kathlyn Hare
1913

Thor, Lord of the Jungles
Gene Brant
1913

The Flight of the Crow
Edwina Washburn
1913

The House of His Master
Mrs. Robert Steem
1912

The Girl at the Cupola
Jessie Wilson
1912

Lost in the Jungle
Meta Kruga
1911

The Two Orphans
Henriette
1911

The Wheels of Justice
Alice Hazen
1911

Dad's Girls
Rose
1911

Life on the Border
The Pioneer Wife
1911

Captain Kate
Captain Kate
1911

The Rose of Old St. Augustine
Dolores, the Rose of St. Augustine
1911

Back to the Primitive
Helen Wilton
1911

In Old California When the Gringos Came
1911

The Witch of the Everglades
Dora - the Witch
1911
1861
1911

The Man from the East
Elsie Dean
1911
Thou Shalt Not
1910

Lines of White on a Sullen Sea
Extra
1909