Ena Gregory | WatchedThis
Ena Gregory
Acting
Biography
Ena Gregory (1906–1993) was an Australian motion picture actress. In Australia, Gregory was known as the child wonder of the vaudeville stage. Her first screen experience came at the age of four when she was shown in her mother's arms in a crowd which was welcoming British dignitaries. She was first signed in Hollywood for ingenue roles by Universal Pictures in 1921. She also worked for Hal Roach Studios and First National Pictures. In all she spent five years in comic roles before going into dramatic work. By 1924 she was the leading lady of the Independent Pictures Corporation. She was a WAMPAS Baby Star of 1925. Gregory's film career started with comedy shorts like The Bull Thrower, Lion's Jaws and Kitten's Paws, and The Whizbang. After completing The Calgary Stampede and The Chip of the Flying U, she was promoted to leading lady for Jack Hoxie for two movies. When Gregory failed to achieve stardom, she consulted a Hollywood seer. He suggested a new name which combined the syllables of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. It was Marian Douglas. Her first film using the new name was The Shepherd of the Hills. She took steps to become an American citizen beginning in October 1927. Gregory continued to make movies as Marion Douglas until 1931. Her final films are Twisted Tales, Three Wise Clucks, Aloha, and Beach Pajamas. Gregory divorced film director Alfred Rogell in August 1934. Gregory married Dr. Frank Nolan on 5 November 1937. The couple separated in May 1938 and Gregory obtained a divorce decree in July 1939. Ena Gregory died in Laguna Beach, California in 1993, aged 87.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Folly of Vanity
This drama had two directors: Maurice Elvey handled most of the film, but the fantasy sequence was directed by Henry Otto. Newlyweds Alice and Robert are already having differences over money. He gets angry at her extravagances, especially when she spends more than they can afford on an imitation pearl necklace. Ridgeway, a client of Robert's, invites the couple to a party. Robert wants to decline, but Alice insists that they go. Ridgeway loans Alice a real pearl necklace, to "restore their lustre," and everyone heads for his yacht. Ridgeway pays Alice a lot of attention, while a young widow tries to vamp Robert.
Red Hot Leather
Jack Lane is returning from the East after an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a loan to pay off the mortgage on his father's ranch. On the train, he meets Ellen Rand, who is smitten at the sight of her first real cowboy. Later he learns that she is the nurse who is to care for his paralytic father, growing weaker at the prospect of losing his ranch. Jack plans to enter the local rodeo to earn the money, though Morton Kane, who holds the mortgage and has secretly discovered oil on the ranch, plots with his son Ross to keep him from the events.
Rough and Ready
Ned Raleigh, a cowboy on the Stone Ranch, is laughed at by his pal Rawhide Barton for emulating his chivalrous namesake, Sir Walter Raleigh. Manning, an eastern capitalist, agrees to make Stone a loan to pay off his mortgage if he surrenders 200 head of cattle as security; Manning, after he discovers oil on the property, conspires with Blake, Stone's foreman, to hide the stock, and thus secure the land for himself.
The Desert Flower
A mining camp girl attempts to reform a young derelict addicted to drink. Colleen Moore broke her neck in a fall from a moving handcar during the making of this rousing sagebrush melodrama. The pert Moore, an idol of her generation, quickly regained her mobility but was reportedly forced to sleep in a leather neck support for nearly ten years.
Jeffries, Jr.
A man contacts a boxer in order to get in shape.
Accidental Accidents
Jimmy Jump gets rather wet.
The Western Rover
Returning to the family ranch after a spell as a circus performer, Art Hayes finds that a crooked ranch foreman has forced his father into bankruptcy.
Sioux Blood
One of John Waters' two Tim McCoy westerns made with MGM in the last years of the silent era. A print is preserved at the George Eastman House in New York but it hasn't been made available to the public and there don't seem to be any plans for it.
The Calgary Stampede
Real life rodeo champion Hoot Gibson plays Dan Molloy, an expert rider who wins the big one, the Calgary Stampede. When the father of his new French-Canadian girlfriend turns up dead, Molloy is the only suspect!
Beach Pajamas
Beach Pajamas is a 1931 Comedy short
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