Colleen Moore was born Kathleen Morrison in Port Huron, Michigan. Her father was an irrigation engineer and his job was good enough to provide the family a middle-class environment. She was educated in parochial schools and studied at the famed Detroit Conservatory. Colleen's family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and later to Tampa, Florida, where she spent some of her happiest years. She described her childhood as a happy one where her parents were very much in love. In fact, she claims she never heard her parents argue with each other, although she admitted they had their differences. As a child she was fascinated with films and the queens of the day such as 'Marguerite Clark' , but it was her silver screen appearances that mattered most. After she retired she wrote two books on investing and went so far as to marry two stockbrokers. On January 25, 1988, Colleen died of an undisclosed ailment in Paso Robles, California. She was 88.
Older sister of actor Cleve Moore.
She had one blue eye and one brown eye.
Cousin of Jack Stone.
Donated a copy of her now lost film, Flaming Youth , to a museum in the early 1960s. The museum unfortunately never "got around" to restoring the film and it deteriorated.
In the 1960s she formed a film production company, Vid-More Productions, with director King Vidor , after she met him for the first time in 40 years. Though they had kept in touch in the intervening years, they had resolved never to see each other again after they had a secret affair during the 1920s.
WAMPAS Baby Star of 1922.
Some sources credit the year of her birth as 1902.
Unlike many of her peers, she was exceptionally savvy with her money, investing it carefully. As a result, she managed to turn her not-inconsiderable film salary into an even greater fortune after she retired from acting.
As a hobby, she decided to build the grandest doll house ever, "The Enchanted Castle." She designed it, and working with hundreds of craftsmen over the course of a decade, completed it at the cost of some $500,000. Among its many one-of-a-kind features is a library that comes complete with miniature versions of many great works of literature, including a tiny version of "Tarzan of the Apes" signed by Tarzans creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Enchanted Castle is now on public display at Chicagos Museum of Science & Industry.
She starred in three silent film versions of hit Broadway musicals, Sally (1925) , Irene (1926) and Oh Kay! .
Interviewed in "Talking to the Piano Player: Silent Film Stars, Writers and Directors Remember" by Stuart Oderman.
Loretta Young s daughter Judy Lewis wrote that although Mervyn LeRoy would later claim that he discovered Loretta Young , it was in truth Colleen Moore. Colleen even suggested that her name be changed from "Gretchen Young" to Loretta Young. The name came from Colleens favorite childhood doll, Laurita.
She was a staunch conservative-minded Republican.
Profiled in "Speaking of Silents: First Ladies of the Screen" by William Drew, 1997.
