Born Anita Evelyn Pomares, Anita Page was a silent film star of the 1920's. Known as 'the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood', Page was an MGM starlet, an enemy of Joan Crawford, and one of the few actresses to transition smoothly from silent films to talkies. On screen, she romanced men like Buster Keaton, Robert Montgomery, Ramon Novarro, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, and Clark Gable, with the latter carrying on off-screen. She received more fan mail than any other leading lady, with the exception of Greta Garbo. Even Benito Mussolini was mad about her, and those large stacks of mail included numerous marriage proposals from him. Despite massive success in films like Our Dancing Daughters and The Broadway Melody, Page shocked Hollywood by retiring at age 23, apparently because she refused to go along with the sexual advances studio executives made towards her. As the last living attendee of the first Academy Awards ceremony, and a recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Anita Page passed away on September 6, 2008 at age 98. Although I consider myself a bit of a film buff, I was not aware of Ms. Page's striking history until my family moved into her former home. Wanting an escape from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood, Anita Page had the home specially built for her. Made entirely out of stone, and aptly titled Stone Haven, Page would bring up her Hollywood friends, and they would party the night away in the secluded town. Soon after discovering the luminous life that had been in this house, I went about watching any of her films that aired on television. While she looks like a ravishing lady of the 20's in photos, in motion, she looks like a timeless beauty, with an adorably likable presence. It's an endearing thought, to know such madness went on within these stone walls.
Pictured below with Glenn Close, Anita Page was known to get dolled up in her full 1920's starlet get-up on a regular basis.
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