
Anita Garvin
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anita Garvin (February 11, 1907 – July 7, 1994) was an American actress and comedian who appeared in both silent and sound films. She is best known for her work with comedians Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase.
Garvin was born in New York City.] Her two sisters who danced in vaudeville encouraged her talents. At age 12, she lied to an agent saying she was "almost sixteen" and got a job being a bathing beauty for one of Mack Sennett's stage shows. The following year she joined the Ziegfeld Follies. She took pride in being the only woman allowed to touch Will Rogers's ropes. She also appeared in Earl Carroll Vanities.
Garvin went on tour with the musical Sally staying with the show for two seasons, then decided to stay in California when the tour left that stop in 1924. In Hollywood, Garvin began working for Christie Film Company's comedies. She recalled her co-star Bobby Vernon dropping butter on the floor onto which she stepped and tumbled, cementing her career as a comedian. Charles Lamont brought her over to work for Educational Pictures. In 1926, Hal Roach took her under contract, where she appeared in many silent films with Charley Chase, James Finlayson, and Max Davidson as well as playing occasional supporting roles in feature films. Standing around 6 feet tall, "her regal countenance and deadpan expression" made her the perfect comic foil.
Roach later considered her "one of his finest actresses." Reflecting upon her frequent co-star Stan Laurel, Garvin observed: "One thing about Stan--with apologies to a lot of directors--they thought they were directing him. And they thought they were directing the picture. But Stan was the one...He was very clever about it. The director was never cognizant of the fact that he was not doing all the directing. Stan's mind was going all the time, always thinking of gags and things to do. The script didn't mean a thing." Garvin appeared in a total of eleven Laurel and Hardy films. In 1928, she was teamed with Marion Byron as a short-lived female version of Laurel and Hardy. Along with Edgar Kennedy, Byron and Garvin appeared in A Pair of Tights, an "acknowledged masterpiece."
Acting (51 movies)

Raggedy Rose
1926

Move Along
1926

Many Scrappy Returns
1927

Forgotten Sweeties
1927

Never the Dames Shall Meet
1927

Imagine My Embarrassment
1928

Stepping Out
1929

Be Big!
1931

Their Purple Moment
1928

Blotto
1930

Sailors, Beware!
1927

Why Girls Love Sailors
1927

With Love and Hisses
1927

Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl
1926

Whispering Whoopee
1930

Baby Brother
1927

The Sleuth
1925

Show Business
1932

Asleep in the Feet
1933

A Pair of Tights
1929

Trent's Last Case
1929

The Single Standard
1929

Movie Night
1929

Our Modern Maidens
1929

Murder at Midnight
1931

Swiss Miss
1938

The Last Man on Earth
1924

Topper
1937

Sally
1930

On With the Show!
1929

Upstream
1927

A Chump at Oxford
1940

The Skulls
1931

The Chiselers
1931

Two-Time Mama
1927

Merry Wives of Reno
1934

From Soup to Nuts
1928

The Battle of the Century
1927

While the Cat's Away
1936

The Play Girl
1928

Hats Off
1927

The Charlatan
1929

Dynamite
1929

Red Hot Rhythm
1929

Bested by a Beard
1940

Assistant Wives
1927

Fair But Foolish
1925

His Silent Racket
1933

Modern Love
1929

Laurel & Hardy: Year One
2023

Laurel & Hardy: Year Two
2024
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