Helene Costello
Helene Costello (
June 21,
1906 -
January 26,
1957) was am
American motion picture actress, most notably of the
silent film era.
Born in
New York City, New York, USA she was the daughter of the prominent stage and pioneering film actor
Maurice Costello and his actress wife Mae and the younger sister of actress
Dolores Costello. Helene first appeared onscreen (opposite her father) in the 1909 film adaptation of
Victor Hugo's
Les Misérables. She would continue acting in films throughout the 1910s as a
child actor and reach her peak of public popularity in the 1920s, although never quite rivalling the success of her sister Dolores.
Although she had been appearing onscreen since her early childhood, in 1927 Helene Costello was selected as a
WAMPAS Baby Star, a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States, which honored thirteen young women each year who they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom.
Costello appeared alongside such popular film actors of the silent era as
Myrna Loy,
Louise Fazenda,
Marie Prevost,
Tom Mix and even
Rin Tin Tin. She would also occasionally appear with her sister Dolores onscreen, such as in the 1929
Warner Bros. all-star cast technicolor release
The Show of Shows.
Helene Costello's career declined with the advent of
sound films and she began to appear less and less onscreen. She did manage to stay in the headlines briefly in the 1930s however, when she and her sister were sued by their famous actor father for financial support.
Helene Costello died of
pneumonia and
tuberculosis in
Los Angeles, California in 1957 at the age of 50 and was interred at the
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.
For her contribution to the motion film industry, Helene Costello was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street in
Hollywood, California.
Helene Costello is the great-aunt of contemporary actress
Drew Barrymore - her sister Dolores being Barrymore's paternal grandmother from her marriage to actor
John Barrymore.
