The Chrissie White Tribute Page

Image copyright Elmbridge Museum

Chrissie White

One of Britain's first film stars. Chrissie was a principal actress in the Hepworth Picture Players at the Walton Studios. Chrissie White (1895–1989) was a British film actress of the silent era. She appeared in over 180 films between 1908 and 1933. White was married to actor and film director Henry Edwards, and in the 1920s the two were regarded as one of Britain's most famous and newsworthy celebrity couples. She starred in the 1920 film The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss, which as of August 2010 is missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films.

See her IMDB entry.

Born 23 May 1895 London, England, UK
Died 18 August 1989 Hollywood, California, USA. (heart attack)

British actress Chrissie White was once a popular child star in early British silent films. Born Ada Constance White in Chiswick, London, on 23rd May 1895, she got her start when she joined the Hepworth company in 1907 as a 12-year-old girl, when she substituted for her sister, Gwen. Chrissie's sister Rosina White also worked for Hepworth.

She was given her stage name "Chrissie" and was one of the first stars in British films. She frequently staffed shorts directed by Lewin Fitzhamon.

The blue eyed beauty of early British cinema made nearly 100 films during her career. (show more from IMDB)

Chrissie White made her first stage appearance as a child in "Bluebell in Fairyland", and at the age of 14 was engaged by Cecil M. Hepworth for Lewin Fitzhamon’s "For The Little Lady’s Sake".

The following year she was teamed with Alma Taylor, one year her junior, as "The Tilly Girls", a team who featured in a series of sentimental comedies in 1910 and 1911.

Watch "Tilly the Tomboy Visits the Poor" to get an idea. They can still raise a laugh today!

By 1912 Chrissie White was established as Hepworth’s leading lady and the most popular British star of the time.

Chrissie was married on 20th July 1912 to Claude Whitten, a local 29 year old man whose profession was given as ""Manager of a cinematograph producing company". Chrissie gave her age as 21, but she was actually 17. Both gave addresses in Walton on Thames. The marriage was witnessed by Frederick Hamilton McCormick-Goodheart, and Gladys McCormick-Goodheart. The duration of Chrissie White's first marriage is not known, nor whether they had children.

The Hepworth Studios certainly seemed to be an organisation that supported families: Claude Whitten also worked for Hepworth, as did his brother Norman, who married actress May Clark in 1907 and whose son was Vernon Whitten. 

Chrissie White was generally partnered by Stewart Rome or Henry Edwards. Edwards also directed most of their films together.

Later on in the 1920s, White married her long-time Hepworth co-star and frequent director Henry Edwards and had a daughter Henrietta, who also became an actress.

Chrissie White was absent from the screen from 1924 until 1930, when she returned to make two talking pictures ("The Call of the Sea", 1930, and "General John Regan" (1933), filmed in Northern Ireland, both directed by Edwards, after which she definitively retired from the screen.

But the public did not forget Chrissie - watch archival footage of a rare Pathé documentary feature about their family life at their home "Gracious Pond" in Chobham, Surrey (now a listed building) during 1945/1946, together with their actress daughter Henrietta. This shows Henry Edwards as a talented photographer in his own right.

And even later on a BBC documentary was made with film of her in old age reminiscing about her silent film days.

Chrissie White died 18/8/1989 in Liss, Hants.

Acknowledgement - Thanks to Janice Healey for certain information in this biography. The BBC documentary is available from Elmbridge Museum.

 Chrissie White (1895-1989) BLOOD AND BOSH

Dir.: Hay Plumb; cast: Chrissie White, Jack Hulcup, Ruby Belasco, Alma Taylor, Harry Gilbey; orig. length: 650ft.; 35mm, 592ft., 10’ (16 fps), BFI/National Film and Television Archive.

In this truly bizarre early parody of the melodrama we can see the antecedents of the absurdist tradition in British comedy. The plot concerns a baby, the beneficiary of a will, who is kidnapped by comedy villains, chucked through a window (thus neatly extinguishing the candle on the gunpowder keg to which its father is tied), then dropped back out of the window, trampled on (by Father jumping out the window!), and finally rushed to the hospital to be re-inflated. ("If the child does not explode in thirty seconds,” the surgeon gravely diagnoses, "it will survive!”)

There are gags aplenty in the intertitles, including some early spoofing of the latest novelty, the Feature Film: a title announces that after Part 1 there will be a 30-minute interval to change spools before Part 2. There are also mocking references to popular works of the time, such as The Light that Failed (cited as the villains remove the coins from the gas meter to foil the baby’s operation). There are some humorous trick effects, and that ever-popular visual joke, rapid cross-cutting between scenes in which absolutely nothing is happening.

The director Edward Hay Plumb (1883-1960) was an actor in films from 1910, and from 1912 to 1915 was one of Britain’s most prolific directors. He returned to activity as actor throughout the 1930s. Hepworth star Chrissie White enters gamely into the spirit of this macabre early parody thriller.

Acknowledgement: Hepworthfilm.org is grateful to acknowledge that the Blood and Bosh text above is by Bryony Dixon, BFI, for the Pordenone catalogue. Thanks to Bryony for permission to reproduce it here.

Chrissie White IMDB Filmography

See the Chrissie White Blockbuster Filmography with script synopsis included.

Actress - filmography
(1930s) (1920s) (1910s) (1900s)

1. General John Regan (1933) .... Moya Kent
2. Call of the Sea (1930) .... Iris Tares
3. World of Wonderful Reality, The (1924) .... Jill Dealtry
4. Boden's Boy (1923) .... Barbara Pilgrim
5. Lily of the Alley (1923) .... Lily
6. Simple Simon (1922) .... Rosemary Ruth
7. Bargain, The (1921)
8. Lunatic at Large, The (1921) .... Lady Irene
9. Tit for Tat (1921)
10. Wild Heather (1921) .... Heather Bond
11. Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss, The (1920) .... Frances Clayton
12. Aylwin (1920) .... Winifred Wynne-
13. John Forrest Finds Himself (1920) .... Joan Grey
14. Temporary Vagabond, A (1920) .... Peggie Hurst
15. Broken in the Wars (1919) .... Mrs. Joe
16. City of Beautiful Nonsense, The (1919) .... Jill Dealtry
17. His Dearest Possession (1919) .... Red Emma Lobb
18. Kinsman, The (1919) .... Pamela Blois
19. Possession (1919) .... Valerie Sarton
20. Against the Grain (1918) .... The Woman
21. Anna (1918) .... Anna
22. Hanging Judge, The (1918) .... Molly
23. Her Savings Saved (1918) .... The Woman
24. Inevitable, The (1918) .... The Girl
25. Message, The (1918) .... The Woman
26. Poet's Windfall, The (1918) .... The Girl
27. Refugee, The (1918) .... Peasant
28. Secret, The (1918) .... The Wife
29. Towards the Light (1918) .... Annie Wilton
30. What's the Use of Grumbling (1918) .... The Girl
31. Blindness of Fortune, The (1917) .... Rose Jordan
32. Broken Threads (1917) .... Helen Desmond
33. Carrots (1917) .... Carrots
34. Countess of Summacount, The (1917) .... The Girl
35. Daughter of the Wilds (1917) .... The Girl
36. Eternal Triangle, The (1917) .... Margaret Clive
37. Failure, The (1917) .... Margaret Gilder
    ... aka Dick Carson Wins Through (1917) (UK)
38. Grain of Sand, A (1917) .... Doris Kestevan
39. Her Marriage Lines (1917) .... Jean Neville
40. Joke That Failed, The (1917) .... Betty Finch
41. Lollipops and Posies (1917) .... The Girl
42. Man Behind 'The Times', The (1917) .... Jet Overbury
43. Neighbours (1917) .... The Girl
44. Bunch of Violets, A (1916)
45. Face to Face (1916) .... Kathleen Dare
46. Miggles' Maid (1916) .... The Maid
47. Molly Bawn (1916) .... Lady Cecil Stafford
48. Who's Your Friend? (1916) .... The Wife
49. As the Sun Went Down (1915)
50. Barnaby Rudge (1915) .... Dolly Varden
51. Confession, The (1915) .... Pauline Allington
52. Coward! (1915/II) .... Mrs. Harsdon
    ... aka They Called Him Coward (1915)
53. Her Boy (1915) .... Isabelle
54. Little Mother, The (1915) .... The orphan
55. Losing Game, A (1915) .... The friend
56. Man with the Scar, The (1915) .... The girl
57. Marmaduke and His Angel (1915) .... Angela
58. Nightbirds of London, The (1915)
59. One Good Turn (1915) .... The Girl
60. Painted Lady Betty, The (1915) .... Lady Betty
61. Phyllis and the Foreigner (1915) .... Phyllis
62. Schoolgirl Rebels (1915) .... Phyllis
63. Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts for Soldiers (1915) .... Susie
64. Sweet Lavender (1915) .... Lavender
65. Tilly and the Nut (1915) .... Sally
66. Basilisk, The (1914)
67. Misleading Miss, A (1914) .... Kate Matthews
68. At the Foot of the Scaffold (1913) .... Emily West
69. Blood and Bosh (1913) .... The Heroine
70. Curate's Bride, The (1913) .... Kitty
71. Deceivers Both (1913) .... Alice Debenham
72. Defective Detective, The (1913) .... Rachel
73. Drake's Love Story (1913) .... Elizabeth Sydenham
    ... aka Love Romance of Sir Francis Drake, The (1913) (USA)
74. Held for Ransom (1913) .... The Daughter
75. Kissing Cup (1913)
76. Love and a Burglar (1913) .... Winnie
77. Real Thing, The (1913) .... Phyllis
78. Vicar of Wakefield, The (1913/II)
79. Curate's Love Story, A (1912) .... Eileen
80. Deception, The (1912) .... Fay
81. Her 'Mail' Parent (1912) .... The Girl
82. Her Only Pal (1912) .... Flowergirl
83. Lieutenant's Bride, The (1912) .... The Sempstress
84. Man and a Serving Maid, A (1912) .... Elsie Waller
85. Mermaid, The (1912) .... The Mermaid
86. Sprained Ankle, A (1911) .... Girl
87. Tilly and the Dogs (1911) .... Sally
88. Tilly at the Seaside (1911) .... Sally
89. Tilly's Party (1911) .... Sally
90. Tilly Works for a Living (1911) .... Sally
91. When Tilly's Uncle Flirted (1911) .... Sally
92. Tilly the Tomboy Visits the Poor (1910) .... Sally
93. Cabman's Good Fairy, The (1909) .... The Rich Girl

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