Laura La Plante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laura La Plante (born Laura La Plant on November 1, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri; died October 14, 1996 in Woodland Hills, California) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success in silent movies. She is best remembered for starring in the silent classic The Cat and the Canary in 1927.
[edit] Career
La Plante made her acting debut at the age of 15, and in 1923 was named as one of the years WAMPAS Baby Stars. During the 1920s she appeared in more than sixty films, and achieved her greatest success in the 1929 film Show Boat. Other notable films include The Love Trap (1929), directed by William Wyler and King of Jazz (1930).
The advent of 'talkies' effectively shortened her career. Only in her mid-twenties, La Plante proved to be a quite natural and appealing presence in early talkies but the huge wave of new stars in those years overshadowed her. She retired from the screen in 1934, making only two later films, 1957's Spring Reunion being her last. La Plante was briefly considered to replace Myrna Loy in the Thin Man series when Loy was considering leaving, but Loy stayed as Nora Charles, and LaPlante's career never rebounded.
Her younger sister, actress Violet La Plante, never achieved her sister Laura's level of fame.
She died in Woodland Hills, California from Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 91.
