Violet Hopson

Violet Hopson
Born (1887-12-16)16 December 1887
Port Augusta, Australia
Died 21 July 1973(1973-07-21) (aged 85)
Kensington, London, England
Nationality British
Years active 1910–1933

Violet Hopson (16 December 1887 – 21 July 1973) was an Australian-born British actress born in Port Augusta, South Australia, Australia on 16 December 1887[1] as Elma Kate Victoria Karkeek, Violet Hopson being her stage name. .[2] She was a major star of the silent era. She was popularly known by audiences as the "Dear Delightful Villianess".[3] Her career suffered slightly following the end of her marriage to actor Alexander Worster,[4] screen name Alec Worcester, whom she married in Luton on 7 June 1909 aged 21. Her marriage certificate gives her name as Elma Kate Victoria Hopson.[5] They divorced in February 1919 on the ground's of his adultery and desertion.[6] They had two children Nicholas born 1910 and Jessica born 1913[7]

She died 21 July 1973 in Princess Louise Hospital, Kensington, London,[8] the records naming her as Elma Kate Worster. She was cremated in Kensal Green Crematorium on 26 July 1973.

Career

Violet's earliest performances were with the Pollard Opera Company in Australia and New Zealand from 1898 - 1900 when she went to America with her older sister Zoe Karkeek. Zoe and Wilmot Karkeek were long standing members of this company from 1892. Violet was known as Kate or Kitty to her family at this stage in her life.[9]

Motion Picture Studio, 3 December 1921, p. 10. Extensive biography citing Californian birth (contradicted by genealogical research), a breakdown which caused her to leave the stage and turn to films.

Motion Picture Studio, 10 December 1921, p. 7. ‘Violet Hopson now announces that she has completed the biggest deal yet attempted by a woman in British film land [selling the rights of her films for the next two years to Butchers] [...] Despite her dramatic ability, Miss Hopson also possesses a keen business sense, a combination rarely found in a man, more rarely in a woman’.

Motion Picture Studio, 31 December 1921, p. 11. Violet Hopson’s New Year’s Resolution is ‘to show the British public that a woman’s influence, if exercised in the right direction, can be a tremendous benefit to British films’.

Watch[10] Miss Violet Hopson Visits Dundee Fire Station (1920) via the Scottish Screen Archive website. This trip was almost certainly organised by Billie Bristow (see Motion Picture Studio, 19 November 1921, p. 8-9).

Violet was considered a pioneer in the film world of the 1920s as she owned a production company Violet Hopson Productions[11][12] Her career started at Hepworth Pictures along with Alma Taylor, Chrissie White, Stewart Rome, James Carew, Gerald Ames and John MacAndrews,[13] although she later combined with Walter West, at Broadwest,who in his bankruptcy papers claimed to have married Violet.

In 1919 she started to play with Stewart Rome in a string of dramas. The first was probably the sports drama The Gentleman Rider (1919, Walter West), which was followed by Snow in the Desert, A Great Coup, A Daughter of Eve, The Romance of a Movie Star, The Case of Lady Camber, Her Son, The Imperfect Lover, and When Greek Meets Greek. These films were almost all directed by Walter West for the company Broadwest and later for Walter West Productions, and almost all co-starring Stewart.[14]

Selected filmography

A fuller filmography

  1. One Precious Year (1933) .... Woman at Party
  2. Self Made Lady (1932) .... Annie
  3. Widecombe Fair (1928) .... The Widow
  4. Beating the Book (1926) .... Joan Marlow
  5. A Daughter of Love (1925) .... Mary Tannerhill
  6. The Great Turf Mystery (1924) .... Sheila Donovan
  7. The Stirrup Cup Sensation (1924) .... Eileen Chelverley
  8. Beautiful Kitty (1923) .... Kitty
  9. The Lady Owner (1923) .... Pamela Morland
  10. What Price Loving Cup? (1923) .... Lady Lorimer
  11. Son of Kissing Cup (1922) .... Constance Medley
  12. The Scarlet Lady (1922) .... Gwendoline Gordon
  13. The White Hope (1922) .... Claudia Carisbrooke
  14. When Greek Meets Greek (1922) .... Christine Ward
  15. A Sportsman's Wife (1921) .... Jessica Dunders
  16. The Imperfect Lover (1921) .... Noreen Grene
  17. Vi of Smith's Alley (1921) .... Vi Jeffries
  18. Her Son (1920) .... Dorothy Fairfax
  19. Kissing Cup's Race (1920) .... Constance Medley
  20. The Case of Lady Camber (1920) .... Esther Yorke
  21. The Romance of a Movie Star (1920) .... Vanna George
  22. A Daughter of Eve (1919) .... Jessica Bond
  23. In the Gloaming (1919) .... Adrienne Morland
  24. Snow in the Desert (1919) .... Felice Beste
  25. The Gentleman Rider (1919) .... Marjorie Denton ... aka "Heart and Saddles" - USA
  26. The Irresistible Flapper (1919) .... Gladys Standish
  27. The Soul of Guilda Lois (1919) .... Guilda Lois
  28. A Fortune at Stake (1918) .... Lady Launcelot
  29. A Turf Conspiracy (1918) .... Madge Iman
  30. Missing the Tide (1918) .... Margaret Carson
  31. My Son, My Son (1918)
  32. Sisters in Arms (1918) .... WRAF Girl
  33. The Snare (1918) .... Diane
  34. The Woman Wins (1918) .... Brenda Marsh
  35. The Eternal Triangle (1917) .... Audrey
  36. A Gamble for Love (1917) .... Fay de Launay
  37. A Munition Girl's Romance (1917) .... Jenny Jones
  38. Her Marriage Lines (1917) .... Sybil Ransley
  39. The Adventures of Dick Dolan (1917) .... Mrs. Cambray
  40. The American Heiress (1917) .... Cynthia Hunks
  41. The Blindness of Fortune (1917) .... Grace Hardfeldt
  42. The Cobweb (1917) .... Dolorosa
  43. The House Opposite (1917) .... Mrs. Anstruther
  44. The Ragged Messenger (1917) .... Mary Ainslee
  45. The Ware Case (1917) .... Lady Magdalene Ware
  46. Comin' Thro the Rye (1916)
  47. A Bunch of Violets (1916) .... Mrs. Murgatroyd
  48. Exploits of Tubby (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  49. Molly Bawn (1916) .... Marcia Amherst
  50. Sowing the Wind (1916/II) .... Helen Gray
  51. The House of Fortescue (1916) .... Ceclie Harding
  52. The Marriage of William Ashe (1916) .... Mary Lyster
  53. Trelawny of the Wells (1916) .... Imogen Parrott
  54. Tubby's and the Clutching Hand (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  55. Tubby's Bungle-Oh! (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  56. Tubby's Dugout (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  57. Tubby's Good Work (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  58. Tubby's Rest Cure (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  59. Tubby's River Trip (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  60. Tubby's Spanish Girls (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  61. Tubby's Tip (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  62. Tubby's Typewriter (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  63. Tubby's Uncle (1916) .... Mrs. Tubby
  64. A Moment of Darkness (1915) .... The Woman
  65. Barnaby Rudge (1915) .... Emma Haresdale
  66. A Losing Game (1915) .... The girl
  67. Behind the Curtain (1915)
  68. Be Sure Your Sins (1915) .... Mrs. Wynne
  69. Her Boy (1915) .... Nance
  70. Marmaduke and His Angel (1915) .... Fleurette de Lys
  71. Schoolgirl Rebels (1915) .... Teacher
  72. The Man Who Stayed at Home (1915) .... Miriam Leigh
  73. The Nightbirds of London (1915)
  74. The Outrage (1915) .... The Wife
  75. The Recalling of John Grey (1915) .... Mary Loder
  76. The Second String (1915) .... Diana Nugent
  77. The Shepherd of Souls (1915) .... Girl
  78. The White Hope (1915) .... Claudia Carisbrooke
  79. The Chimes (1914/I) .... Meg Veck
  80. The Terror of the Air (1914) .... Gabrielle Townsend
  81. The Great Poison Mystery (1914) .... Vera Duncan
  82. The Cry of the Captive (1914) .... Zorah Vibart
  83. The Heart of Midlothian (1914)
  84. A Noble Deception (1914)
  85. Judged by Appearances (1914) .... Countess Vezin
  86. Life's Dark Road (1914) .... Helen Winston
  87. Memory (1914)
  88. The Bridge Destroyer (1914) .... The Girl
  89. The Girl Who Played the Game (1914) .... Julia Stevens
  90. The Hunchback (1914/II) .... Girl
  91. The Kleptomaniac (1914)
  92. The Man from India (1914)
  93. The Schemers: or, The Jewels of Hate (1914) .... Vera Mortimer
  94. The Stress of Circumstance (1914)
  95. The Unseen Witness (1914) .... Ethel
  96. They Say - Let Them Say (1914)
  97. Time the Great Healer (1914) .... Kate
  98. Two of a Kind (1914/I) .... Delia Highspite
  99. A Little Widow Is a Dangerous Thing (1913)
  100. Drake's Love Story (1913) .... Queen Elizabeth ... aka "The Love Romance of Sir Francis Drake" - USA
  101. The Jewel Thieves Outwitted (1913) .... Maid
  102. The Vicar of Wakefield (1913/II) .... Olivia Primrose
  103. Two Little Pals (1913) .... Mrs. Pete
  104. Love in a Laundry (1912)
  105. The Umbrella They Could Not Lose (1912) .... Mildred
  106. Mr. Tubby's Triumph (1910) .... Mrs. Tubby[15]

Bibliography

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922
  2. ↑ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/13036
  3. ↑ Sweet p.31
  4. ↑ Sweet p.34
  5. ↑ England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915
  6. ↑ http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/actors-actresses/104472-violet-hopson.html
  7. ↑ England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915
  8. ↑ England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005
  9. ↑ http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19000308.2.119.1&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0--
  10. ↑ http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=0833
  11. ↑ http://www.synoptique.ca/archives/edition4/gledhill.htm
  12. ↑ http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/JBCTV.2007.4.1.1
  13. ↑ http://www.clickautographs.com/detail.php?id=3108
  14. ↑ http://filmstarpostcards.blogspot.com/search/label/Stewart%20Rome
  15. ↑ http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/actors-actresses/104472-violet-hopson.html
  16. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/title/cinema-practical-course-in-cinema-acting-in-ten-complete-lessons/oclc/026470749
  17. ↑ http://womenandsilentbritishcinema.wordpress.com/the-women/violet-hopson/
  18. ↑ http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/actors-actresses/104472-violet-hopson.html
  19. ↑ http://www.cyranos.ch/sphops-e.htm
  20. ↑ http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/JBCTV.2007.4.1.1
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