Fannie Ward

Fannie Ward, a.k.a. Fanny Ward (February 22, 1872 – January 27, 1952) was an American actress of stage and screen, known for comedic roles as well as The Cheat, a sexually–charged 1915 silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

Ward's curiously ageless appearance, however, is what drove her celebrity. An obituary described her as "an actress who never quite reached the top in her professional ... [and who] tirelessly devoted herself to appearing perpetually youthful, an act that made her famous".

Ward was born as Fannie Buchanan in St. Louis, Missouri, the only daughter of John Buchanan, a dry goods merchant, and his wife, Eliza. She had one sibling, a brother, Benton.

In 1890, Ward made her stage debut as Cupid in Pippino with Eddie Foy. She went on to become a successful stage star in New York City. In 1894 she sailed for London and appeared in The Shop Girl, which led critics to compare Ward favorably to actress Maude Adams. In 1898, however, she married a wealthy diamond merchant and retired from the stage. Ward returned to her career in 1905, after her husband suffered business reversals that left him, a news account reported, "practically penniless".

In 1915, around the time Ward's stage career was on the wane, American movie producer and director Cecil B. DeMille convinced her to appear in The Cheat, a silent film melodrama which co-starred Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa. The film was a sensation, thanks to its mingling of racial and sexual themes. Ward portrayed a society woman who embezzles money and turns to an Asian ivory dealer (Hayakawa) for help, with brutal consequences. The movie launched the careers of both DeMille and Hayakawa, the latter of whom became Hollywood's first Asian star.

In addition to starring in The Hardest Way (1921), Ward appeared in a Phonofilm short film singing Father Time (1924), a second Phonofilm as The Perennial Flapper (1924), and in a Vitaphone short Fannie Ward in "The Miracle Woman" (1929).

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