Ethel Clayton

Acting

Ethel Clayton

Born — Died

1882-11-08 — 1966-06-06

Place of birth

Champaign, Illinois, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

From Wikipedia Ethel Clayton (November 8, 1882 — June 6, 1966) was an American actress of the silent film era. Clayton's screen debut came in 1909, in a short called Justified. She jockeyed her early film appearances with a burgeoning stage career. Her pretty blond looks were reminiscent of the famous Gibson Girl drawings by Charles Dana Gibson. On the stage she appeared mainly in musicals or musical reviews such as The Ziegfeld Follies of 1911. These musical appearances indicate a singing talent Clayton may have possessed but went unused in her many silent screen performances. In 1912 she appeared in "The Country Boy" on stage at the Lyceum Theatre in Rochester New York and made her feat…

Known for

Waikiki Wedding poster
5.9

Tony Marvin is a laid back but incredibly successful promoter and fair-haired boy for J. P. Todhunter's pineapple company located in beautiful Hawaii. He gets the company to sponsor a contest in which the winner gets a Hawaiian vacation and is obligated to write articles on the islands which, when published, will constitute a publicity coup for the company. Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the winner, feels lonely and isolated in the Islands and wants to return to the States. With help from buddy Shad Buggle Tony tries to romantically divert Georgia without letting her know his true motivation.

Waikiki Wedding

1937

Make Way for Tomorrow poster
7.5

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

Make Way for Tomorrow

1937

The Major and the Minor poster
7.1

Low on funds, working-class girl Susan Applegate disguises herself as a youngster in order to pay half fare home. But little 'Sue Sue' finds herself in a whole heap of grownup trouble when she hides out in a compartment with handsome Major Philip Kirby.

The Major and the Minor

1942

Easy Living poster
7.2

J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's just-bought (very expensive) sable coat and throws it out the window, it lands on poor hard-working girl Mary Smith. But it isn't so easy to just give away something so valuable, as he soon learns.

Easy Living

1937

If I Were King poster
7.2

King Louis XI masquerades as a commoner in Paris, seeking out the treachery he is sure lurks in his kingdom. At a local tavern, he overhears the brash poet François Villon extolling why he would be a better king. Annoyed yet intrigued, the King bestows on Villon the title of Grand Constable. Soon Villon begins work and falls for a lovely lady-in-waiting, but then must flee execution when the King turns on him.

If I Were King

1938

Dixie poster
5.0

A young songwriter leaves his Kentucky home to try to make it in New Orleans. Eventually he winds up in New York, where he sells his songs to a music publisher, but refuses to sell his most treasured composition: "Dixie." The film is based on the life of Daniel Decatur Emmett, who wrote the classic song "Dixie."

Dixie

1943

Film credits

1940s · 7 titles

The Major and the Minor poster
7.1

Low on funds, working-class girl Susan Applegate disguises herself as a youngster in order to pay half fare home. But little 'Sue Sue' finds herself in a whole heap of grownup trouble when she hides out in a compartment with handsome Major Philip Kirby.

The Major and the Minor

1942

Dixie poster
5.0

A young songwriter leaves his Kentucky home to try to make it in New Orleans. Eventually he winds up in New York, where he sells his songs to a music publisher, but refuses to sell his most treasured composition: "Dixie." The film is based on the life of Daniel Decatur Emmett, who wrote the classic song "Dixie."

Dixie

1943

Beyond the Blue Horizon poster
6.0

A young girl's parents are killed on a tropical island, and the girl is raised and protected by the jungle animals. When she is found, as a grown woman, she is taken back to the United States to claim her inheritance. There are several people, with vested interests, who stand to gain something if she is shown not to be the missing heir.

Beyond the Blue Horizon

1942

New York Town poster
8.5

Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York City studio apartment with Polish immigrant painter Stefan Janowski. The big city doles out joy and misery indiscriminately: In the apartment below Victor and Steve, Gus Nelson learns that his wife has given birth to quintuplets, while the lonely tenant in the apartment below Gus has given up on life and committed suicide.

New York Town

1941

Mardi Gras poster
5.3

The first of a series of six two-reel "Musical Parade" shorts produced in Technicolor for the Paramount 1943-44 production season. The series would continue into 1948, and then were reissued in the early 50's. Songs included "All the Way" and "At the Mardi Gras."

Mardi Gras

1943

True to Life poster
8.0

A writer for a radio program needs some fresh ideas to juice up his show. For inspiration, he rents a room with a typical American family and begins to secretly write about their true life antics. The show becomes a big hit, but he begins to feel guilty about his charade when he falls in love with the family's pretty older daughter.

True to Life

1943

West Point Widow poster
7.0

In this romance, a hospital nurse marries a West Point football hero. She soon gets pregnant, but this doesn't stop her from annulling the marriage so as not to interfere with her husband's military career.

West Point Widow

1941

1930s · 25 titles

Waikiki Wedding poster
5.9

Tony Marvin is a laid back but incredibly successful promoter and fair-haired boy for J. P. Todhunter's pineapple company located in beautiful Hawaii. He gets the company to sponsor a contest in which the winner gets a Hawaiian vacation and is obligated to write articles on the islands which, when published, will constitute a publicity coup for the company. Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the winner, feels lonely and isolated in the Islands and wants to return to the States. With help from buddy Shad Buggle Tony tries to romantically divert Georgia without letting her know his true motivation.

Waikiki Wedding

1937

Make Way for Tomorrow poster
7.5

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

Make Way for Tomorrow

1937

Easy Living poster
7.2

J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's just-bought (very expensive) sable coat and throws it out the window, it lands on poor hard-working girl Mary Smith. But it isn't so easy to just give away something so valuable, as he soon learns.

Easy Living

1937

If I Were King poster
7.2

King Louis XI masquerades as a commoner in Paris, seeking out the treachery he is sure lurks in his kingdom. At a local tavern, he overhears the brash poet François Villon extolling why he would be a better king. Annoyed yet intrigued, the King bestows on Villon the title of Grand Constable. Soon Villon begins work and falls for a lovely lady-in-waiting, but then must flee execution when the King turns on him.

If I Were King

1938

You and Me poster
6.6

Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.

You and Me

1938

King of Chinatown poster
5.6

A Chinese-American surgeon faces a moral dilemma after operating on the mob boss in charge of vice and protection rackets in her city's Chinatown.

King of Chinatown

1939

Say It in French poster
7.5

An American golf pro falls in love with a woman while visiting France; before long they are married and in the US. Upon their arrival, they are dismayed to discover that the golfer's parents have arranged for him to marry a wealthy socialite so they can use her money to support their business....

Say It in French

1938

Wells Fargo poster
5.5

In the 1840s, Ramsey MacKay, the driver for the struggling Wells Fargo mail and freight company, will secure an important contract if he delivers fresh oysters to Buffalo from New York City. When he rescues Justine Pryor and her mother, who are stranded in a broken wagon on his route, he doesn't let them slow him down and gives the ladies an exhilirating ride into Buffalo. He arrives in time to obtain the contract and is then sent by company president Henry Wells to St. Louis to establish a branch office.

Wells Fargo

1937

Let's Fall in Love poster
8.0

A carnival girl pretends to be Swedish in order to win a movie role.

Let's Fall in Love

1933

Secrets poster
5.2

In the 1860s, Mary Marlowe defies her father's wishes to marry a British lord and runs away with clerk John Carlton as he heads West to make his fortune. Mary and John endure the difficult journey and settle into a small cabin, then face the hostilities of a cattle rustling gang, as well as the tragic loss of their only son. With Mary's help, John defeats the gang, which propels him to political power that, over the years, gradually erodes the once-happy marriage.

Secrets

1933

Turn Off the Moon poster
8.0

Department store owner J. Elliott Dinwiddy has waited fifteen years for the perfect astrological moment to propose to his secretary, Myrtle Tweep. His astrological advisor, Dr. Wakefield, has told him that if he can unite a boy and a girl in true love before midnight, he can propose to Myrtle the following night. Fate then brings unemployed dancer Caroline Wilson into the music department of Dinwiddy's, where she meets handsome songwriter Terry Keith.

Turn Off the Moon

1937

Artists & Models poster
6.3

An ad man gets his model girlfriend to pose as a debutante for a new campaign.

Artists & Models

1937

Geronimo poster
5.3

The army's effort to capture Apache chief Geronimo, who is leading a band of warriors on a rampage of raiding and murder, is hampered by a feud between two officers--who are father and son.

Geronimo

1939

Exclusive poster
7.0

Two rival newspaper editors try to scoop each other through their different methods of integrity on reporting the news.

Exclusive

1937

Yours for the Asking poster
5.3

Casino operator Johnny Lamb hires down-on-her-luck socialite Lucille Sutton as his casino hostess, in order to help her and to improve casino income. But Lamb's pals fear he may follow Lucille onto the straight-and-narrow path, which would not be good for business. So they hire Gert Malloy and Dictionary McKinney, a pair of con-artists, to manipulate Johnny back off the path of righteousness.

Yours for the Asking

1936

The All-American poster
6.5

The story of the rise and fall of an All-American football player.

The All-American

1932

The Accusing Finger poster
5.8

A proud, pro-capital punishment district attorney with a 90% execution rate, finds himself wrongly convicted of murdering his estranged wife and sentenced to die. The woman he loves and his investigator rival for her affections rally to find the real killer, while he is confronted by the misery of life on death row.

The Accusing Finger

1936

The Sap Takes a Wrap poster
8.0

Charley gives his girlfriend a mink coat he was supposed to be guarding for three showgirls; when the ladies want their coat back, Charley goes to great lengths to recover it.

The Sap Takes a Wrap

1939

Hold 'Em Navy poster
4.7

Two football players fight over the same girl.

Hold 'Em Navy

1937

The Crooked Circle poster
5.3

A group of amateur detectives sets out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occultists.

The Crooked Circle

1932

Hollywood Boulevard poster
4.5

With a full Hollywood background and settings but more an expose of scandal-and-gossip magazines of the era, has-been actor John Blakeford agrees to write his memoirs for magazine-publisher Jordan Winston. When Blakeford's daughter, Patricia, ask him to desist for the sake of his ex-wife, Carlotta Blakeford, he attempts to break his contract with Winston.

Hollywood Boulevard

1936

Private Jones poster
9.0

After America enters World War I, young William "Bill" Jones tries to avoid military service by telling the draft board that he is the sole supporter of his family and is employed by businessman Roger Winthrop, his sister Helen's boss.

Private Jones

1933

Men with Wings poster
5.4

Reporter Nicholas Ranson is jubilant when, on 17 Dec 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright take their first airplane flight. Back home in Underwood, Maryland, however, his uncle Hiram F. Jenkins, owner and editor of the local newspaper, refuses to print the story. Nicholas quits and continues to work on his own airplane, with the devoted help of his little daughter Peggy. Peggy is actually the first in her family to fly when her friends, Patrick Falconer and Scott Barnes, induce her to get inside a large kite they have made, and run with it in a field until she is airborne. The kite is caught in a tree, however, and Peggy gets a black eye. Later, Nicholas dies when his experimental airplane crashes, leaving his wife and children alone. By Peggy's adulthood, planes are capable of flying at an altitude of 11,000 feet, and speeds of nearly 100 m.p.h. Peggy continues her father's obsession with flight by helping Scott and Pat to build a plane.

Men with Wings

1938

Cocoanut Grove poster
9.0

Band tries to get an audition for a job at a prestigious nightclub.

Cocoanut Grove

1938

Cafe Society poster
7.5

A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column.

Cafe Society

1939

1920s · 14 titles

Wealth poster
10.0

Artist Mary McLeod, while returning to New York, discovers she has lost her train ticket; young Phillip Dominick, a millionaire playboy, offers her his drawing room, posing as her brother, and their friendship in time develops into love. They are married, and Phillip takes his bride to his wealthy mother, on whom he is financially dependent. Mrs. Dominick, however, has plans to separate the couple and marry Phillip to a society girl, and though Mary begs him to take her away, she agrees to remain until the birth of her baby. The grandmother assumes full charge of the child, but despite careful nursing the child dies, and a subsequent misunderstanding causes Mary to leave. Phillip finds her and promises to start a new life in their own home on his own resources.

Wealth

1921

The Price of Possession poster
10.0

After Jim Barston is mysteriously killed in Australia, his wife, Helen, lays claim to the estate of Gerald Mortimer Barston in England, asserting that her husband was the missing son and heir. In reality, Jim was the cousin of the true heir, who is also named Jim Barston. Despite having no legal proof, Helen convinces the trustees to accept her claim and is installed as mistress of the manor. Jim Barston appears and proves his identity, although Helen initially believes him to be an impostor.

The Price of Possession

1921

The Sins of Rosanne poster
7.0

Roseanne (Ethel Clayton) has grown up near some diamond mines in South Africa. As a child, she became ill and a Malay nurse, Rachel Bangat (Fontaine La Rue) promised to cure her. That she did, but she also worked some voodoo on the child, who, as a grown up now displays a powerful desire for diamonds and the ability to throw evil curses on those who displease her.

The Sins of Rosanne

1920

The Bar-C Mystery poster
8.0

The Bar-C Mystery is a 1926 American silent Western 10 film serial directed by Robert F. Hill. Chapters: 1. A Heritage of Danger; 2. Perilous Paths; 3. The Midnight Raid; 4. Wheels of Doom; 5. Thundering Hoofs; 6. Against Desperate Odds; 7. Back from the Missing; 8. Fight for a Fortune; 9. The Wolf's Cunning; 10. A Six-Gun Wedding.

The Bar-C Mystery

1926

His New York Wife poster
10.0

Lured to New York with false promises of having her play produced, Lila Lake is forced to accept a secretarial position with Mrs. Julia Hewitt, a dashing young widow secretly married to Jimmy Duval, son of Alice Duval, a prominent society leader. Alice seeks the aid of young lawyer Philip Thorne, who hires detectives to follow Julia; the latter, however, has left town with Jimmy, and Lila has agreed to impersonate her.

His New York Wife

1926

Can a Woman Love Twice? poster
10.0

Mary Grant, whose husband was killed in the war, has to support herself and her young son Tom by working in a cabaret because her husband's parents disapprove of and won't help her--but they want to adopt Tom. Complications ensue.

Can a Woman Love Twice?

1923

The Remittance Woman poster
10.0

Anthony Campbell threatens to send his daughter, Marie, to China as punishment for her continued extravagance. She welcomes the suggestion because her sweetheart, George Holt, is planning a business trip to the Orient. When they arrive, Marie's Chinese maid, Liu Po-Yat, gives her a tiny vase to keep her from harm. However, the vase was stolen years earlier from the Manchus, China's ruling dynasty, and their pursuit of the lost treasure plunges Marie and George into danger.

The Remittance Woman

1923

Lightnin' poster
6.6

Set in a hotel straddling the border between California and Nevada, this early John Ford comedy follows a female hotel owner's efforts to turn a profit and get some work out of her husband.

Lightnin'

1925

Her Own Money poster
10.0

After five years of marriage, Mildred comes to the realization that her husband, Lew, is going nowhere in the real estate business. Mildred, however, has managed to squirrel away two thousand dollars from the household budget -- enough to buy a home. But it turns out that Lew needs just that sum to avoid a financial disaster

Her Own Money

1922

The Princess from Hoboken poster
8.0

To enliven their business, the O'Tooles, restaurant owners in Hoboken, New Jersey, transform their restaurant into the Russian Inn when they hear that a famous Russian princess is stranded in Chicago. Sheila, the daughter, is persuaded to impersonate the princess, who unfortunately arrives at the restaurant on opening night.

The Princess from Hoboken

1927

Sham poster
8.0

Based upon a description in a film publication,[3] Katherine Van Riper (Clayton) is an extravagant young society girl who is very much in debt, and her wealthy aunts and uncle refuse to give her any money. Katherine is desperate enough that she is considering marrying the wealthy Montee Buck (Hiers), although she is in love with the westerner Tom Jaffrey (Fillmore), who says he is poor. Finally, Katherine decides to sell the famous Van Riper pearls, pay off her debts, and marry Tom. However, upon examination the jewelry turns out to be paste, with her father having sold the genuine pearls several years earlier before his death. Montee is assured by the aunts that Katherine will marry him and tells this to Tom. Tom is about to leave town when Uncle James (Ricketts) steps in and pays off Katherine's debts, leaving the niece free to marry Tom.

Sham

1921

Exit the Vamp poster
10.0

Marion Shipley is happily devoted to her husband, John, until Mrs. Willy Strong, a society "vampire," succeeds in capturing his affections. A jewelry salesman informs Marion of the affair, after John and Mrs. Strong enter his store together. Marion follows her husband to a restaurant, where she witnesses Mrs. Strong give John the key to her apartment. Gaining entrance to her rival's home, Marion transforms herself with the vamp's clothes and makeup, rendering herself unrecognizable to John in the dim light. Marion is in John's arms when Mrs. Strong arrives, and he denounces her for his wife.

Exit the Vamp

1921

The Princess on Broadway poster
9.0

After losing her job as a waitress, Mary Ryan is hired to work in a traveling show's chorus line by theatrical agent Leon O'Day and his partner. The agents convince a young, wealthy socialite named Seymour to finance a brand-new show. To secure the gig and the funding, they lie to Seymour and tell him that Mary is actually a Russian princess in hiding. The deception completely charms Seymour, and Mary gets her contract. Her fabricated royal status takes off when Seymour's mother invites Mary to tea, catapulting her to society stardom. However, the lie threatens to unravel when Mrs. Seymour—an avid social reformer—takes Mary and Seymour to a night court, where Mary's missing sister Rose is brought in under arrest. When Mary claims her sister, the truth is exposed, leading to a series of complications and dramatic resolutions.

The Princess on Broadway

1927

A Lady in Love poster
8.0

After Barbara Martin, a naïve young convent girl, elopes with her guardian's degenerate brother, Barton Sedgewick, she discovers that Barton already has a wife and child. Barton then deserts both wives, leaving Barbara to turn to her guardian George Sedgewick for advice. George advises an immediate divorce, but Barbara takes no action until she meets John Brent and falls in love. Upon requesting that George arrange her divorce from Barton, Barbara discovers that Brent is her guardian's lawyer. Panicked for fear of Brent discovering her marriage, Barbara's quandary is resolved when she discovers Barton in his partner Rhodes' apartment. Through Barton's carelessness, Barbara is able to obtain documents which prove that his first marriage was valid, thereby nullifying their marriage and freeing her to marry Brent.

A Lady in Love

1920

1910s · 14 titles

The Lion and the Mouse poster
NR

Silent film drama...

The Lion and the Mouse

1914

Yankee Pluck poster
NR

Once a wealthy man, John Pollard now resides in reduced circumstances in Washington, D.C. with his pretty daughter Polly. Despite the poor conditions, Polly manages to move in good social circles and meets multimillionaire George Singleton and Lieutenant Richard Travers, at the home of Mrs. Madison Derwent. Also at the Derwent mansion is Baron Wootchi, a Japanese diplomat trying to obtain valuable plans that are in Travers' possession. Old Pollard owes Singleton money and tries to persuade his daughter to marry the millionaire. Polly refuses and accepts Travers' proposal instead, until her father informs her that Singleton can seize their house unless Polly pays off the debt by becoming his wife. Meanwhile the Baron offers Pollard $50,000 to produce the documents in Travers' keeping. Pollard steals the papers and goes to a roadhouse to turn them over to the Baron. Discovering the theft, Polly follows and confronts the Baron at gunpoint.

Yankee Pluck

1917

The Woman Beneath poster
8.0

Betty Fairchild decides to follow the advice of her mother and marry for money. Thus, when Tom Connolly arrives from the West with his fortune, she accepts his proposal even though she does not love him. The idealistic Tom is completely disillusioned when he learns why his wife married him and promptly leaves her. Rupert Brantley, a wealthy cad, seizes this opportunity to win Betty, but she gradually realizes that she has been wrong and repulses him.

The Woman Beneath

1917

The Bondage of Fear poster
10.0

Vesta Wheatley is the daughter of a Virginia physician; John Randolph is a New Yorker who buys a tract of land from her father. Vesta and John fall in love, get married, and move to New York. They are followed, however, by a persistent old flame of Vesta's, Dick Mortimer. He tracks her down to a mountain cabin, where she is alone. A burglar breaks in on the two, and Dick is killed trying to protect Vesta. The burglar blackmails Vesta until she finally becomes desperate and shoots him in her own home.

The Bondage of Fear

1917

The Wolf poster
NR

Upon his father’s death Jules Beaubien's is left a rich man but also one with a mission. Find his until now unknown half-sister, take her in and educate her. After investigating he discovers she has met a tragic fate after falling for a roue who had abandoned her. Swearing vengeance, he set off in a quest for justice in her name.

The Wolf

1914

Beyond the Wall poster
7.0

Successful author Dane Ashley learns he has inherited an estate in a small village. Traveling to see his property Dane sees a crowd of children tormenting a young girl. He rescues the girl, but she vanishes through the door in the separating wall between his house and the next. Intrigued he investigates and learns that she is a Miss Virginia Carlton and rumored to be crazy. Disbelieving the rumors as to Virginia's insanity, Dane contrives a meeting and in time they fall in love. Virginia confides that it is her twin sister Helen who has had a mental breakdown after a traumatic incident and the loss of her beloved. In time all is made aright.

Beyond the Wall

1916

More Deadly Than the Male poster
7.0

More Deadly Than The Male is a 1919 silent film comedy adventure directed by Robert G. Vignola.

More Deadly Than the Male

1919

The Web of Desire poster
NR

When his wife Grace inherits her father's stock, John Miller, the president of the Western Power and Development Company, becomes a millionaire and moves to New York with his family. Beset by business problems, Miller pays little attention to his wife, and Grace, feeling neglected, takes up with a bohemian set. Among her new acquaintances she meets Stuart Mordant, the attorney for Thomas Hurd, a business rival of Miller's. Grace seeks refuge from loneliness in Mordant, who makes a bargain with Hurd to gain control of her husband's company for half a million dollars.

The Web of Desire

1917

When the Earth Trembled poster
4.3

A mother with two young children survives the San Francisco earthquake disaster.

When the Earth Trembled

1913

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The House Next Door

1914

A Woman's Way poster
NR

Marion Livingston, daughter of General Livingston, boss of the Elsinore coal mines, rescues Jack Stanton, a young superintendent of the mines, from a mob of miners led by Jim Saunders, who were enraged at his having ordered them to work after it had been found that the mine is dangerous. Jack's brother, Harold, a young district attorney, comes to visit him and falls in love with Marion.

A Woman's Way

1916

Dollars and the Woman poster
7.0

Inventor Dan Hilyer needs money to go West in order to market his new patent, his wife Madge secretly gets a loan from her former sweetheart, Arthur Crewe. Then, with her husband gone, Madge again receives financial support from Arthur when she is about to have her baby. Shortly after Dan returns, he learns of Arthur's help and suspects his wife of having given far too much in return for the money. Dan is on the verge of demanding a separation when Arthur, having heard that his loan has caused the problem, comes to Dan and vouches for Madge's perfectly upright behavior, which then leads to the couple's reconciliation.

Dollars and the Woman

1916

His Brother's Wife poster
7.0

When Richard Barton's health fails, his wife Helen, desperate for money to pay the medical bills, agrees to spend the night with the wealthy Howard Barton, without knowing that he is Richard's long-absent brother. However, after she tells Howard that she is selling herself in order to help her husband, he calls off the rendezvous and sends her home with enough money to pay for Richard's care.

His Brother's Wife

1916

A Sporting Chance poster
10.0

A young lady takes on a convict as her chauffeur, believing him to be a burglar. In reality, however, he is an innocent broker.

A Sporting Chance

1919