Fischer, Margarita, 1886-1975

Margarita Fischer was born February 12, 1886, in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Her acting career began at the age of eight, when a theatrical agent and manager convinced Margarita's father to let the child perform a small part in "The Celebrated Case". A series of small parts and much praise from the press convinced Mr. Fischer that his daughter had a promising career as an actress.

Mr. Fischer sold his hotel and formed the Margarita Fischer Company which later became the Fischer/Van Cleve Company. Margarita was billed as "Babe" Fischer -- American's youngest actress.

At fourteen, Fischer was playing the lead role in adult comedies and drama and was no longer billed as "Babe". Soon after her father's death in 1906, she joined Walter Sanford's dramatic company in San Francisco. While working as an actress in vaudeville, Fischer met a young actor named Harry Pollard. They were secretly married and joined the Lloyd Ingraham Stock Company. Fischer and Pollard began their movie careers with the Selig Polyscope Company in 1910.

Fischer's ninety-plus films for various companies include the original film version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1913); "The Miracle of Life" (1916), an anti-abortion film; "The Devil's Assistant" (1917), which dealt with morphine addiction; and "The Pearl of Paradise" (1916), notable for Fischer's nude scenes. During the Spring of 1914 "Photoplay" held a contest to determine America's most popular star. Fischer was the winner of the contest over such stars as Mary Pickford, Mabel Norman, and Mary Fuller.

Fischer's last film, made in 1927, was a remake of "Uncle Tom's Cabin". She retired from acting in motion pictures, but continued to appear in plays in Hollywood and Pasadena, California. Margarita Fischer died in 1975 and was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.