Volume III: Biographies

(HUNT, Irene) *

Actress (1914)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Irene Hunt appeared in the 1914 Thanhouser release of McCarn Plays Fate, a film made by Reliance, for whom she was an actress.

Biographical Notes: Irene Hunt was born in New York City on February 22, 1893 and was educated there by private tutors. Her stage career began virtually as an infant. In an article published in The Toledo Times, September 27, 1914, Miss Hunt told her life story: "After all, it really isn't a pleasant task to write a story of one's self. One is inclined to omit some of the things one ought to include in a biography and say only the nice things! However, I'll do my bestest! So here goes! I started at the tender age of four, playing child parts on the legitimate stage. Yes, I can remember that far back!

"Here is a sort of list which will explain it better than I can: With Dan McCarthy in The Pride of Kildare; later with East Lynne, Uncle Tom's Cabin, then with The Ensign, Rip Van Winkle, Sapho, and some others; two years with Robert Mantell; one year with Richard Mansfield; and then some years in vaudeville, doing a single act, and also in a few sketches. And so ended my stage career, after chasing all over the United States in stock - repertoire and one-nighters. One gets rather tired after a period of one-night stands, so we - mother, sister, and I - hiked it up to the mountains and rented a cute little cottage. Lo and behold! There was a moving picture company working almost next door. You may be sure I spent most of my time watching those pictures being taken. I was fortunate enough to meet the director and some of the players, and learned they were of the Reliance Company. I was very much interested by this time, and learned all I could about movies during that summer. So in the fall I returned to New York and played a small part in a Reliance drama.

"I found it was uphill as an 'extra' with the Reliance Company, and when I received an offer from the Crystal Comedy Company to play leads I jumped at the chance, and remained there until I commenced to climb. Then I joined the Lubin Western Company, but unfortunately I fell from a horse and broke my arm. No, playing in the movies is not all fun! I suppose it was fate, for almost immediately after this misfortune I returned east, and to my old love, as it were. I was offered leading parts with the Reliance, and have been with this company now over a year. I have played leads, consisting of ingenues, heavies, and all sorts of character parts.

"You know, a picture artist must know how to swim, ride, and do any number of daring things she is called upon to do almost every day. I must tell you about my latest feat. In a picture recently, I was called upon to jump overboard while I wore a tight, narrow skirt in which it was impossible to swim. Imagine being calmly informed that the river was infested with sharks! OOOOooooH! But, then, we have our compensations. Pictures give the performer a chance to live in the great outdoors, in the sunshine. And what is better still, we have our evening for our very own.

"It gives us a chance to live our lives as we choose. This cannot be said of the legitimate stage. There one lives only a make-believe, as it were. Talking pictures are not really 'reelly' successful. The dialogue makes the picture drag, whereas a subtitle tells the necessary story in a few appropriate words. Hobbies? I adore dancing, swimming, tennis, etc. And my favorite author is Shakespeare, although I am very fond of Ibsen. I greatly admire our newer poet of the North, Robert Service."

Irene Hunt's sister, Blanche, was also on stage with her in various productions, including Mansfield's King Richard III, and in vaudeville. In addition to the motion picture companies mentioned, in the early years Irene Hunt was also with Champion and Eclair. As noted, after her initial efforts in films, she worked with Reliance-Majestic, for whom she appeared in For the Last Edition, The Wireless Voice, The Mountain Rat, and numerous other films.

An article in Reel Life, April 4, 1914, told more about the actress: "Irene Hunt has been with the Reliance Company all the last year, and is counted as one of the 'old-timers.' She is not sensitive, either, about being called an old-timer, but rather proud of it - in view of the many changes of the last twelve months, through which she has held her own. Miss Hunt is enthusiastic over the growth of the Reliance activities, and the flight to the Coast. She revels in out-of-door life. California, she says, is paradise. She is out in the open from morning till night, riding, and exploring the picturesque country, the old Spanish settlements and missions. As leading woman in the East, she will be remembered best for her exceptional work in A Man and a Woman, in which she starred opposite George Siegmann. In this strong, primitive drama of love on a desert island, Miss Hunt created a character which alone would make Reliance famous. Her many admirers are eagerly awaiting her appearance in the new productions at the Los Angeles studios."

In 1914 Irene Hunt appeared in the Thanhouser release of McCarn Plays Fate, a Reliance film which was marketed under the Thanhouser label. This tenuous connection was her only affiliation with the Thanhouser Film Corporation. Later, she went to Fine Arts (The Penitentes), the New York Motion Picture Company (The Dividend, etc.), and Universal (Little Miss Charity, The Silent Stranger, etc.).

She was 5'5" tall, weighed 115 pounds, and had dark brown hair and dark gray eyes. In 1916 her pastimes included hiking, motoring, horseback riding, swimming, and water color painting. At the time she was with Universal Studios. In October 1916 she married Lester Scott, a Fox director. Following their marriage at St. Paul's Cathedral, Los Angeles, on a Thursday evening, the couple went on a whirlwind 600-mile honeymoon drive, stopping at San Diego, Tijuana (Mexico), Murrieta Hot Springs, Riverside, and Idyllwild, returning to Universal by Monday morning.

Note: Her surname appeared as "Hunte" in some publicity.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: McCarn Plays Fate (Thanhouser release of a Reliance film 8-18-1914)

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