Charlotte Henry

Charlotte Henry
Left to right: Henry with Frank Buck and Clarence Muse in Jungle Menace (1937)
Born	Charlotte Virginia Henry (1914-03-03)March 3, 1914 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	April 11, 1980(1980-04-11) (aged 66) La Jolla, California, U.S.
Occupation	Film actress
Years active	1930–1942
Spouse(s)	Dr. James J. Dempsey (19??-1980; her death)

Charlotte Henry (March 3, 1914 – April 11, 1980) was an American actress who is best remembered for her roles in Alice in Wonderland (1933) and Babes in Toyland (1934). She also starred in the Frank Buck serial Jungle Menace (1937).

Charlotte Virginia Henry was born in Brooklyn and began modelling at a very early age and was always fascinated by the theatre. Her family were astonished when, at only 14 years of age, she was cast in an important role in Courage, a hit Broadway play in 1928.

The following year, Charlotte's mother brought her to Hollywood. She repeated her part in the movie version of Courage (1930) and enrolled at Lawlors, the school for professional children. Some of her classmates were Frankie Darro, Anita Louise and Betty Grable. Junior Durkin, who had worked with her in Courage, suggested Charlotte for a play he was appearing in at the Pasadena playhouse. By then, she had appeared in two more feature films: Huckleberry Finn in 1931 and Lena Rivers in 1932. She appeared as "Mlle. Kitty" in Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936). Around that time, Paramount was looking for a young girl to play in their new movie version of Alice in Wonderland, and over 6,800 were auditioned. A Paramount talent scout saw Charlotte in the play and arranged a screen test on a Monday morning. One-week-to-the-day later, Charlotte Henry began filming the high budget classic. The studio's press department made much of her uncanny resemblance to the character as it appeared in the original Tenniel drawings.

An anxious movie-going public awaited the costly feature. A new young star was expected to emerge. The 1933 picture garnered unanimous praise for Charlotte. The huge cast was impressive, but their make-ups made it hard to tell who was who. It did poorly at the box office. The effect of Alice on Charlotte's life was more than the usual story of an actress ruined by a negative association. She was also typecast, but in a most peculiar way. In an interview, Henry disclosed that from the very first week of shooting, she became aware that others around her had simply lost sight of her as a person. "I no longer existed as Charlotte Henry", she said. "With that costume, I was transformed in their minds to the creature they had read about as children. My identity was gone."