Silent Star: The Forgotten Film Career of Margarita Fischer

Abstract

Childhood fame, a clandestine marriage, national popularity, nude photos, premature retirement from the public eye, a spouse's early death--the progression of silent film star Margarita Fischer's career from 1911 to 1927 was as colorful as the plot of any of her pictures. The moviegoing public loved Fischer's work. A June 1914 Photoplfly poll named her America's most popular actress, and American Beauty Films selected Fischer's face as one of the nation's most beautiful and recognizable to serve as its logo the same year.¹ Her final film, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), directed by husband Harry Pollard, was one of the most expensive and highly-hyped films then made by a major studio.²