Elinor Fair was born Eleanore Virginia Crowe on December 21, 1904 in Richmond, Virginia. During her childhood her family moved many times and she lived in New York, Virginia, Washington State, California and possibly other states. Though her first screen credit was at the youthful age of 13, Elinor started her career as a violinist. According to some releases she studied music in Berlin, Paris and London but returned to the United States when World War 1 broke out. After returning to the States she worked on stage and in Vaudeville then in 1916 the family moved to California when Eleanor started work in silent films.
Early on she was credited as Eleanore Crowe, Lenore Fair and finally Elinor Fair. She was a popular actress and received positive reviews for her performances in both drama and comedies. Some of her most popular early films were a string of comedies about the marital misadventures where she was paired with Albert Ray. Then in the early 1920's came more dramatic films and again, more rave reviews of her performances. By the time 1924 rolled around and Elinor was chosen as a WAMPAS Baby Star she already had at least 33 movies under her belt! Elinor's biggest role came when she caught the attention of Cecil B Demille. DeMille cast her opposite William Boyd in 1926's epic story of The Volga Boatman. As the feminine lead she certainly did shine!
Unfortunately The Volga Boatman was the peak of her career. When filming wrapped, Elinor and William Boyd who had fallen in love during the filming, went to Santa Ana and were married on January 13, 1926. It was his third marriage and her first.
After the wedding, she went on to act in more movies some of which also starred Boyd. Like The Yankee Clipper. Then it seems she went into semi-retirement, happy to be Mrs. William Boyd. Sadly in only a few short years the marriage ended badly amid rumors of mental instability, drug use and infidelity on Elinor's part.
With her marriage finished, Elinor tried to go back to work although the parts became less important and much more scarce. She had put on some weight and her strong Southern accent seemed to work against her in the talkies. In the years 1930 and 1931 she couldn't get any movie parts. Finally in 1932 she was able to find some extra work and her last film was an uncredited bit in 1934. Frail mental health and 'nerves' no doubt came into play also.
After all the good parts stopped coming her way, things started to unravel for Elinor. After years of being a top billed actress she was only given small and sometimes uncredited bits. Life would never be the same for her and soon her mental stability was also called into question as her behavior became more and more erratic. In 1932 after having a fight with her movie stunt pilot fiance Frank Clark she flew to Yuma Arizona and eloped with aviator Thomas Daniels out of spite. A few hours after the nuptials, Elinor returned to her fiance and explained to the press "I was blue after having quarreled with Frank Clark my sweetheart and I thought I'd show him how smart I was. It was just a big mistake." After this affair, Daniels was arrested for writing a bad check to cover the flight to Arizona though this was soon cleared up when he made good on the payment. A few days later Elinor was reported to be 'seriously ill and at the home of her mother recovering'. I have found no evidence of her ever marrying Frank Clark. In July of 1934 shortly after Elinor received her annulment from their first marriage, she remarried Thomas Daniels. Their second divorce came about a year and a half later in 1935.
By 1936, in her own words she was broke due to "poor business investments and wildcat stocks" Elinor was financially destitute and was unable pay her rent or medical bills. Elinor was twice found by the police wandering the streets in a bad mental state when she and her mother were about to be evicted from their apartment. Both of her ex husbands stepped in to help them out. William Boyd hired a doctor and a nurse for her and agreed to pay all her expenses until she was able to work again. Daniels took care of her rent. "If Elinor could just get her health back" said Mrs. Crowe "I know she could go into pictures again. But her nerves won't stand it. Everything is gone now - money, furs, jewels, cars. I don't know what we are going to do when another rent day comes around."
In 1938 Elinor along with other broke and forgotten silent movie stars petitioned the governor for a law that would compel actors and actresses to save 10% of their earnings in order to protect them from having to beg for bit parts when they were no longer in demand. It was called Career Insurance or Mandatory Film Savings Law, sadly this turned out to be a press agent stunt to exploit fallen stars in order to promote a new movie.
Elinor married Jack White, an actor, in 1941, but this marriage also would be short lived. White filed for divorce charging that Elinor was continuously intoxicated, he received a marriage annulment in early 1944.
Elinor passed away in 1957.
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