Convent-educated stage leading lady Ethel Clayton began her film career with the Essanay company in 1910. Clayton rose to stardom with the Lubin outfits in the mid-teens, then moved on to big-budgeted productions at a variety of studios, including World and Paramount. One of her most frequent directors was her first husband Joseph Kaufman, who died during the flu epidemic of 1918 (she was later married to stage and film actor Ian Keith). She continued appearing in film roles throughout the 1920s, notably the part of Margaret Davis in the 1925 adaptation of Frank Bacon's Lightnin'. Like many motion picture pioneers, the still relatively young Clayton was considered something of a relic when talkies came in. Except for supporting roles in serials and "B" pictures, most of her talkie appearances were bit parts. Ethel Clayton was "on call" for one-day jobs at Paramount Pictures during the last decade of her career; her final role was as "Lady Montague" in The Perils of Pauline (1947), which featured several silent screen veterans in cameo roles.
by Hal Erickson
biography
