Helen Chandler

Helen Chandler (February 1, 1906 – April 30, 1965) was an American film and theater actress, best known for playing Mina Seward in the 1931 horror film Dracula. Career Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Chandler attended the Professional Children's School and made her Broadway debut on September 2, 1918 at the Globe Theatre in Penrod, Edward E. Rose's adaptation of the like-named Booth Tarkington series of stories. Her early performances include Arthur Hopkins' 1920 production of Richard III, which starred John Barrymore, Macbeth in 1921 with Lionel Barrymore; Hedvig in Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck in 1925 and Ophelia in the 1925 modern dress version of Hamlet starring Basil Sydney. By the time of her first film she had been in over twenty Broadway productions. She made her film debut in 1927 in the silent film The Music Master and in 1930 joined Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Beryl Mercer for Outward Bound, the film version of the stage success. The unusual story told of a group of passengers on an ocean liner who gradually realize that they are all dead and will soon face the Last Judgment. Chandler, with her blonde hair and ethereal quality, was considered to be perfectly cast, and she received critical praise for her performance. Chandler did not want to play the role for which she is probably best remembered, Mina in Dracula (1931); she wanted to play Alice in Alice in Wonderland. Nevertheless, Chandler joined David Manners and Bela Lugosi in what became one of the most successful movies made at that time. Chandler appeared with Manners that same year in the Lost Generation celebration of alcohol in Paris, The Last Flight, also starring Richard Barthelmess and John Mack Brown. She achieved more successes in A House Divided (1931) and Christopher Strong (1933), all the while dividing her time among films, radio work, and theater roles in Los Angeles, New York and London.