Vera Sisson
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Vera Sisson.jpg
| name = Vera Sisson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|7|31}}
| birth_place = Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1954|8|6|1891|7|31}}
| death_place = Carmel, California, U.S.
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive = 1913–1926
| spouse = {{marriage|Richard Rosson|1916|1953|end=his death}}
}}
Vera Sisson (July 31, 1891 – August 6, 1954) was an American actress of the silent era.{{cite web |title=Vera Sisson |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fb78ff0 |website=BFI |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809032722/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fb78ff0 |archive-date=August 9, 2020}}
Biography
Vera Sisson was born on July 31, 1891, in Salt Lake City.{{cite journal |title=Stellar Attractions |journal=The Movie Magazine |date=December 1915 |volume=2 |issue=3 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHRJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Vera+Sisson%22&pg=RA9-PA30 |access-date=January 15, 2021}} She received her education at Brownlee Collegiate School for Girls in Denver, Colorado. In 1912, Sisson applied for work as an extra at Universal Pictures and made her film debut in The Helping Hand (1913). Sisson received recognition as J. Warren Kerrigan's leading lady in seven successful films, including The Sandhill Lovers (1914), The Oyster Dredger (1915), and A Bogus Bandit (1915).
In 1915, Sisson was offered a contract with Biograph Studios, and the following year she married actor and director Richard Rosson.
Sisson costarred with Harold Lockwood and Virginia Rappe in Paradise Garden (1917), Rudolph Valentino in The Married Virgin (1918), and Constance Talmadge in Experimental Marriage (1919). Her final film appearance was in Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926), starring Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks.
On May 1, 1939, Sisson and her husband Rosson, along with two other British nationals, were arrested on a charge of espionage in Vienna, Austria by the Gestapo, allegedly for filming military hardware. They were held in solitary confinement for 34 days and released.{{cite web|last=Erickson |first=Hal |url=http://allmovie.com/artist/richard-rosson-109037 |title=Richard Rosson > Overview |publisher=AllMovie |date=1953-05-31 |access-date=2011-04-26}}
On May 31, 1953, Richard Rosson committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. A year later, on August 6, 1954, Sisson committed suicide by barbiturate overdose.{{cite book |last=Ellenberger |first=Allen R. |date=May 1, 2001 |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ |publisher=McFarland |page= 150 |isbn=978-0786450190}} She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery near her brother in law Arthur Rosson.
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="6" | 1913
| The Stenographer | Short |
| Always Together
| The Old Bricklayer's Daughter | Short |
| The House in the Tree
| May – age 18 | Short |
| The Helping Hand
| Ellen – age 19 | Short |
| How Freckles Won His Bride
| Vera | Short, Unconfirmed |
| Helen's Stratagem
| Helen Rockwood – John's Sister | Short |
| rowspan="33" | 1914
| Jess – the Waif | Short |
| An Academy Romance
| Vera | Short |
| The Rival Dentists
| Jane Payne | Short |
| Some Boy
| | Short |
| A Murderous Elopement
| Mabel | Short |
| Hawkeye and the Cheese Mystery
| Pansy Buttermilk | Short |
| Too Much Married
| Tottie Coughdrop | Short |
| The Seat of the Trouble
| Edna | Short |
| The Bolted Door
| Natalie Judson | Short |
| The Lion
| Harriet Courtney | Short |
| Women and Roses
| Wallace's Wife | Short |
| As Fate Willed
| Marion Stearns | Short |
| Toilers of the Sea
| Jessie Scott | Short |
| The Call Back
| Emily Forbes | Short |
| The Golden Ladder
| | Short |
| The Sandhill Lovers
| Meg, Hardy's Daughter | Short |
| The Silent Witness
| Vera | Short |
| A Twentieth Century Pirate
| Penelope Hampton | Short |
| At Mexico's Mercy
| Brenda | Short |
| Value Received
| Frances De Vere | Short |
| Out of the Valley
| Mrs. Osborne | Short |
| A Man and His Brother
| Eleanor Hess – the Farmer's Daughter | Short |
| Weights and Measures
| Kitty Donely | Short |
| There Is a Destiny
| Jeanne de Jean – the Fisherman's Daughter | Short |
| The Man from Nowhere
| Lolita – the Stranger's Sweetheart | Short |
| Little Meg and I
| Meg Anderson | Short |
| A Gentleman from Kentucky
| Nell Hastings | Short |
| The Proof of a Man
| Alma Wilson | Short |
| Disillusioned
| Velma Benning | Short |
| His Father's Son
| Mrs. Horton - Cal Jr.’s Mother | Short |
| His Heart His Hand and His Sword
| Princess Beatrix de Grandlieu | Short |
| The Empire of Illusion
| Princess Beatrix de Grandlieu | Short |
| The Inn of the Winged Gods
| Princess Beatrix de Grandlieu | Short |
| rowspan="20" | 1915
| A Bogus Bandit | The Drifter's Daughter | Short |
| Martin Lowe, Financier
| | Short |
| The Storm
| Helen Cartwright | Short |
| The Guardian of the Flock
| Rosaria | Short |
| The Stool Pigeon
| Mildred Moore | Short |
| For Cash
| Vera Ronceval | Short |
| The Oyster Dredger
| Vera – an Heiress | Short |
| Martin Lowe, Fixer
| Helen Stebbins | Short |
| The Trust
| Florence Allison | Short |
| According to Value
| Mabel Stewart – Arthur's Sweetheart | Short |
| The Chimney's Secret
| | Short, Uncredited |
| The Rehearsal
| Evelyn Payne | Short |
| His Wife's Story
| Louise Blair | Short |
| The Worth of a Woman
| Mrs. Holmes | Short |
| His Hand and Seal
| | Short |
| The Laurel of Tears
| Esther Browne | Short |
| The Chief Inspector
| Lucille Palmer – George's Daughter | Short |
| A Woman Without a Soul
| Cora Martin | Short |
| Her Stepchildren
| Rose | Short |
| The Tides of Retribution
| Nellie Carpenter | Short |
| rowspan="11" | 1916
| The Avenging Shot | | Short |
| Stronger Than Woman's Will
| | Short |
| The Iron Will
| Henrietta | Short |
| The Guilt of Stephen Eldridge
| Eleanor Curzon | Short |
| The Mystery of Orcival
| Laurence | Short |
| The Battle of Truth
| Belle Bolter | Short |
| The Man Who Called After Dark
| Dorothy – Whitmore's Ward | Short |
| The Larrimore Case
| The Girl in the Case | Short |
| Fit for Burning
| Constance Grey | Short |
| The Iron Woman
| Elizabeth Ferguson | |
| That Sharp Note
| | Short |
| rowspan="2" | 1917
| Thora Erickson | |
| Paradise Garden
| Una Habberton | |
| rowspan="1" | 1918
| Mary McMillan | |
| rowspan="4" | 1919
| Dot Harrington | |
| The Veiled Adventure
| Eve Gardiner | |
| The Heart of Youth
| Evie Atherton | |
| His Official Fiancée
| Cicely Harradine | |
| rowspan="1" | 1920
| The Marriage Blunder | | |
| rowspan="2" | 1921
| | Unconfirmed |
| The Sage–Brush Musketeers
| | Short |
| rowspan="1" | 1926
| Mrs. Whinfer | |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0803103|Vera Sisson}}
- {{Find a Grave|8990|Vera Sisson}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sisson, Vera}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:American silent film actresses
Category:Actresses from Salt Lake City
Category:Barbiturates-related deaths
Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery