Laura La Plante was 15 years old when she entered films as a Christie
Comedy Bathing Beauty. By 1921, she had played a number of roles
including a Tom Mix Western called
The Big Town Round-Up (1921)
for Fox and
The Old Swimmin' Hole (1921)
for First National. Laura, now 17, next signed with Universal, where
she appeared in shorts, serials and many supporting roles. Over the
next few years, she would become one of the leading stars at Universal
and acted in in dramas, mysteries and comedies. Some of her more
important films were the adventure
Crooked Alley (1923), the comedy
Sporting Youth (1924), the drama
Smouldering Fires (1925) and
the mystery
The Cat and the Canary (1927).
One of her successful comedies,
Skinner's Dress Suit (1926),
was directed by her husband,
William A. Seiter. When sound came to
Universal, she was one of the silent film stars who made the
transition. She played a leading role in the sound film
Show Boat (1929) and made her first
all-talking picture with
Hold Your Man (1929). By 1930, she
decided that she had enough and left Universal, which terminated her
contract. She went to England, where she would appear in a few more
films over the years. Laura returned to Hollywood in 1935, where she
again retired from the screen.
