Eileen Sedgwick on AllMovie

Blond American screen actress Eileen Sedgwick, the sister of director Edward Sedgwick and actress Josie Sedgwick, became a star the old-fashioned way: by replacing an ailing leading lady; in this case Molly Malone in the serial The Lure of the Circus (1918-1919). Sedgwick would go on to make thirteen serials in all, most of them for Universal -- who also starred her in 2-reel westerns. Eileen rode like one of the boys, and her publicity promised acting skills on par with those of the much-admired serial queen Ruth Roland. But the studio didn't push her vehicles hard enough, and Eileen failed to receive Roland's huge following. Hoping to change her action-oriented image, Sedgwick began billing herself Greta Yoltz in 1928. The new name fooled no one, and she retired. In her later years, Eileen lived with her sister Josie in Hollywood. Neither sister wished to discuss their long-ago film careers.