Florence Deshon
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Florence Deshon (1894-February 4, 1922) was an American motion picture actress in silent films. She was born in Tacoma, Washington.
[edit] Silent Movies
She appeared in more than twenty movies beginning in 1915 with The Beloved Vagabond. Florence played in features for Vitagraph until 1921. Her final film credit was in the role of Sally McTurk in The Roof Tree, directed by John Francis Dillon. The actress came to New York City from Los Angeles, California with her mother in December 1921. Deshon hoped to continue her work in films there.
[edit] Accident or Suicide?
On February 3, 1922 she was found unconscious on the third floor of her apartment building at 120 West Eleventh Street. A window was open in her bedroom but illuminating gas flowed from from an opened jet. A newspaperwoman, Miss Minnie Morris, found Deshon when she returned to the building. An ambulance took Florence to St. Vincent's Hospital, but attempts to revive her were unsuccessful. She died the following afternoon. She was 29 years old.
Miss Deshon's apartment had been subleased from Dorris Stevens, who was married to Dudley Field Malone. The couple were honeymooning in Europe at the time of the actress' death. Deshon was listed as being a resident of both Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Los Angeles, California.
The New York Medical Examiner concluded Deshon's death was accidental. However rumors persisted among her neighbors that she might have taken her life because of grief. One theory contended she had recently argued with a friend who came to her aparment. The actress was closely acquainted with actor Charlie Chaplin and writer Max Eastman. Both men believed Florence had no reason to kill herself and that her death was accidental. Eastman saw her on the afternoon before her death, and they planned to go to the theater for an engagement in a few days. He went to St. Vincent's and gave blood when a final attempt to revive Deshon was made.
[edit] References
- New York Times, Actress Dies Of Poison Gas, February 5, 1922, Page 3.
- New York Times, Eastman Denies Rift With Miss Deshon, February 6, 1922, Page 3.
