Actor

Helen Burgess

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Acting credits

Early stage

Smaller on-screen catalog so far.

TMDB popularity

0.2

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 4Series: 0

TMDB ID: 143398

IMDb ID: nm0121300

Known for: Acting

Born: April 26, 1916

Died: April 7, 1937

Age: 20

Place of birth: Portland, Oregon, USA

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1936 - 1937

Years active: 2

Average TMDB rating: 6.3

Wikidata: Q28777196

Also known as

Helen Margarite Burgess

TMDB TMDB IMDb IMDb W Wikidata

Biography

Young and full of promise, Paramount contract player Helen Burgess possessed a lovely, sweet-faced quality, but made only four films during her lifetime. Born April 26, 1916, the rather demure Portland, Oregon beauty was given an auspicious debut in Cecil B. DeMille's epic bio-western The Plainsman (1936). Discovered by DeMille himself with only brief stage experience behind her, the film starred Gary Cooper as Wild Bill Hickok and Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane. Helen was fifth billed as Louisa Frederici Cody, the young bride of Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody, played by James Ellison. Helen went on to co-star in lesser "B" pictures, one opposite George Bancroft in the drama A Doctor's Diary (1937), and a second femme lead in King of Gamblers (1937) supporting Claire Trevor. She was busy filming her fourth movie Night of Mystery(1937) when she caught a chill that resulted in a serious cold. This, in turn, developed into lobar pneumonia. Helen died in Beverly Hills on April 7, 1937, weeks before reaching her 21st birthday, and only months after the release of her first and best known film "The Plainsman."