Edna Fisher, silent film actress, worked at Vitagraph Co. in Santa Monica

Edna Fisher, born Edna Levi in Nebraska on August 14, 1891 came to Hollywood and started making films at Vitagraph Company in 1911. Her filmography included 10 silent films and 5 film shorts between 1911 and 1912. A listing in the Santa Monica City Directory for 1912 shows her as an actress at Vitagraph Co, located at 1415 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Miss Fisher was in several westerns including: "Broncho Billy's Adventure" produced in 1911. She married Rollin S. Sturgeon, who was a director for Vitagraph on September 26, 1912, which coincided with the end of her film career. They had five children. Miss Fisher died on April 23, 1978.

This article appeared in the The Daily Outlook on March 17, 1913

Source was the digitized Santa Monica Outlook Newspaper October 1875-May 1920, searchable in Imagine Santa Monica

This notice for extras for Vitagraph appeared in The Daily Outlook, February 21, 1914

Dame Christabel Pankhurst lived and died in Santa Monica at the end of her life

A notable suffragette from Great Britain, Dame Christabel Pankhurst, was born in 1880 to parent's Dr. Richard Pankhurst and Emmeline Pankhurst who were avid supporters of women's right to vote. Christabel accompanied her mother on speechmaking tours throughout England. They often were jailed for civil disobedience. Christabel was one of the first women in Britain to pass the bar examination.  She received the dame commander of the Order of the British Empire from King George V for her work helping to establish women's right to vote in England which transpired in 1918. Dame Pankhurst came to Canada and the United States in the 1930s to lecture at Bible conferences. She was an active member of the Episcopal Church.

According to her obituary in the February 14, 1958 Evening Outlook [on microfilm at the Santa Monica Public Library], Dame Pankhurst began living in Santa Monica around 1947. Some thought that she was attracted to Hollywood. She continued making speeches on occassion. She died sitting up in a chair in her apartment at 943 A Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica on February 13, 1958 at the age of 77. She was not ill at the time of her death.



Christabel Pankhurst was co-founder of The Suffragette a publication covering issues related to the women's movement

Dame Pankhurst is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica