Marguerite Snow Biography

Marguerite Snow (9 September 1889, Savannah, Georgia - 17 February 1958, Los Angeles, California) was an American silent film actress. Her father was a comedian. She was educated in Denver, Colorado at the Loretta Heights Academy.

Silent Film Leading Lady

Miss Snow became an actress at an early age. She gained prominence in movies following a successful stage career. One of her theatrical efforts was a Broadway production. Marguerite Snow starred in motion pictures for the Thanhouser Film Company in New Rochelle, New York and the old Metro Pictures studio before it became MGM. Her film career began early in the silent era; 1911. Some of her feature pictures are Baseball and Bloomers (1911), A Niagara Honeymoon (1912), The Caged Bird (1913), The Silent Voice (1915), A Corner in Cotton (1916), Broadway Jones (1917), The Veiled Woman (1922), and Kit Carson Over The Great Divide (1925). In Broadway Jones Marguerite played a pretty stenographer at the Jones' gun factory as the movie's leading lady. This was the first Artcraft photoplay of George M. Cohan. She never made a movie after the introduction of sound to films.

Marriages

The actress was married twice. Her first wedding was to James Bosen, a director, whose professional name was James Cruze. He was affiliated with Famous Players-Lasky and was one of the best-known directors in motion pictures. During divorce proceedings in October 1923 Miss Snow testified that her husband frequently beat her. A public beating was responsible for their separation. The couple were at a party when the actress requested James take one of her women friends home. The ensuing quarrel ended with Cruze beating his wife about her face and body. She was knocked to the floor and one of her teeth was dislodged. This occurred in December 1921. They had wed in January 1913. The couple had one daughter, Julie Jane. Cruze later married silent film actress Betty Compson. After divorcing Cruze, Marguerite married Neely Edwards, film comedian, on December 25, 1925. Edwards became master of ceremonies of the local company of The Drunkard. This play ran continuously in Hollywood, California, beginning in 1933, and continuing until the late 1950s.

In 1933 Julie Jane Cruze was given nine pieces of property by her father at a time when he feared he might die of a heart ailment. The properties were located in Flintridge, California and La Canada, California. The twenty-four-year-old shared some of the $150,000 in income derived from the bequest with her mother. At the time Marguerite Snow had been reduced to living in a trailer. The daughter filed a cross complaint in October 1938 to block a suit by James Cruze to quiet title to the property and return it to him. Julie Jane stated that her dad originally gave her the property to avoid losing it to creditors.

Death After Surgery

In 1957 Miss Snow underwent a kidney operation, with complications occurring, which could not be reversed. She died, aged 68, at the Motion Picture Country Home in 1958. The Edwards' residence was at 1930 Stewart Street, Santa Monica, California. Funeral arrangements were carried out by Forest Lawn Memorial Park.