Bliss Milford
A young white woman with long loose wavy dark hair, in a side part. She has a dimpled chin.
Bliss Milford, from a 1915 publication
Born
Bliss Phoebe MacLaren

April 9, 1886
Hope, North Dakota, US
DiedJuly 29, 1970
Bronx, New York
Resting placeFerncliff Cemetery
Occupation(s)Actress, screenwriter, songwriter
Spouse(s)Karl Klein
Harry Beaumont (div.)
David Higgins (div.)
RelativesWilliam Edward McLaren (uncle)

Bliss Milford (1886-1970)[1] (born Bliss Phoebe MacLaren) was an American actress, screenwriter, songwriter and singer who was active in Hollywood during the silent era.[2][3][4]

Biography

Bliss McLaren was born in Hope, North Dakota, to attorney C. Milford MacLaren and actress Alma Gallinger.[5][6] She grew up primarily in Chicago, and became interested in acting when her family relocated to New York City later on;.[7] Her uncle, William Edward McLaren, was the archbishop of Chicago.[8]

When she became an actress at the age of 15 — appearing, at first, in minor roles on the stage in New York — she used her father's middle name as her last name for her film credits. She was under contract at Edison until 1914, at which point she moved to Kinetophone.[9]

She joined the company of actor and playwright David Higgins in the early 1900s, alongside her mother. Higgins and Bliss eventually married, despite their nearly 30-year age gap, but their partnership did not last.[10] Her 1915 marriage to filmmaker Harry Beaumont was similarly fated.[11] She eventually married Karl Klein in 1923, a marriage that lasted until Klein's death in the 1960s.

In addition to her work as an actress, screenwriter, and songwriter, she also served for a time on the board of directors of the Toledo School for Crippled Children.[10]

Little is known of her life after her film career came to an end. In addition to songwriting, she apparently sang contralto at a 1928 Washington D.C. opera recital.[12] She died July 29, 1970, in the Bronx and was cremated. Her ashes rest at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.[1]

Select filmography

References

  1. 1 2 Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons page 514 by Scott Wilson c.2016
  2. ↑ "Gossip of the Stage". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 23 Feb 1909. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  3. ↑ "Rare Treat to See Miss Milford Act". The Morning Post. 10 Sep 1909. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  4. ↑ "The Empire". Hartford Courant. 18 Mar 1914. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  5. ↑ "Entertainments". Star Tribune. 14 Oct 1907. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  6. ↑ "Who Is She?". The Hope Pioneer. 12 Nov 1914. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  7. ↑ "Flickertail Facts and Fancies". The Bottineau Courant. 13 Nov 1914. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  8. ↑ "Bliss Milford: Writer of Popular Songs". The News-Herald. 27 Sep 1913. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  9. ↑ "Popular Photoplayers—No. 38". Intelligencer Journal. 21 Dec 1914. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  10. 1 2 "Bliss Milford of Higgins Co". Buffalo Courier. 24 Dec 1908. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  11. ↑ "Who's Married to Whom". The Columbia Record. 21 Mar 1915. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  12. ↑ newspaper accounts of Bliss Milford singing contralto at Washington D.C. recital 1928
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