Fanny Midgley

Who was Fanny Midgley?

Fanny Midgley was an American film actress of Hollywood's early years, mostly in silent films.

Midgley was born Fanny B. Frier in Cincinnati, Ohio, making her move to Hollywood to pursue an acting career in the earliest days of film making, in 1911. Her first film role was alongside Francis Ford in the earliest film version of the Battle of the Alamo, titled The Immortal Alamo, a film which today has no existing copies. She had another three film roles in 1912 and 1913, then in 1914 her career took off. In 1914 alone she had twenty seven film appearances. That included The Sheriff of Bisbee, in which she starred alongside actress Mildred Harris, the future mother of Charlie Chaplin's first child. From 1915 through 1919 she would appear in another thirty two films, mostly in supporting roles. Her last film appearance during that period was the 1919 film The Lottery Man, in which she starred alongside Wanda Hawley and Wallace Reid.

During the 1920s her career would slow somewhat, but she still stayed active, appearing in twenty two films between 1920 and 1926, with her biggest film role during that time being opposite Rudolph Valentino in the 1922 film The Young Rajah. From 1927 to 1929 her career almost completely halted compared to her previous years, with only five film appearances during that period, most notably opposite Buddy Roosevelt in The Cowboy Cavalier in 1928.