Edwina Booth
| Edwina Booth | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Josephine Constance Woodruff September 13, 1904 Provo, Utah, U.S. |
| Died | May 18, 1991 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1928–1932 |
| Spouse(s) | Anthony Shuck (annulled) Urial Leo Higham (m. 1951–57); his death Reinhold L. Fehlberg (m. 1959–84); his death |
Edwina Booth (September 13, 1904 – May 18, 1991) was an American actress. She is best known for the 1931 film Trader Horn, during the filming of which she contracted an illness which effectively ended her movie career.
She was born Josephine Constance Woodruff in Provo, Utah on September 13, 1904, to James Lloyd Woodruff and Josephine Booth Woodruff. She was the oldest of their five children. Her father was a doctor. She suffered from hypoglycemia, which left her with little energy and kept her from completing any full year of school. Her family moved to Venice, California, in 1921 due to her father contracting influenza. As a young adult, Woodruff watched many movies during her free time.
Her stage name was Edwina Booth: her favorite granduncle was named Edwin and her grandfather's last name was Booth.
Booth was discovered while sunbathing on a California beach by director E. J. Babille. He gave her a business card and she went to the Metropolitan Studio to take her first screen test a few days later. She got her first part in 1926 in a silent film. In 1928, Booth was cast in the Dorothy Arzner-directed Manhattan Cocktail. She was on vacation following a 1927 stage appearance when film director E. Mason Hopper saw her and offered her a part in a Marie Prevost picture. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was impressed with her, and cast Booth in supporting roles.
Her chance for stardom came when the studio cast her in its new jungle epic Trader Horn opposite Harry Carey. MGM gave the production a fairly large budget, and sent cast and crew on location in East Africa. Until 1929, the only films shot in Africa were travelogues, but MGM was hoping the idea of "location shooting" might increase the film's commercial appeal. The crew was inexperienced and ill-equipped for filming in Africa, a problem exacerbated by MGM's last-minute decision to shoot the film with sound.
When Booth left the United States, she had a fever of 104. In Africa, she had to cope with the heat and insects, and she got cut by elephant grass. While shooting the film, she wore clothing made of monkey fur and lion's teeth. Booth contracted malaria during shooting. Booth also suffered a sunstroke and fell out of a tree. (In an interview with Dick Cavett in the 1970s, Katharine Hepburn said Booth contracted schistosomiasis, and incorrectly stated that Booth had died.) Her role in the film as "The White Goddess" required her to be scantily clad, likely increasing her susceptibility. Production went on for several months (much longer than average production time in those days), and the film wasn't released until 1931. Despite many problems with the film's production,Trader Horn was a success, securing an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
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