Of Spanish extraction, petite blonde leading lady Anita Page entered films as an extra in 1924. Graduating to larger roles fairly rapidly, Page is best remembered as Ann, the mercenary jazz-baby who tricks millionaire Johnny Mack Brown into marriage, gets royally drunk, then tumbles down a huge flight of stairs to her death in the silent Our Dancing Daughters (1928). Page and her Dancing Daughters co-stars Joan Crawford and Dorothy Sebastian starred in two follow-ups (but not sequels), Our Modern Maidens (1929) and Our Blushing Brides (1930), but only Crawford went on to lasting fame. Making a graceful transition to talkies, Page did some nice work as Bessie Love's headstrong sister in the Oscar-winning Broadway Melody (1929), and proved a sprightly heroine for Buster Keaton in Free and Easy (1930) and Sidewalks of New York (1931). After her MGM contract came to an end in 1932, she made do with independent B-pictures, retiring to get married at the age of 26.
Anita Page
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- Of Spanish, Yankee and French descent.
- Actress and friend Betty Bronson helped her get started in the film industry.
- Moved from New York to California when she was a teenager.
- At the beginning of her career, was offered contracts from Paramount Studios and MGM, she chose to sign with MGM.
- In the 1920s, was known as "a blond, blue-eyed Latin" and "the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood."
- Retired from acting for 60 years and made a comeback in 1996.
- One of the most famous actresses during the last years of the silent films and the first years of the talking pictures.