Lillian Lorraine
| Lillian Lorraine | |
|---|---|
in Munsey's Magazine, 1920
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| Born |
January 1, 1892 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Died | April 17, 1955 (aged 63) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Mary Ann Brennan Lillian O'Brien |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1906–1922 |
| Spouse(s) | Frederick M. Gresheimer (m. 1913-1913; union dissolved) Jack O'Brien (m. 19??-1955; her death; possible common-law marriage) |
Lillian Lorraine (January 1, 1892 – April 17, 1955) was an American stage and screen actress of the 1910s and 1920s, best known for her beauty and for being perhaps the most famous Ziegfeld Girl in the Broadway revues Ziegfeld Follies during the 1910s.
Born in San Francisco, California, Lorraine began her career on stage in 1906 at the age of 14. An entertainer of limited talent but charismatic stage presence and beauty, in 1907 she was 15 years old and a minor performer in a Shubert production, The Tourists, when she was discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld. He spent the next several years promoting her career, rocketing her into an ascendance, which made her one of the most popular attractions in his Follies. Some sources claim her birth name was Ealallean De Jacques, although this has not been conclusively determined, nor if her parents were in fact from France, as she once claimed. In 1909, Ziegfeld pulled the 17-year-old Lorraine from the chorus line in that year’s production of “Miss Innocence”, spotlighting her as a solo performer who became celebrated for introducing the song, "By the Light of the Silvery Moon".
Author Lee Davis, in his book, Scandals and Follies, writes that: “By 1911, [Ziegfeld] was insanely in love with Lillian Lorraine and would remain so, to one degree or another, for the rest of his life, despite her erratic, irresponsible, often senseless behavior, her multiple marriages to other men, his own two marriages and his need for all his adult life to sleep with the best of the beauties he hired.”
The relationship, both professional and romantic, between Ziegfeld and Lorraine, led to the demise of his marriage to actress Anna Held. (A fictitious character, Audrey Dane, clearly based on Lorraine was portrayed by Virginia Bruce in the 1936 motion picture The Great Ziegfeld.) Lorraine and Ziegfeld's relationship was turbulent and emotionally complex, but their passion was such that Ziegfeld's second wife, actress Billie Burke, confessed that Lorraine was the only one of Ziegfeld's past sexual entanglements that aroused her jealousy.
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