Volume III: Biographies

STEUART, Eldean *

Actress (1914-1917)

Madeline and Marion Fairbanks (Top Row), with Eldean Steuart (L) and Helen Badgley (R). (Courtesy of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Eldean Steuart was a child actress with Thanhouser in the 1914 to 1917 period.

Biographical Notes: Eldean Steuart was born on October 22, 1911. She was in films by the age of five months, at which time she was given the designation, "The laughing baby of the screen." By autumn 1913 she had appeared in several Biograph films, including My Baby, The One She Loved, and Out of the Storm. Later, she played child's parts in many Thanhouser films, including the 1917 release of Hinton's Double. Numerous writers of the era, as well as of modern times, thought Eldean was a boy and referred to her as "he." There were three Steuart children, two girls and a boy. Loel, a girl, was born in 1910, and Maurice, Jr. was born in 1908. With their parents, Mrs. and Mrs. Maurice Steuart, the children appeared in vaudeville as The Five Steuarts. All three children acted in films, including Thanhouser releases. Their surname was often misspelled "Stewart" or "Stuart" in publicity, although it is probable that the use of Stewart was intentional in some instances.

Eldean was in the July 1917 Famous Players release of The Love That Lives and the November 1917 Paramount release of The Hungry Heart. She appeared in the 1918 Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation picture, The Reason Why. By the time she was three and one-half years old, she had appeared in films with such stars as Clara Kimball Young, Mary Pickford, Mary Fuller, Henry Walthall, Theda Bara, Holbrook Blinn, Viola Dana, Charlotte Walker, and John Barrymore, according to an article in the New York Morning Telegraph, July 16, 1916.

Note: In certain Thanhouser credits, including Seeds of Jealousy and In the Conservatory, her name appeared erroneously as "Elaine." In It's an Ill Wind, she was listed as "Al" Steuart or "Stewart" in certain credits.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: The Toy Shop (Princess 6-12-1914), The Girl of the Seasons (Princess 7-10-1914), The Target of Destiny (Princess 7-31-1914), The Touch of a Little Hand (Princess 10-16-1914), Seeds of Jealousy (Princess 11-13-1914), In the Conservatory (Princess 12-11-1914)

1915: The Reformation of Peter and Paul (4-23-1915), It's an Ill Wind (Falstaff 5-28-1915), The Six-Cent Loaf (6-8-1915), Which Shall It Be? (6-22-1915), Getting the Gardener's Goat (Falstaff 7-30-1915), A Plugged Nickel (Falstaff 8-6-1915), Helen's Babies (9-14-1915)

1917: Hinton's Double (5-6-1917)

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