Harris, Mildred (1901–1944)

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Harris, Mildred (1901–1944)

American silent-screen star. Name variations: Mildred Harris Chaplin. Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on November 29, 1901 (another source cites April 18); died of pneumonia in Hollywood, California, on July 20, 1944; married Charlie Chaplin (the actor), in 1917 (divorced 1920); married Eldridge F. McGovern (divorced 1929); married William P. Fleckerstein (a Minneapolis brewer); children: (second marriage) one son.

The blonde, blue-eyed Mildred Harris made her film debut at age nine. At eleven, she was hired by Vitagraph to play children's roles in a number of films, including D.W. Griffith's Enoch Arden. By 13, she was starring as Dorothy in the silent film The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Harris became the first wife of Charlie Chaplin at 18; the marriage lasted three years. Until she died of pneumonia, at age 43, following abdominal surgery, Harris appeared as a juvenile, ingenue, or bit player in over 40 films, six of them directed by Lois Weber : The Price of a Good Time, For Husbands Only, The Doctor and the Woman, Borrowed Clothes, Home, and Forbidden.

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