Adele DeGarde


Adele DeGarde was an American silent film actress, who performed in at least 114 productions between 1908 and 1918. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she initially worked in uncredited parts under the direction of D. W. Griffith at Biograph Studios in Manhattan and later became a screen star for Vitagraph Studios, often specializing in ingénue roles.

Career

In 1908, when pictures were looked at with a bit of apprehension, DeGarde began to appear in Vitagraph Studios. DeGarde and her friend, Kenneth Casey, played mischievous, spoiled, or ill-treated children in many films. As new stars joined Vitagraph, DeGarde and Kenneth acted with them. In several films that featured "two-generation" or "from-child-to-woman" type plots, the film would open with DeGarde as the child heroine and finish with Leah Baird, Edith Storey, or Dorothy Kelly taking over the role as an adult.
DeGarde became too old to portray little-girl parts. Loath to part with her, the company produced comedies featuring all-teen casts. These comedies were popular because they were typical of children at that age.
When Vitagraph was casting Within the Law, they searched for an actress for the part of Aggie Lynch, a character on whom all the comedy relief of the film was dependent. DeGarde received the part, and press critics had nothing but lavish praise for her performance as Lynch and pronounced it "a huge success".
In 1939, she attended an Old Home Week at Ohrbach's in New York with other movie actors such as Mae Murray and June Elvidge.

Reviews for ''Within the Law''

  • Variety: "Adele DeGarde as Aggie Lynch, which in reality is nothing more than a comedy foil for the lead, had something on the star, judging from the impression she left on the minds of the audience."
  • Moving Picture World: "Adele DeGarde as Aggie Lynch must be credited with one of the best performances in the picture. In a character easy to overplay she strikes just the right note, and her amusing unmorality is always without offense."

Filmography