Red Wing (actress)

This article is about the silent film actress. For the stripper/erotic actress, see Lili St. Cyr. For Narragansett Indian Tribe historian, see Princess Red Wing.
Red Wing (Lillian St. Cyr)

Who's Who in the Film World, 1914
Born Lillian St. Cyr
February 13, 1884
Winnebago Reservation, Nebraska, United States[1]
Died March 13, 1974 (aged 90)
New York City, New York, United States
Occupation Actress
Years active 1908 - 1921
Spouse(s)

James Young Deer (1906-?)

Joe Eaglefoot (1925-1929)

Red Wing (born Lillian St. Cyr, February 13, 1884 – March 13, 1974) was an American actress of the silent era. She and her husband James Young Deer have been dubbed by some as the first Native American Hollywood "power couple."[2][3] She was born into the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago Reservation.

Lillian attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania and later moved to Washington, D.C. where she met and married J. Younger Johnson (James Young Deer) on April 9, 1906. Young Deer was originally James Young Johnson of the Nanticoke people born in Washington, D.C. He had been a Navy veteran in the Spanish–American War, and after his marriage to Lillian the couple performed in various social clubs in New York City. In the summer of 1909, they worked as technical advisers for D.W. Griffith, followed by appearances in Bison films. They moved to Hollywood around 1909.[4]

St. Cyr appeared in the screen's first feature Western to be filmed in what people now refer to as Hollywood, The Squaw Man (1914) by producer/director Cecil B. DeMille. This was followed by a role with cowboy star Tom Mix in In the Days of the Thundering Herd (1914) and another in Fighting Bob (1915). The 1916 version of Ramona featured St. Cyr as Ramona's mother.[5]

From 1908-1921,St. Cyr performed in more than 35 short Western films.[6]

She retired from acting in the 1920s and settled in New York City. She was buried in St. Augustine Cemetery in Nebraska.

The Red Wing (song) was supposedly connected with and often performed by her, although film historians question this.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Hollywood Whiteness and Stereotypes". filmreference.com. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  2. ↑ "Profile: Lillian St. Cyr (Princess Red Wing) and James Young Deer". nsea.org. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  3. ↑ Brightwell, Eric (November 20, 2010). "Red Wing and Young Deer, the First Couple of Native American Silent Film". Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  4. ↑ Aleiss, Angela (May 2013). "Who Was the Real James Young Deer?". Bright Lights Film Journal. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  5. ↑ Aleiss, Angela (February 28, 2014). "The Lillian St. Cyr Story, Part 2: 'Squaw Man' and the Hollywood Years". Indian Country Today Media Network. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Young Deer and Red Wing". newspaperrock. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  7. ↑ O'Connor, Mark (July 15, 2011). "Red Wing". The O'Connor Method - A New American School of String Playing (New American School of String Playing) II. Retrieved July 8, 2013.

External links