The Woman Who Dared: The Life and Times of Pearl White, Queen of the Serials

In the dawning years of cinema, actress Pearl White (1889–1938) was hailed as the Queen of the Serials. In this exhaustive biography, film historian Drew (Speaking of Silents) traces her life and career from her impoverished Missouri childhood where, at the age of 13, she began performing in local plays and in the circus. Leaving high school without graduating, she joined a stock company and toured for many years. A vocal cord injury compelled her to seek work in silent cinema in which she excelled. A scene where she rescued a woman and child from a burning building impressed her bosses, and she was soon cast in a succession of serials, including the wildly popular The Perils of Pauline, beginning in 1914. She performed many of her own stunts too. In 1919, she began to appear in more dramatic roles, before she retired from the screen in 1923 and lived the rest of her life comfortably in France. She died from liver failure at the age of 49 in 1938.