Violet Kemble-Cooper

Who was Violet Kemble-Cooper?

Violet Kemble-Cooper was a stage and film actress born in London and descended from a well known theatrical family; the Kemble family. Her father was Frank Kemble-Cooper and her sisters were Lillian Kemble-Cooper and Greta Kemble Cooper, brother was Anthony Kemble Cooper. An uncle was revered thespian H. Cooper Cliffe.

She made her first stage appearance in 1905 in her native England in a production of Charley's Aunt. By 1912 she was in America touring and in stock plays with such luminaries as Blanche Bates and Laurette Taylor. She appeared with John and Ethel Barrymore in Claire de Lune on Broadway in 1921.

Violet spent her formative years acting in the theater and never appeared in silent films. She appeared in talkies beginning with the Constance Bennett film Our Betters. She appeared in several more films including The Invisible Ray with Boris Karloff. Her last movie was the MGM costumer Romeo and Juliet.

She was married to Walter Ferris, a writer. They had at least one son, Stuart Ferris. She died of a stroke and Parkinson's disease in 1961.