Alberta Vaughn

Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Vaughn was the sister of actress Adamae Vaughn.{{cite news|title=Actress to Marry Divorced Husband|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10459122/the_daily_times/|work=The Daily Times|agency=Associated Press|date=October 12, 1927|location=Maryland, Salisbury|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}}

Vaughn was a selected as a WAMPAS Baby Star along with Clara Bow and Dorothy Mackaill in 1924.{{cite news|last1=Jungmeyer|first1=Jack|title=Baby Stars of 1924 Flicker|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10457280/logansport_pharostribune/|work=Logansport Pharos-Tribune|agency=Newspaper Enterprise Association|date=January 3, 1924|location=Indiana, Logansport|page=21|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}} Her movie career began in 1921 and continued until 1935. She often co-starred with actor Al Cook in comedies. She made Randy Rides Alone (1934) with John Wayne. She was a member of the cast of Intermission, a play by Irving Kaye Davis, in September 1932. The production opened in San Francisco and co-starred Madge Bellamy and Judith Voselli. Vaughn made her last onscreen appearance in the 1935 film The Live Wire opposite Richard Talmadge.

File:Alberta Vaughn and Richard Talmadge share a cigar in The Live Wire (1935).jpg share a cigar in The Live Wire (1935).]] She retired from acting in 1935 at age 31.

thumb File:Vaughn_Fat_Insurance,_New_York_Daily_News,_April_20,_1924.png

In 1926, Vaughn became engaged to actor and leading man Grant Withers.{{cite news|title=Alberta Vaughn, Film Star, to Wed Actor|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10457595/oakland_tribune/|work=Oakland Tribune|agency=Associated Press|date=September 16, 1926|location=California, Oakland|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}} After announcing their engagement in October 1926, Vaughn traveled to New York to film some talking sequences for a movie she was filming in Hollywood. Withers broke off the engagement after he discovered Vaughn went out with friends to nightclubs in New York. Immediately after the wedding was called off, Vaughn returned to Hollywood as the fiancée of noted attorney (later agent and producer), Charles K. Feldman.

Vaughn announced her engagement to William Laitt, a "wealthy young steel man", on August 26, 1928.{{cite news|title=Star Tells of Wedding|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10457751/the_waco_newstribune/|work=The Waco News-Tribune|agency=International News Service|date=August 26, 1928|location=Texas, Waco|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}}

On April 8, 1934, Vaughn wed assistant casting director Joseph Egil of Paramount Pictures. (Other sources give the last name as Egli.){{cite news|title=Director Weds Alberta Vaughn|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10457426/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|agency=Associated Press|date=April 9, 1934|location=California, San Bernardino|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017 }} {{Open access}}{{cite journal|title=(untitled brief)|journal=Movie-Radio Guide|date=April 4, 1942|volume=11|issue=26|page=11|url=https://archive.org/stream/movie-and-radio-guide-1942-04-10#page/n10/mode/1up/search/%22Alberta+Vaughn+Egli%22}}{{cite news|title=Former Actress Jailed|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10456933/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|agency=Associated Press|date=June 20, 1946|location=California, San Bernardino|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017 }} {{Open access}}{{cite news|title=Court Rejects Story, Sends Actress to Jail|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10456984/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|agency=Associated Press|date=May 14, 1946|location=California, San Bernardino|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}} They were married in Yuma, Arizona. The couple was divorced on August 11, 1943.{{cite news|title=Actress Divorced|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10459446/the_wilkesbarre_record/|work=The Wilkes-Barre Record|agency=Associated Press|date=August 12, 1943|location=Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}}

In 1948 she married roofing contractor John R. Thompson. (The trade publication Billboard recorded his name as John R. Thomas, reporting in its July 10, 1948, issue that Thomas and she were married June 23 in Los Angeles.){{cite news|title=Marriages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Alberta+Vaughn%22+actress&pg=PA75|access-date=April 22, 2017|work=Billboard|date=July 10, 1948|page=75}}

Already in trouble for drunk driving, Vaughn received a six-month jail sentence on May 13, 1946, for violating probation. Judge William R. McKay in Los Angeles revoked her probation and handed down the sentence after he did not accept her explanation that some sailors who rode in her car left a half-full bottle of whiskey in the vehicle.

Another probation revocation and sentence occurred in 1948. She was sentenced to a year in jail for marrying John Robert (Thomas) Thompson in violation of her terms of probation for drunk driving. Those terms "required that she consult with authorities before marrying."{{cite news|title=Silent Screen Actress Jailed|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10457930/eau_claire_leader/|work=Eau Claire Leader|agency=United Press|date=July 1, 1948|location=Wisconsin, Eau Claire|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}}

In March 1949, Vaughn was jailed on an intoxication violation in Pasadena. She chose incarceration instead of paying a $25 fine. Her jail term was {{frac|12|1|2}} days. A previous drunken charge, then pending, would have added an additional four months to her sentence. Vaughn was arrested after an argument with her husband, John R. Thompson. The incident followed her release after serving eight months of a one-year sentence on the earlier instance.{{cite news|title=Former Actress Is Sent To Jail|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10459585/wilkesbarre_times_leader_the_evening/|work=The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News|agency=Associated Press|date=March 3, 1949|location=Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2017}} {{Open access}}

Vaughn died of cancer in Studio City, California, on April 26, 1992, aged 87. She was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

• {{cite book | author=Michael G. Ankerich | author-link=Michael G. Ankerich | title=Dangerous Curves atop Hollywood Heels: The Lives, Careers, and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen| publisher=BearManor | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-59393-605-1}}

{{Reflist}}

• Fresno Bee, Thursday, June 24, 1948, Page 14.
• Nebraska Night Journal, Monday, January 14, 1929, Page 1.
• The New York Times, "Al Cook, Film Comedian, Dies", July 7, 1935, Page 22.
• The New York Times, "Theatrical Notes", September 17, 1932, Page 18.
• The New York Times, "Alberta Vaughn Wed", April 9, 1934, Page 20.
• Oakland Tribune, Thursday Evening, September 16, 1926, Section B, Page 17.
• Oakland Tribune, Wednesday Evening, October 12, 1927, Page 1.
• St. Joseph Herald-Press, Thursday, "Former Silent Film Star Alberta Vaughn Is Jailed On Intoxication Charge", March 3, 1949, Page 3.

{{Portal|Biography|film|United States}}

{{Commons category|Alberta Vaughn}}

• {{IMDb name|0891136}}

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Category:1904 births

Category:1992 deaths

Category:Deaths from cancer in California

Category:Actresses from Kentucky

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery

Category:People from Ashland, Kentucky

Category:20th-century American actresses