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While many sources state that Florence La Badie was born in New York, according to an article published in the March 1914 issue of Photoplay Magazine and written by Jean Darnell, Florence La Badie was French-Canadian and was born in Montreal, Quebec. The article was written following an interview at La Badie’s home on Riverside Drive in New York. The article also states that she attended the Convent of Notre Dame in Montréal and “speaks both French and German fluently as well as being an excellent English scholar.” The article also says the actress was “a daring horsewoman, a great swimmer and expert rower.” It is generally accepted that she was born Florence Russ and adopted by Joseph LaBadie and Amanda Labadie on November 4, 1891. The correct spelling of her last name should be LaBadie, but somewhere along the way it became La Badie. Her career as an actress began when she joined the Chauncey Olcott stage production of Ragged Robin in 1908 when she was 20-years-old. She made her first film appearance one year later. On August 28, 1917, while driving her car near Ossining, New York, the brakes failed and the vehicle ran off the road and down a hill, overturning at the bottom. Her fiance, Daniel Carson Goodman suffered a broken leg, but La Badie had been thrown from the vehicle and suffered serious injuries, including a compound fracture of the pelvis. She clung to life for more than six weeks but died in hospital on October 13, from septicemia.
These are her credits during the early silent era when most films would be considered shorts. The 1914 title, The Million Dollar Mystery was in fact a serial which ran for 23 episodes into 1915. La Badie’s character was named Florence Gray Hargreave. Her 1917 films including War and the Woman (Pathé ad above) were all released before she died in October of that year.
Also see: Biograph’s Three Canadian Beauties.
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
1909:
The Politician’s Love Story
The Salvation Army Lass
A Strange Meeting
The Seventh Day
Comata, the Sioux
Getting Even
In the Window Recess
Through the Breakers
1910:
Taming a Husband
Serious Sixteen
A Gold Necklace
The Troublesome Baby
After the Ball
1911:
The Two Paths
The Diamond Star
The Spanish Gypsy
The Broken Cross
Paradise Lost
Madame Rex
A Knight of the Road
How She Triumphed
The New Dress
The Manicure Lady
Dave’s Love Affair
Enoch Arden: Part II
The Primal Call
Her Sacrifice
Fighting Blood
The Thief and the Girl
Bobby, the Coward
The Indian Brothers
The Smuggler
The Sorrowful Example
The Blind Princess and the Poet
The Rose of Kentucky
Swords and Hearts
The Buddhist Priestess
In the Chorus
David Copperfield
The Satyr and the Lady
The Trail of Books
The Last of the Mohicans
A Mother’s Faith
A Master of Millions
The Baseball Bug
The Tempest
Beneath the Veil
Cinderella
1912:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Her Ladyship’s Page
East Lynne
As It Was in the Beginning
The Trouble Maker
The Silent Witness
The Guilty Baby
The Arab’s Bride
Extravagance
Flying to Fortune
My Baby’s Voice
The Girl of the Grove
A Love of Long Ago
Rejuvenation
The Saleslady
Jilted
Jess
The Ring of a Spanish Grandee
Whom God Hath Joined
Dottie’s New Doll
Called Back
In Blossom Time
Ma and Dad
Under Two Flags
The Portrait of Lady Anne
The Merchant of Venice
Big Sister
The Wrecked Taxi
When a Count Counted
Lucile
The Voice of Conscience
A Star Reborn
Undine
Miss Robinson Crusoe
When Mercy Tempers Justice
Mary’s Goat
Petticoat Camp
Through the Flames
A Noise Like a Fortune
The County’s Prize Baby
Aurora Floyd
The Race
The Star of Bethlehem
1913:
A Poor Relation
The Evidence of the Film
Some Fools There Were
The Pretty Girl in Lower Five
The Two Sisters
The Way to a Man’s Heart
An Honest Young Man
Won at the Rodeo
Her Gallant Knights
Cymbeline
Retribution
Rosie’s Revenge
Her Sister’s Secret
The Other Girl
The Marble Heart
In Their Hour of Need
The Snare of Fate
For the Man She Loved
Tannhäuser
In the Nick of Time
Oh! Such a Beautiful Ocean
The Lie That Failed
An Unromantic Maiden
The Ward of the King
The Message to Headquarters
Redemption
When the Worm Turned
Life’s Pathway
Louie, the Life Saver
A Deep Sea Liar
A Peaceful Victory
Beauty in the Seashell
The Mystery of the Haunted Hotel
A Twentieth Century Farmer
The Water Cure
The Junior Partner
Little Brother
The Blight of Wealth
Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight
A Beauty Parlor Graduate
The Head Waiter
1914:
Their Golden Wedding
Adrift in a Great City
Turkey Trot Town
The Elevator Man
Twins and a Stepmother
The Success of Selfishness
A Leak in the Foreign Office
Cardinal Richelieu’s Ward
The Cat’s Paw
A Debut in the Secret Service
The Mohammedan’s Conspiracy
The Somnambulist
From the Shadows
The Million Dollar Mystery (Serial)
Under False Colors
The Adventures of a Diplomatic Freelance
1915:
Graft vs. Love
The Finger Prints of Fate
The Smuggled Diamond
The Adventure of Florence
The Final Reckoning
The Duel in the Dark
The Cycle of Hatred
Bianca Forgets
Monsieur Nikola Dupree
God’s Witness
A Freight Car Honeymoon
The Six-Cent Loaf
The Country Girl
Crossed Wires
When the Fleet Sailed
Monsieur Lecoq
Reincarnation
A Disciple of Nietzsche
The Price of Her Silence
Mr. Meeson’s Will
All Aboard
Her Confession
1916:
The Five Faults of Flo
What Doris Did
Master Shakespeare, Strolling Player
The Fugitive
The Fear of Poverty
Saint, Devil and Woman
The Pillory
The Return of Draw Egan
Divorce and the Daughter
1917:
Her Life and His
When Love Was Blind
The Unfortunate Marriage
War and the Woman
The Man Without a Country
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and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895
