Actress Helen Chandler (February 1, 1906 – April 30, 1965) had everything going for her in the 1920's. She was popular on Broadway (at the age of 19!) and was cast in her first movie in 1927. She is of course best known in her role as Mina Harker in Unversal's DRACULA and her film career seemed to be unabated.
In the late 1930's, Chandler began her long journey down the road of alcoholism, which continued for the rest of her life. In 1950, she was horribly disfigured in a fire set by her own hand -- she had fallen asleep with a cigarette in her hand. Fifteen long years later she died under the surgeon's knife in an operation for a stomach ulcer.
This article from the July 1931 issue of SCREENLAND magazine shows Chandler's during brighter days. It tells of her fondness for rain because good things seemed to always happen to her on rainy days. She was born on a rainy day, she met her first husband, Cyril Hume on a rainy day, and they were married on a rainy day (but divorced not long after this article was published). A brief mention of her "inferiority complex" may have been an indication of an underlying cause of her later alcoholism. Also, as a warning to the socially-sensitive; there is a quote where she uses a racially derogatory term that was used in the day.
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| In her most famous role, with Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye. |
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| A nineteen-year-old Helen Chandler. |
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| Chandler in the stage play, First Flight (1925). |
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| Chandler in the 1920's. |
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