Alberta Vaughn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alberta Vaughn (June 27, 1904–April 26, 1992) was an actress in silent motion pictures and early Western sound films. She was from Ashland, Kentucky.

Vaughn was a selected as a WAMAPS Baby Star along with Clara Bow and Dorothy Mackaill in 1924. Her movie career began in 1921 and continued until 1935. She participated in some 130 Hollywood, California motion pictures. In silent films Alberta often co-starred with actor Al Cook in comedies. She made Randy Rides Again (1934) with John Wayne.

In 1926, Miss Vaughn became engaged to actor and leading man Grant Withers. The two met when they were cast in the same motion picture. Both were contracted to Film Booking Offices, Inc. Alberta came to New York, New York in 1928 as the fiancee of William Lait, Jr. She met the multimillionaire from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in Pasadena, California. The couple announced their engagement in October 1929 with a wedding to follow at Christmas at Mr. Lait's Pasadena home. Lait and Vaughn were to live in a lovely home in Beverly Hills, California. Expensive wedding gifts were to include a 10 carat (2 g) engagement ring. In the interval Alberta came east to New York to film some talking sequences for a movie she was filming in Hollywood. The engagement was broken because of Lait's anger with the actress for going out with friends to nightclubs in New York. Immediately after the wedding was called off, Miss Vaughn returned to Hollywood as the fiancee of noted attorney Charles Feldman.

On April 8, 1934 Miss Vaughn wed assistant casting director Joseph Egil of Paramount Pictures. They were married in Yuma, Arizona. The actress married a second time in 1948, this time to roofing contractor John R. Thompson. She listed her age as 39 at the time.

Alberta's sister, Adamae Vaughn, was also a motion picture actress. She was married, divorced, and married again to the same man, all within a few weeks time in 1927. The divorced husband and future bridegroom was Albert R. Hindman, a Los Angeles, California contractor. They were first married in May 1926, a union which ended a few months later due to what Adamae described as foolish and silly reasons.

Alberta Vaughn was a member of the cast of Intermission, a play by Irving Kaye Davis in September 1932. The production opened in San Francisco, California and co-starred Madge Bellamy and Judith Voselli.

In March 1949 Vaughn was jailed on an intoxication violation in Pasadena. She chose incarceration instead of paying a $25 fine. Her jail term was 12 and a half days. A previous drunken charge, then pending, would have added an additional four months to her sentence. The ex-actress was arrested after an argument with her husband, John R. Thompson. The incident followed Alberta's release after serving eight months of a one year sentence on the earlier instance.

Alberta Vaughn died in Studio City, California in 1992.

[edit] References

Fresno, California Bee, Thursday, June 24, 1948, Page 14.
Lincoln, Nebraska Night Journal, Monday, January 14, 1929, Page 1.
New York Times, Al Cook, Film Comedian, Dies, July 7, 1935, Page 22.
New York Times, Theatrical Notes, September 17, 1932, Page 18.
New York Times, Alberta Vaughn Wed, April 9, 1934, Page 20.
Oakland, California Tribune, Thursday Evening, September 16, 1926, Section B, Page 17.
Oakland Tribune, Wednesday Evening, October 12, 1927, Page 1.
St. Joseph, Michigan Herald-Press, Thursday, Former Silent Film Star Alberta Vaughn Is Jailed On Intoxication Charge, March 3, 1949, Page 3.