Helen Chandler

Helen Chandler was an American film and stage actress, best known for playing Mina Seward in the 1931 horror classic DRACULA – (shown here with Bela Lugosi). Born in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 1, 1906, Chandler began her acting career in New York City at the age of eight and was on Broadway two years later in 1917. She made her film debut in the silent film ‘The Music Master’ (1927) and in 1930 joined Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. for “Outward Bound”, the film version of the stage success. Chandler then joined Bela Lugosi and David Manners in what became one of the most successful movies made at that time, ‘Dracula’ (1931). She achieved more successes in ‘A House Divided’ (1931) and ‘Christopher Strong’ (1933), all the while dividing her time among films, radio work, and theatre roles in Los Angeles, New York and London. She also starred in ‘Radio Parade of 1935’ and played a role on Lux Radio in ‘Alibi Ike’ with Joe E. Brown (1937). Among her later stage successes were ‘Within The Gates’ (1934), ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1935), ‘Lady Precious Stream’ (1936). In 1937 Chandler left Hollywood to return to the stage, but a dependency on alcohol and sleeping pills haunted her subsequent career, and in 1940 she was committed to a sanitarium. Ten years later she was disfigured in a fire, apparently caused by smoking in bed. She survived but her body was badly disfigured. She passed away 15 years later (following surgery for a bleeding ulcer) on April 30, 1965 (aged 59). Her body was cremated, and as no relative ever came forward to claim the remains, her ashes now repose in the vault (off limits to visitors) of the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

(www.hollywoodpinups.com)