Most Beautiful Actresses of the Silent Era

The Top Ten
1 Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" after 1927. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.

She had a very sad life

2 Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress, writer, director, and producer. She was a multifaceted pioneer of early cinema, a talented performer, a creative producer and a savvy businesswoman who helped shape the film industry as we know it today. She was a co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
3 Greta Garbo Greta Garbo, born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990), was a Swedish-born American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. ...read more.
4 Louise Brooks Louise Brooks, born Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985), was an American film actress and dancer noted as an iconic symbol of the flapper, and for popularizing the bobbed haircut. ...read more.
5 Corinne Griffith Corinne Mae Griffith (November 21, 1894 – July 13, 1979) was an American film actress, producer and author. Dubbed "The Orchid Lady of the Screen", she was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen. Shortly after the advent ...read more.
6 Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress of the screen and stage, as well as a director and writer whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 in silent film shorts to 1987. Gish was called the First Lady of American Cinema, and she is credited with ...read more.
7 Marion Davies Marion Davies, born Marion Cecilia Douras (January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American film actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. ...read more.
8 Theda Bara Theda Bara, born Theodosia Burr Goodman (July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the most popular actresses of the silent era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname The Vamp (short for vampire), ...read more.
9 Barbara La Marr Barbara La Marr, born Reatha Dale Watson (July 28, 1896 – January 30, 1926) was an American film actress, noted for her beauty and her tempestuous marital history. ...read more.
10 Anita Page Anita Page, born Anita Evelyn Pomares (August 4, 1910 – September 6, 2008) was an American film actress who reached stardom in the last years of the silent film era.

27! She is by far the most beautiful silent actress, and the most godlike female to walk the earth!

The Contenders
11 Bebe Daniels Phyllis Virginia Daniels, known professionally as Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. ...read more.
12 Pola Negri Pola Negri, born Apolonia Chalupec (3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles.
13 Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer best known for her role as Norma Desmond, a reclusive silent film star, in the critically acclaimed 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. ...read more.
14 Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen". Member of the Barrymore family of actors, she was Drew Barrymore's grandmother.
15 Ivy Close
16 Olive Thomas Olive Thomas (October 20, 1894 – September 10, 1920) was an American silent film actress and model.

Thomas began her career as an illustrators' model in 1914, and moved on to the Ziegfeld Follies the following year. In 1916, she began a successful career in silent films and would appear in over twenty features over the course of her four-year film career. That year she also married actor Jack Pickford, the younger brother of silent film star Mary Pickford. ...read more.

A tragic life; she lived briefly, but burned brightly.

17 Vilma Bánky Vilma Bánky (January 9, 1901 – March 18, 1991) was a Hungarian-born American silent film actress, although the early part of her acting career began in Budapest, spreading to France, Austria, and Germany. Bánky was best known for her roles in The Eagle and The Son of the Sheik with Rudolph Valentino ...read more.
18 Dolores del Río Dolores del Río, born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete (August 3, 1904 – April 11, 1983), was a Mexican actress. She was the first major female Latin cross-over star in Hollywood, with an outstanding career in American films in the 1920s and 1930s. She was also considered one of the ...read more.
19 Anna May Wong Anna May Wong, born Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961) was an American actress. She is considered to be the first Chinese American movie star, and also the first Asian American actress to gain international recognition. Her long and varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, ...read more.
20 Asta Nielsen
21 Betty Compson Betty Compson, born Eleanor Luicime Compson (March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress and film producer. Most famous in silent films and early talkies, she is best known for her performances in The Docks of New York and The Barker, the latter earning a nomination for the Academy Award ...read more.
22 Olga Baclanova Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova (19 August 1893 – 6 September 1974) was a Russian-born naturalized American actress of stage and screen, radio host and performer, operatic singer, and ballerina. ...read more.
23 Leila Hyams Leila Hyams (May 1, 1905 – December 4, 1977) was an American model, vaudeville and film actress, who came from a show business family. Her relatively short film career began in the 1920s during the era of silent films and ended in 1936. Although her career only lasted around twelve years, the blonde ...read more.
24 Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich (27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992) was a German actress and singer who held both German and American citizenship. This internationally famed actress cum singer was a frontline performer with an amazing long career in the show business. One of the highest paid actresses ...read more.
25 Dorothy Mackaill Dorothy Mackaill (March 4, 1903 – August 12, 1990) was a British-American actress, most notably of the silent-film era and into the early 1930s.
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