Helen Marie Twelvetrees (née Jurgens, December , â€" February , )
was an American film and theatre actress, who became a top female star
through a series of "women's pictures" in the early s.She was born in
Brooklyn, where she attended Public School . Her family moved to
Flatbush, where her younger brother was born. One night during the
winter of , the four-bedroom apartment in which the family resided
caught fire. Twelvetrees's brother perished in the burning structure,
but the rest of the family was rescued. Later she attended Brooklyn
Heights Seminary. After graduation, she enrolled in the Art Students
League of New York, where she studied for a year before enrolling at
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While attending AADA, she met
actor Clark Twelvetrees, whom she married in . She adopted her
husband's surname which she used as her professional name.With some
stage experience, Twelvetrees went to Hollywood with a number of other
actors to replace the silent stars who could not or would not make the
transition to talkies. Her first job was with Fox Film Corporation,
and she appeared in The Ghost Talks (). After three films with Fox,
she was released from her contract. However, she was signed by Pathé
shortly thereafter, and along with Constance Bennett and Ann Harding,
Twelvetrees starred in several lachrymose dramas, not all of which
were critically acclaimed. When Pathé was absorbed by RKO Radio
Pictures, she found herself at various times miscast in mediocre
films. With the arrival of Katharine Hepburn at RKO, Twelvetrees left
the studio to freelance (Harding and Bennett would also subsequently
depart).[citation needed]The film Her Man set the course of her
screen career, and she was subsequently cast in a series of roles
portraying suffering women fighting for the wrong men. Later she
played opposite Spencer Tracy in 's Now I'll Tell (also known as When
New York Sleeps) from a novel by Mrs. Arnold Robinson; opposite Donald
Cook in The Spanish Cape Mystery; and costarred in Paramount's A
Bedtime Story with Maurice Chevalier. She also starred in two
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films, which prompted author John Douglas Eames to
note that she "had a gift for projecting emotional force with minimal
visible effort."
was an American film and theatre actress, who became a top female star
through a series of "women's pictures" in the early s.She was born in
Brooklyn, where she attended Public School . Her family moved to
Flatbush, where her younger brother was born. One night during the
winter of , the four-bedroom apartment in which the family resided
caught fire. Twelvetrees's brother perished in the burning structure,
but the rest of the family was rescued. Later she attended Brooklyn
Heights Seminary. After graduation, she enrolled in the Art Students
League of New York, where she studied for a year before enrolling at
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While attending AADA, she met
actor Clark Twelvetrees, whom she married in . She adopted her
husband's surname which she used as her professional name.With some
stage experience, Twelvetrees went to Hollywood with a number of other
actors to replace the silent stars who could not or would not make the
transition to talkies. Her first job was with Fox Film Corporation,
and she appeared in The Ghost Talks (). After three films with Fox,
she was released from her contract. However, she was signed by Pathé
shortly thereafter, and along with Constance Bennett and Ann Harding,
Twelvetrees starred in several lachrymose dramas, not all of which
were critically acclaimed. When Pathé was absorbed by RKO Radio
Pictures, she found herself at various times miscast in mediocre
films. With the arrival of Katharine Hepburn at RKO, Twelvetrees left
the studio to freelance (Harding and Bennett would also subsequently
depart).[citation needed]The film Her Man set the course of her
screen career, and she was subsequently cast in a series of roles
portraying suffering women fighting for the wrong men. Later she
played opposite Spencer Tracy in 's Now I'll Tell (also known as When
New York Sleeps) from a novel by Mrs. Arnold Robinson; opposite Donald
Cook in The Spanish Cape Mystery; and costarred in Paramount's A
Bedtime Story with Maurice Chevalier. She also starred in two
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films, which prompted author John Douglas Eames to
note that she "had a gift for projecting emotional force with minimal
visible effort."
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