Helene Chadwick was a silent screen actress who became an alcoholic and died young.
She was born Mary Helen Chadwick on November 25, 1897 in Chadwick, New York. The town was named after her wealthy family. Her mother, Louise, was a singer and her father, George, owned a silk mill. Sadly her father died in 1907. When Helene was a teenager she started her career as an artists model in New York City. She was five foot, seven inches tall with brown eyes and light hair. In 1915 she married Louis Fonteine. Soon after a producer saw her portrait and she was offered a contract at Pathe studios. Helene made her film debut in the 1916 drama The Challenge. Over the next two years she appeared in more than a dozen movies including Vengeance Is Mine and The House Of Hate. Her marriage to Louis ended in 1919. That same year she signed a five year contract at Goldwyn Studios. She was Richard Dix's leading lady in the films The Glorious Fool, Quicksands, and The Sin Flood. On July 2, 1921 she married director William A. Wellman. Helene had helped him get his first job in Hollywood. She filed for divorce in 1923 claiming that he had deserted her.