Biography

Violet was born Wilma Pearl Palmer in Flint, Michigan on October 16, 1892, the third child of John Merrill Palmer and Esther Lavina Madill, both natives of Canada. In 1898, her family moved to Spokane, Washington, where her father ran a piano store. Her mother was a music teacher and occasional composer. Both Violet and her older sister Lucille were active as singers, actresses, and pianists at an early age, at home, school, and eventually on stage.

By 1911 Violet was performing in vaudeville as Pearl Palmer, and by 1917, when she appeared in the film, the Blue Streak, she had changed her name to Violet Palmer. Besides the Blue Streak (1917), some of other her better-known films include: Rough & Ready (1918); Ginger (1919); Tangled Trails (1921).

Later, as her film career waned, she frequently gave piano performances on stage and over the radio. Her death certificate lists her occupation as a concert pianist for 35 years. Newspaper clippings note that Violet was gifted concert pianist, and is said to have won a music scholarship to a Spokane college after high school.

She was married four times: actor Harrington Reynolds (born Edward Harrington Reynolds) (1916 - ?; divorced); actor Richard Campbell Travers (born Richard Campbell Tibb) (1921 - ?; divorced); popular pulp fiction author and screenwriter Fred Mac Isaac (born Frederick John Mac Isaac (ca. 1929 - his death in 1940); film cutter/technician Richard Capron (? - her death in 1963). No children.

Violet died August 22, 1963 at Santa Monica Hospital, Santa Monica, California, from hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Her ashes are interred in Mausoleum B section, Space 32 at Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mary A. Ferguson