Helen Twelvetrees
Acting
Biography
American stage and screen performer, considered a top female star in the early days of sound films.
Born: December 25, 1908
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Known For
Panama Flo
An engineer makes a thieving entertainer work off her debts as a housekeeper at his jungle mining camp.
State's Attorney
Corrupt alcoholic attorney Tom Cardigan is one of the best lawyers around, commanding the courtroom like a stage and often winning his cases. Mobster Valentine Powers, who employs Cardigan and put him through school, asks him to represent a woman, June Perry, accused of prostitution. Cardigan agrees. But he never expected to fall for her, which is problematic since he's angling to become governor and will need the right kind of wife.
Complicated Women
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.
Swing High
To avoid hostilities, Maryan, the ward of Doc May, a medicine show owner, induces Pop Garner, a circus owner, to join forces with her guardian. Doc May and Daphne, his wife, work as clowns; and Garry, a singing soldier of fortune, sings along with Maryan's act. Ruth, Maryan's partner, quits to get married; and Joe, who is jealous of Garry, replaces her with Trixie, his former assistant. When Garry announces his engagement to Maryan, Trixie persuades him to join a strip poker game in a drunken state and "compromises" him in the presence of his fiancée. Grief-stricken, Maryan falls during her act, and Garry, robbed of circus funds, is arrested. In spite of her injuries, Maryan, learning of Trixie's treachery, performs the act with her and forces a confession by threatening to drop her; Garry is released and is welcomed back to the show.
Unashamed
A debutante's (Helen Twelvetrees) brother (Robert Young) stands trial for killing her no-good lover.
King for a Night
A cocky prizefighter on his way to the bigtime in New York comes crashing down when his sister is involved in a murder and he takes the blame.
The Cat Creeps
Disappearances and strange goings-on in a spooky old mansion.
Disgraced!
A lovely fashion model's dreams of marital bliss are shattered when her fiance jilts her. To make matters worse, her father kills the cad and she gets accused of the crime.
Times Square Lady
A young Iowa woman inherits her late estranged father's New York business, but the dead man's crooked associates think they can outwit the naive heir and seize control.
Thoroughbred
Joan (Helen Twelvetrees) is a Canadian, adopted by Ma Dawson (Nellie Ferguson), a struggling horse breeder and trainer. Joan thinks "legs don't make a race horse, it's blood", and so she buys an unwanted thoroughbred colt called Stormalong. Helped by Ma's son Tommy Dawson (Frank Leighton), Joan restores the horse to health and fitness, and soon enough the horse is winning race after race, becoming a favourite for the Melbourne Cup.
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as Pat Rogers
as Helen Griswold
as Carol Stevens
as Joan
as Alice
as Stella Godfrey
as Francine
as Margo Heath
as Betty Dunn
as Sheila Vane
as Virginia Golden
as Lillian Williams
as Connie Rollins
as Gay Holloway
as Sally
as Annabelle West (edited from "The Cat Creeps")
as Joan Ogden
as Peggy Bannon
as June Perry
as Allie Smith Riggs
as Flo Bennett
as Helen King Carlyle
as Elsa Elsbergen
as Millicent 'Millie' Blake Maitland
as Mary Ellen Cameron
as Annabelle West
as Frankie
as Maryan
as Molly
as Dorothy Blake
as Dorothy May (episode 2)
as Miriam Holt