THE LAST FEMALE SILENT MOVIE STAR
Born in Hollywood, Mildred’s father was Eugene Kornman and her mother was Vera Comer. She had a sister, Mary, who was ten years older than her.
Mildred’s father was always known as ‘Gene’. He was an immigrant from Germany who had anglicised his name (Kormann) upon arriving in the USA ,as many European immigrants did.
Gene was a professional still photographer, working for Hal Roach’s film studio. He was assigned to work with silent movie comic actor Harold Lloyd. The two men became great friends.
Lloyd was married to actress Mildred Davis. When his second daughter was born, Gene asked permission for her to be named after Harold Lloyd’s wife. The Lloyd’s were Mildred’s godparents.
Her mother, Vera, was an actress too. She had been previously married to another silent movie star, David Lionel Evans. Mary was his daughter – but upon marrying Vera, Gene adopted Mary.
Mildred remembered her father fondly – “He was a charmer and a gentleman, and everybody adored him.”
Gene had a brilliant idea – a series of short movies about small children. Hal Roach loved it. The films were called ‘Our Gang’ (also known as ‘Little Rascals’).
Roach insisted it was about children who lived in poverty, without any racial barriers (both black and white actors were in it), and who had fun.
A dog and baby motif was an integral part of the films. They were incredibly popular.
Mildred’s older sister, Mary, was a star of ‘Our Gang’.
Mildred made her first appearance in the short film ‘Thundering Fleas’. She was just one month old. She played the baby sister of the child actor, Joe Cobb.

Another star of the film was Oliver Hardy (without Stan Laurel).
Mildred’s next film was a full-length feature called ‘The Fourth Alarm’. She was now nine months old.

In the film, she was held by her sister Mary, whilst Joe Cobb tried to feed his ‘baby sister’ some medicine. It was regarded at the time as hilarious.
Soon afterwards, Mildred appeared in the film ‘The Nickel Hopper’. It was the comeback film of famed comic actress Mabel Normand. The movie was written by Stan Laurel and starred Oliver Hardy.
Normand’s career had ground to a halt after two major scandals.
Firstly, her close friend, director, William Desmond Taylor, had been murdered. Following this, Mabel’s chauffer, had shot and seriously wounded oil millionaire, Courtland Dines.
However, the film, The Nickel Hopper, was a total box office failure and Mabel Normand’s career died out.
Mildred continued to appear in films – over twenty in the Our Gang series- between 1926 and 1935, and others as well. Sometimes, she played ‘bit’ parts and was uncredited.
In ‘Fish Hooky’ (1933), she played a bored schoolgirl in a classroom. The teacher, Miss Kornman, was played by her sister, Mary, who was grown up by now.
Wherever she went in Hollywood, Mildred carried a small blue autograph book, and got the stars to sign it. She kept this going until she was elderly.
Her prize signatures were James Stewart and Robert Taylor. Her most puzzling one was Bing Crosby. She said she had never worked with Crosby, or met him, but she had his autograph anyway.

She knew Bing was a very close friend of Oliver Hardy and suspected, as his name was next to Hardy’s in her book, that he had just signed it whilst visiting his friend on set.
Whilst acting, Mildred did really well at her education, graduating from Hollywood High School.
Aged sixteen, Mildred started modelling. This was during the height of the Great Depression, and her family were short of money, so the extra income was particularly welcome.
Miriam went to UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and graduated in Art, English and Spanish.
Whilst at university, she occasionally appeared in films, twice starring alongside Betty Grable.
Then, she met Lieutenant Norton Hinsey and married him immediately. Mildred was just eighteen.
Hinsey was sent overseas during the Second World War, so Mildred moved to New York. There, she gave birth to their son, Stephen.
Mildred returned to work as a model. She remembered once being on a shoot which was directed by Salvador Dali.

Any spare money she made was sent back to her family in California.
Hedda Hopper labelled Mildred as “The 1943 Goldwyn Girl.”
When Norton returned from the war, they went back to California, where she gave birth to a daughter, Darragh.
After that, Mildred commuted to New York and continued her modelling career. She appeared on the front cover of many magazines, including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
It was now that she changed her professional name, beginning to call herself Ricki VanDusen (no spacing).

Mildred also appeared in many television adverts for products such as Revlon, Cutex, Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden.

She appeared in ‘Abbot and Costello go to Mars’ in 1953.
Mildred decided to give up modelling and opened a boutique in Encino, California. It was called ‘VanDusen Green’, and clients included Jayne Mansfield, June Allyson and Norma Shearer.
Mildred’s very last film was in 1963. She played a model in ‘The Intern’.
At the start of the 1970s, Mildred had another career change. She followed her father’s footsteps and became a professional photographer.
Her older sister, Mary, died in 1973 aged just 58.
Mildred and her husband, Norton, retired to a remote ranch in Utah. He always kept a very low profile and little is known about him.
In her retirement, Mildred noticed a revival in interest about silent movies. She visited many fan conventions as a guest star. “I guess everything when it gets older, becomes more popular, more desirable.”
In 2014, Mildred attended the last ‘Our Gang’ reunion, aged 89, hosted by ‘The Sons of the Desert’ – the well-known Laurel and Hardy appreciation society.
Mildred had fared much better than many of her co-stars, who had succumbed to alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty or premature death.

She said, “It was fun being a gang member. It was play. I have no regrets. We didn’t have to be talented, which is natural for kids. I think we had a privileged childhood working in those films.”
When Mildred died, she was the last surviving member of the ‘Our Gang’ films.
She was also the last known female silent movie actress. Two male actors outlived her, Donnie ‘Beezer’ Smith and Garry Watson (who was just a baby in the silent movies).
(Donnie Smith died very soon after Mildred)
RIP – Remained Incredibly Popular
Interesting. Hollywood has collected a lot of unusual characters. I met some earlier in life.
Because I grew up in the capitol of California, Sacramento