Biography

Helene Chadwick came from a very wealthy family in upstate New York (the town, Chadwick, was named after them), where her father owned a silk mill and her mother was an opera singer. On a visit to New York she was persuaded by an artist friend to pose for one of his paintings. A film producer saw the work, and after contacting Helene discovered that she was an experienced horsewoman, which is what he needed for a film he was shooting. He asked her if she'd be interested, she was, and soon she found herself making her film debut in The Challenge (1916) for Pathe. After a few more films she signed a contract with Goldwyn Pictures. She had a career of more than 20 years in the film industry, her last picture being A Star Is Born (1937), directed by her former husband, William A. Wellman, in which she had an uncredited bit part as a woman at a film preview. Tragically, she died in Los Angeles in 1940 from injuries she received in a fall. She was only 42 years old.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Entered films in 1916.

Helene suffered from alcoholism as she got older. When she died in 1940 newspaper reports claimed her death was caused by injuries she got in a fall. However her death certificate states that she died from cirrhosis of the liver.

Her father George died in 1907 when she was only ten years old. Her older sister Marguerite died in 1924 from pneumonia.

Appeared in the original, scrapped version of Love (1927), which was directed by Dmitriy Bukhovetskiy, and starred Ricardo Cortez and Greta Garbo, who were supported by Lionel Barrymore, Maude Turner Gordon, George Beranger, Mario Carillo, Albert Conti, Zasu Pitts and Chadwick. Garbo mentioned her in her 1927 article for Screenland.