Ruth Hiatt

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Ruth Hiatt (January 6, 1906 – April 21, 1994) was an actress in motion pictures beginning in the silent film era. She is especially remembered for performing in 1920s comedies directed by Jack White, Norman Taurog, and Mack Sennett.

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[edit] Child actress

She was born in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Hiatt made her film debut at the age of 9 with the Western Lubin Company in San Diego, California. She made two two-reel comedies, The Inner Chamber (1915) and The Vigilantes (1918). Afterward she reuturned to high school which she completed around 1922.

[edit] Film comedian

As teenager she was discovered by comedian Lloyd Hamilton. She became his leading lady at United Artists studios in 1922. Hiatt was a former classic dancer who was Hamilton's successor to Irene Dalton. Their first work together is the short comedy The Speeder (1922). It is a production of the Hamilton Comedy Film Company.

Hiatt played a street urchin in support of Hamilton in Lonesome (1924). In the role she wears high top shoes which were once worn by United States Senator Harry Lane of Oregon. Lane discarded them at the home of his cousin, cartoonist Pinto Colvig. The shoes were brought in by Colvig to add humour when Hiatt put them on.

In Smith's Baby (1925) Hiatt, Mrs. Jimmy Smith, is the female lead with Raymond McKee as Jimmy Smith. Sennett cast Hiatt and McKee with child star Mary Ann Jackson in 1927. The short comedies continued the Jimmy Smith series with titles like Smith's Pony (1927), Smith's Cook (1927), Smith's Cousin (1927), and Smith's Modiste Shop (1927). The movies were produced by Pathe Pictures. Jackson and McKee teamed with Hiatt and Hoot Gibson in The Flying Cowboy (1928).

Hiatt appeared in the second chapter of the Ken Maynard Sunset Trail (1932) serial entitled Battling With Buffalo Bill. Maynard's horse, Tarzan, was in this story of the open range before the army and law enforcement established themselves in western cattle towns.

Comedies were sometimes dangerous to make. Actor Lee Moran was forced to choke Hiatt into unconsciousness in order to save her life while they were filming a sequence in which an automobile is wrecked between two trains. Hiatt raised her head at the wrong moment when both actors were supposed to lie flat and let trains pass over them. Moran held Hiatt's feet down with his legs but she continued to wriggle. Once the trains passed he shook her. On camera she appears to be laughing and talking, though she is unconscious. She was taken hastily to a hospital when the sequence was completed.

Hiatt's film career endured through 1941. Some of her later motion pictures are Men In Black (1934), Beginner's Luck (1935), Just Speeding (1936), and Double Trouble (1941).

[edit] Model (person)

In August 1922 Hiatt modeled for Beckman Furs of West 7th Street in Los Angeles, California. She won first prize for beauty at the annual Venice Beach bathing beauties parade in August 1923. She wore a costume of black and white checkered silk, with hat and slippers that matched. The Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) selected Hiatt among its thirteen baby star actresses for 1924. Blanche Mahaffey, Carmelita Geraghty, and Clara Bow were also chosen. Hiatt was blonde but one reporter covering the WAMPAS banquet in San Francisco, in December 1923, wrote that she was brunette.

[edit] Private life

Hiatt had a toy poodle known professionally as Georgette. She maintained a Hollywood diet of lamb chops and pineapple together with strenuous daily exercise. Her favorite hobby was reading. She especially enjoyed reading short funny stories based on personal experiences. Hiatt's personality was vivacious, yet modest, almost to the point of being shy.

Ruth Hiatt died in Montrose, California in 1994 of congestive heart failure.

[edit] References

  • "Ruth Is A Permanent Wife-In The Movies", Cedar Rapids Tribune, May 20, 1927, p. 2. 
  • "How They Suffer for Their Art", Fresno Bee, September 5, 1926, p. 36. 
  • "Lloyd Hamilton Busy", Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1922, p. III17. 
  • "Miss Ruth Hiatt", Los Angeles Times, August 12, 1922, p. VIII4. 
  • "New Leading Woman", Los Angeles Times, August 13, 1922, p. III30. 
  • "Girls Reveal Well--What?", Los Angeles Times, August 20, 1923, p. II1. 
  • "Bevy of Baby Stars of Filmland", Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1923, p. II1. 
  • "Actress Dons Vacated Shoes of Statesman", Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1924, p. 31. 
  • "Mack Sennett's Trio", Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1925, p. A9. 
  • "Child Actress Grows Up To Film Success", Oakland Tribune, December 3, 1922. 
  • "Ken Maynard And Thrilling Serial Chapter At Majestic", Sheboygan Press, February 6, 1932, p. 13. 
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