Carmel Myers

Carmel Myers was an American actress who achieved her greatest successes in silent film.

Early life

Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Isidore Myers, a Russian-Jewish rabbi who was born in Russia but raised in Australia, and Anna Jacobson Myers, an Austrian-Jew. She had an older brother, Zion, and she was a cousin of director Mark Sandrich and photographer Ruth Harriet Louise. Carmel's father was active in campaigns for women's suffrage, abolition of capital punishment, and zionism. He also was a noted scholar. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1905.
Myers attended Los Angeles High School but left after D. W. Griffith gave her bit part in the film Intolerance, for which her father was an unpaid consultant. She continued her education at a school for young actors.
Myers helped her brother become a writer and director in Hollywood.

Career

Silent film and theater

Myers left for New York City, where she acted mainly in theater for the next two years. She was signed by Universal, where she emerged as a popular actress in vamp roles. Her most popular film from this period—which does not feature her in a vamp role—is probably the romantic comedy All Night, opposite Rudolph Valentino, who was then a little-known actor. She also worked with him in A Society Sensation. By 1924, she was working for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making such films as Broadway After Dark, which also starred Adolphe Menjou, Norma Shearer, and Anna Q. Nilsson.
In 1925, she appeared in arguably her most famous role, that of the Egyptian vamp Iras in Ben-Hur, who tries to seduce both Messala and Ben-Hur himself. This film was a boost to her career, and she appeared in major roles throughout the 1920s, including Tell It to the Marines in 1926 with Lon Chaney, Sr., William Haines, and Eleanor Boardman. Myers appeared in Four Walls and Dream of Love, both with Joan Crawford in 1928; and in The Show of Shows, a showcase of popular contemporary film actors.

Sound films, radio, and television

Myers had a fairly successful sound career, mostly in supporting roles, perhaps due to her image as a vamp rather than as a sympathetic heroine. Subsequently, she began giving more attention to her private life following the birth of her son in May 1932. Amongst her popular sound films are Svengali and The Mad Genius, both with John Barrymore and Marian Marsh, and a small role in 1944's The Conspirators, which featured Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet.
In 1939, Myers performed for 13 weeks on the Resinol radio program that was broadcast twice weekly from station KHJ and carried on the Don Lee Network.
In 1951, Myers had a celebrity interview TV program, The Carmel Myers Show, on ABC. In 1952, she formed Carmel Myers Productions, a firm for producing radio and TV programs. The company's productions included Mark Hellinger Tales, a transcribed series of 30-minute radio dramas with Edward Arnold as narrator and Cradle of Stars, a 30-minute filmed TV series with Gregory Ratoff as director and star.
Later, she focused on a career in real estate and her perfume distribution company. In 1976, Myers was one of the very few silent stars who were cast in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, a comedy featuring cameos by dozens of Hollywood stars of the past.

Book

In 1952, Doubleday & Company published Don't Think About It, a 64-page book by Myers. Based on her experiences following the death of her husband, the book related her philosophy for emotional survival after a person has a tragedy in his or her life.

Personal life

Myers married attorney and song writer Isidore "I.B." Kornblum on July 16, 1919; they divorced in 1923.
Myers and attorney Ralph H. Blum married on June 9, 1929, and had three children: author Ralph H. Blum, known for his works on divination through Norse runes, and two adopted daughters, actress and radio personality Susan Adams Kennedy and television producer Mary Cossette. Grandson literary agent/manager John Ufland Myers and Blum purchased Gloria Swanson's Sunset Boulevard home.
On October 30, 1951, Myers married Paramount Pictures executive Alfred W. Schwalberg in Brooklyn. They were married until his death in 1974.

Death

Myers died of a heart attack on November 9, 1980, in Los Angeles Medical Center at the age of 81. She was buried near her parents at Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Her epitaph reads "L'Chaim", which is Hebrew for "to life".

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1915	Georgia Pearce
1916	Intolerance	Favorite of the Harem	Uncredited
1916	The Heiress at Coffee Dan's	Waitress	Uncredited
1917	The Bad Boy	Bit Role	Uncredited
1917	Stage Struck	Bit Role	Uncredited
1917	A Love Sublime	Toinette
1917	A Daughter of the Poor	Hazel Fleming
1917	Might and the Man	Winifred
1917	The Haunted Pajamas	Frances Kirkland
1917	Sirens of the Sea	Julie
1917	The Lash of Power	Marion Sherwood
1918	My Unmarried Wife	Mary Cunningham
1918	The Wife He Bought	Janice Brieson
1918	The Girl in the Dark	Lois Fox
1918	The Wine Girl	Bona
1918	The Marriage Lie	Eileen Orton
1918	A Broadway Scandal	Nenette Bisson
1918	The City of Tears	Rosa Carillo
1918	The Dream Lady	Rosamond Gilbert
1918	All Night	Elizabeth Lane
1919	Who Will Marry Me?	Rosie Sanguinetti
1919	The Little White Savage	Minnie Lee
1920	In Folly's Trail	Lita O'Farrell
1920	The Gilded Dream	Leona
1920	Beautifully Trimmed	Norine Lawton
1921	The Mad Marriage	Jane Judd
1921	The Dangerous Moment	Sylvia Palprini
1921	Cheated Love	Sonya Schonema
1921	The Kiss	Erolinda Vargas
1921	Breaking Through	Bettina Lowden
1921	A Daughter of the Law	Nora Hayes
1922	The Love Gambler	Jean McClelland
1922	The Danger Point	Alice Torrance
1923	The Last Hour	Saidee McCall
1923	The Famous Mrs. Fair	Angy Brice
1923	Good-By Girls!	Florence Brown
1923	The Little Girl Next Door	Milly Amory
1923	Mary of the Movies	Herself	Uncredited
1923	Slave of Desire	Countess Fedora
1923	The Dancer of the Nile	Arvia
1923	The Love Pirate	Ruby Le Maar
1923	Reno	Mrs. Dora Carson Tappan
1924	Poisoned Paradise: The Forbidden Story of Monte Carlo	Mrs. Belmire
1924	Beau Brummel	Lady Hester Stanhope
1924	Broadway After Dark	Lenore Vance
1924	Babbitt	Tanis Judique
1924	Garragan
1925	Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ	Iras
1926	The Devil's Circus	Yonna
1926	The Gay Deceiver	Countess de Sano
1926	Tell It to the Marines	Zaya
1927	The Demi-Bride	Madame Girard
1927	The Understanding Heart	Kelcey Dale
1927	The Girl from Rio	Lola
1927	Sorrell and Son	Flo Palfrey
1928	A Certain Young Man	Mrs. Crutchley
1928	Prowlers of the Sea	Mercedes
1928	Four Walls	Bertha
1928	Dream of Love	The Countess
1929	The Ghost Talks	Marie Haley
1929	Careers	The Woman
1929	The Careless Age	Rayetta
1929	Broadway Scandals	Valeska
1929	The Red Sword	Katherine
1929	The Show of Shows	Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number
1930	The Ship from Shanghai	Viola Thorpe
1930	A Lady Surrenders	Sonia
1931	The Lion and the Lamb	Inez
1931	Svengali	Madame Honori
1931	Pleasure	Mrs. Dorothy Whitley
1931	Chinatown After Dark	Madame Ying Su
1931	The Mad Genius	Sonya Preskoya
1931	Nice Women	Dorothy Drew
1932	No Living Witness	Emillia
1934	The Countess of Monte Cristo	Flower Girl
1942	Lady for a Night	Mrs. Dickson
1944	The Conspirators	Baroness von Kluge	Uncredited
1945	George White's Scandals	Leslie	Uncredited
1946	Whistle Stop	Estelle
1976	Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood	Woman Journalist	Final film role

Short subjects

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1916	Tough Luck on a Rough Sea	The Son's Fiancée
1916	The Jailbird's Last Flight	The Girl
1916	Ignatz's Icy Injury	Miss Rustlebucks
1918	A Society Sensation	Sydney Parmelee
1926	Camille	Agatha
1928	The Bath Between	The Wife
1929	He Did His Best
1930	The Stronger Sex
1942	Pretty Dolly	Mrs Errol

Television Credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	Danger		Episode: "The Green and Gold String"
1951-1952	The Carmel Myers Show	Host
1953	Studio One		Episode: "The Magic Lantern"
1975	The Wide World of Mystery		Episode: "Nick and Nora"
1975	Chico and the Man	Violette Baines	Episode: "Bird in a Gilded Cage"