Lila Lee

Lila Lee (1901-1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1257. Lila Lee in Blood and Sand (Fred Niblo, Dorothy Arzner, 1922).


French postcard, no. 137. Sent by mail in 1929.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 5587/1, 1930-1931. Photo: National Film / Warner Bros. Probably publicity still for Murder Will Out (Clarence G. Badger, 1930).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 186b.

Her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts

Lila Lee was born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel in Union Hill, New Jersey, in 1901. She was the daughter of two German immigrants, Augusta Fredericka Appel and Carl Appel.

She was a performer since childhood in Gus Edwards' kiddie review shows and was given the nickname "Cuddles", a name that she would be known by for the rest of her acting career. Lee performed in vaudeville for eight years.

In 1918, she was chosen for a film contract by Hollywood film mogul Jesse Lasky for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount Pictures. She was launched by Lasky in a big campaign. She debuted in a starring role with The Cruise of the Make-Believes (1918) as a poor girl supported by a rich admirer. Then followed her appearance as a servant wench in Cecil B. DeMille's Male and Female (1919)

Critics lauded Lila for her wholesome persona and sympathetic character parts. Lee quickly rose to the ranks of leading lady and often starred opposite such matinee heavies as Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson,Wallace Reid, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, and Rudolph Valentino.

In 1922, Lee was cast as Carmen in the enormously popular film Blood and Sand (Fred Niblo, Dorothy Arzner, 1922), opposite matinee idol Rudolph Valentino and silent screen vamp Nita Naldi. Lila Lee subsequently won the first WAMPAS Baby Stars award that year.


American postcard by M.B.S.C. Co. (Max B. Sheffer Card Co, Chicago), 1922. Photo: William de Mille / Paramount. Lila Lee as Eileen in After the Show (William C. de Mille, 1921).


Spanish collectors card in the Artistas Cinemátograficos series. Photo: Paramount. Lila Lee in Blood and Sand (Fred Niblo, Dorothy Arzner, 1922).


French postcard by A.N., Paris in the Les vedettes de cinéma series, no. 38. Photo: Film Paramount.

Bad choices, tuberculosis and alcoholism

Lila Lee continued to be a highly popular leading lady throughout the 1920s and made scores of critically praised and widely watched films. These included the drama Another Man's Wife (Bruce Mitchell, 1924) and the romantic comedy The Adorable Cheat (Burton L. King, 1928).

By the late 1920s, she was well prepared for the arrival of the talkies. She appeared, most notably, in The Unholy Three (Jack Conway, 1930), opposite Lon Chaney Sr. in his only sound film.

However, bad choices, tuberculosis and alcoholism had her career going downwards in the 1930s, reduced to B-movies. In the 1940s she acted on stage, in the 1950s she was in soap operas on TV. The obscure comedy Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (Larry E. Jackson, 1967) was her final film.

Lee's first husband (of three) was actor/director James Kirkwood Senior, whom she married in 1923. They had met on the set of Ebb Tide in 1922. Their son was playwright and screenwriter James Kirkwood Junior (1924–1989). During the divorce, the father was given custody of the son.