Violet Kemble-Cooper


Violet Kemble-Cooper was an English-American actress who appeared on stage and in Hollywood film.

Early life

Born in London, she was a descendant from a well-known theatrical family, the Kemble family. Her father was actor Frank Kemble-Cooper. Her sisters Lillian and Greta and her brother Anthony were actors as well. Her uncle was thespian H. Cooper Cliffe.

Career

She made her first stage appearance in 1905 in her native England in a production of Charley's Aunt. By 1912 she was in America, touring and in stock plays with actors including Blanche Bates and Laurette Taylor. She appeared with John and Ethel Barrymore in Claire de Lune on Broadway in 1921.

Film

As Violet spent her formative years acting in the theatre, she never appeared in the genre of silent films. She appeared in talkies, beginning with the Constance Bennett film Our Betters. She appeared in several more films, including the evil spinster Miss Murdstone in the Dickens film adaption David Copperfield and Boris Karloff's mother in the horror film The Invisible Ray. Kemble-Cooper's last movie was the MGM costumer Romeo and Juliet, where she portrayed Lady Capulet.

Personal life and death

She died of a stroke and Parkinson's disease in California in 1961, aged 74.