Viola Alberti
{{short description|American silent film actress}}
File:Viola Alberti She 1911.jpg (1911)]]
Mary Viola Alberti (10 July 1871 – 8 May 1957) was an American actress of the silent era known for being the first actress to play Betsey Trotwood in film - namely in the 1911 version of David Copperfield.
Early years
She was born in Lewistown in Pennsylvania as Mary Viola Alberti, the daughter of Susan Ann, née Sills, (1839–1910) and George Wetheholt Alberti (1839–1904), an editor.[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/6742/4239996-00846/20712929?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/16674522/person/140152377451/facts/citation/580345759043/edit/record 1880 United States Federal Census for George W. Alberti: California, Sutter, Yuba - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}] She was educated in public schools in San Francisco and on leaving school began a stage career for five years. She was married to the actor and film director George O. Nicholls from 1896 until his death and appeared in many of his early films. With him she had a son, the film director George Nicholls Jr., and after his birth in 1897, she took time out from her stage career to raise him. After a prolific film career in the 1910s, she retired from acting in 1916. Many of her films were made with the Thanhouser Company.[https://www.thanhouser.org/tcocd/Biography_Files/idh43dszh.htm Viola Alberti] - Thanhouser Company website
File:David Copperfield film 1911.jpg in David Copperfield (1911)]]
Career
Alberti's film roles included: Mistress of the Boarding House in On Her Wedding Day (1913); Corella - the Gypsy in The Wine of Madness (1913); The Gypsy Girl in The Girl and the Judge (1913); Dolores' Mother in Dolores' Decision (1913); Countess Fosco in The Woman in White (1912); The Chanoinesse in The Celebrated Case (1912); Mrs. Prim in Why Tom Signed the Pledge (1912); in Miss Arabella Snaith (1912); The Arab's Wife in Into the Desert (1912); Mary in The Taming of Mary (1912); The Wife in On Probation (1912); Amenartes, the Pharaoh's daughter in She (1911),Philip Leibfried, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zw5eCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 Rudyard Kipling and Sir Henry Rider Haggard on Screen, Stage, Radio and Television], McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (2000) - Google Books pg. 161 and Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield (1911).[https://web.archive.org/web/20200202193424/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bc7307ee5 Viola Alberti] - British Film Institute DatabaseJohn Glavin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mpdrgN082GoC&pg=PA209 Dickens on Screen], Cambridge University Press (2003) - Google Books pg. 209
By 1913, Alberti was a teacher of drama and pantomime. Later she went to the Selig Polyscope Company, where in 1915 she wrote the scenarios for and acted in When Love Was Mocked and also acted in The Print of the Nails (1915); played the Society Leader in The Sculptor's Model (1915) and Mrs. Brentwood in The Eternal Feminine (1915). The Studio Directory of Motion Picture News for 29 January 1916 noted that she was "now at liberty."
Death
Alberti died in San Francisco in 1957, aged 85.
References
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External links
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0016674/ Viola Alberti] on Internet Movie Database
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Category:19th-century American actresses
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American silent film actresses