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Early silent leading lady Vola Vale (née Violet Irene Smith) had appeared in amateur theatricals in her hometown of Rochester, NY, prior to entering films with the legendary Biograph Company. Acting at first under the moniker of Vola Smith, she changed her last name to Vale in 1916, presumably due to a friendship with Biograph director Travers Vale and his actress wife Louise Vale. A pleasant, if unremarkable, ingénue, Vola Vale is today remembered only for her appearances opposite the era's great Western star, William S. Hart: The Silent Man (1917), Wolves of the Rail (1918), and White Oak (1921). Divorced from director Albert Russell, she later married writer/director John Gorman, who produced and directed her final film, Black Tears (1927). Long in retirement and widowed by her third husband, Vale died of heart disease and diabetes in 1970.