Nell Shipman
Nell Shipman | |
|---|---|
Shipman in 1918 | |
| Born | Helen Foster-Barham October 25, 1892 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Died | January 23, 1970 (aged 77) Cabazon, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, screenwriter, director, producer, animal trainer |
| Years active | 1910–1947 |
| Spouses | Ernest Shipman (m. 1910–1920)Charles H. Austin Ayers
(m. 1925–1932) |
| Partner | Bert Van Tuyle (c.1918 – 1924) |
| Children | 3, including Barry Shipman |
Nell Shipman (born Helen Foster-Barham; October 25, 1892 – January 23, 1970) was a Canadian actress, writer, and director who was active in silent film in the 1910s and 1920s. She used "the girl from God's country" as her sobriquet after starring in God's Country and the Woman.
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1892, her family moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1904. She became interested in performing arts while on a family vacation in the United Kingdom and joined a vaudeville group in 1905. While working in a play she met and married Ernest Shipman and the couple moved to California.
Shipman wrote and directed a few films before receiving a contract with Vitagraph Studios. After doing ten films with Vitagraph she formed her own company and adapted James Oliver Curwood's Wapi the Walrus into Back to God's Country. During the production of the film she had an affair with Bert Van Tuyle and divorced Ernst. Van Tuyle and Shipman formed another company and produced a few films, including The Grub-Stake, before going bankrupt. She attempted to revive her filmmaking career and moved across the United States until her death.