Ouida Bergère: Difference between revisions
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|11|29|1886|12|14|mf=yes}} |
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|11|29|1886|12|14|mf=yes}} |
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| death_place = [[New York City, New York]], U.S. |
| death_place = [[New York City, New York]], U.S. |
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| spouse = {{plainlist| |
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| spouse = Louis Timothy Weadock (divorced)<br>[[George Fitzmaurice]] (divorced)<br>[[Basil Rathbone]] (1926–1967; his death); 1 child |
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* Louis Timothy Weadock (divorced) |
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* [[George Fitzmaurice]] (divorced) |
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* [[Basil Rathbone]] (1926–1967; his death); 1 child |
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}} |
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| children = Cynthia Rathbone |
| children = Cynthia Rathbone |
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| occupation = Actress, screenwriter}} |
| occupation = Actress, screenwriter}} |
||
'''Ouida Bergère''' (born '''Eunie Branch'''; December 14, 1886 – November 29, 1974) was an American |
'''Ouida Bergère''' (born '''Eunie Branch'''; December 14, 1886 – November 29, 1974) was an American screenwriter and actress. |
||
==Biography== |
==Biography== |
||
'''Eunie Branch''' was born in |
'''Eunie Branch''' was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Stephen W. and Ida Branch, both natives of Tennessee. Her early years were spent in Madrid, Paris and England. She came to the U.S. at eight years of age. Her father was a merchant who later worked as a railroad [[timekeeper]]. By the time of the taking of the 1900 Federal Census she was living with her brother's family in Searcy, Arkansas as Eunie Branch.<ref>1900 US Census</ref> |
||
A decade later she is listed in the census with her parents in |
A decade later she is listed in the census with her parents in Little Rock, Arkansas as Eula Burgess. Her marital status then was recorded as divorced and occupation, actress.<ref>1910 US Census Records</ref><ref>''New York Times'', December 1, 1974 (surviving brother B.C. Branch), pg. 83</ref><ref>SS Europa Passenger Manifest October 23, 1933 (listed place of birth as Little Rock)</ref> In January of that year she appeared as Ouida Bergère playing the stenographer in the play ''Via Wireless'' and was one of few cast members to receive positive reviews in the production.<ref>''The Indianapolis Star'', January 25, 1910, p. 10</ref> |
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==Career== |
==Career== |
||
Bergère began her career as an actress. Playwright [[Winchell Smith]] gave her her first role, but she eventually abandoned her stage career and turned her attention to writing. She wrote for the ''[[New York Herald]]'' and for various magazines, |
Bergère began her career as an actress. Playwright [[Winchell Smith]] gave her her first role, but she eventually abandoned her stage career and turned her attention to writing. She wrote for the ''[[New York Herald]]'' and for various magazines, and wrote the stories for silent film productions. |
||
<ref>''California and Californians'', Vol. Three. Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1932.</ref> |
<ref>''California and Californians'', Vol. Three. Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1932.</ref> |
||
[[File:Ouida Bergere - Mar 1920 EH.jpg|left|thumb|Bergère, 1920]] |
[[File:Ouida Bergere - Mar 1920 EH.jpg|left|thumb|Bergère, 1920]] |
||
She wrote most of the stories for the films of [[Elsie Ferguson]], and many for [[Mae Murray]], including ''[[On with the Dance (1920 film)|On With the Dance]]''. She also wrote for [[Pola Negri]], [[Corinne Griffith]], [[Bert Lytell]], and [[Betty Compson]], many of which were directed by her second husband |
She wrote most of the stories for the films of [[Elsie Ferguson]], and many for [[Mae Murray]], including ''[[On with the Dance (1920 film)|On With the Dance]]''. She also wrote for [[Pola Negri]], [[Corinne Griffith]], [[Bert Lytell]], and [[Betty Compson]], many of which were directed by her second husband [[George Fitzmaurice]]. In 1920, she wrote the screen version of ''[[Forever (1921 film)|Peter Ibbetson]]'', starring [[Elsie Ferguson]] and [[Wallace Reid]]. During this time, she met [[Basil Rathbone]], who was playing the lead role in the stage production of the play, and they eventually married in 1926.<ref>''The New York Times'', December 1, 1974.</ref> |
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As well as the United States, Bergère |
As well as the United States, Bergère worked on films in England, France and Italy. While in Rome, she wrote a screenplay titled ''[[The Eternal City (1923 film)|The Eternal City]]'' (1923), based on the [[Hall Caine]] novel, directed by her husband [[George Fitzmaurice]], and released by the [[Samuel Goldwyn Company]]. The film enlisted the assistance of the [[National Fascist Party|Fascists]], and of [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]], with the help of the American ambassador in Rome. The film included a scene in which Mussolini appeared writing a letter and summoning a man to post it. 10,000 [[Blackshirts]] appeared in the Coliseum scenes for the film.<ref>''California and Californians'', Vol. Three. Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1932.</ref><ref>''The New York Times'', December 1, 1974.</ref> |
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==Family== |
==Family== |
||
After her marriage to actor [[Basil Rathbone]] on April 18, 1926,<ref>''The New York Times'', April 19, 1926.</ref> Bergère gave up her film work to assist him in his work and in the management of his business affairs. |
After her marriage to actor [[Basil Rathbone]] on April 18, 1926,<ref>''The New York Times'', April 19, 1926.</ref> Bergère gave up her film work to assist him in his work and in the management of his business affairs. Their first child died in infancy in 1928. They adopted a daughter named Cynthia Rathbone (1939–1969), and raised Ouida's niece, Ouida Branch, who married David Bruce Huxley, brother of [[Julian Huxley]], [[Aldous Huxley]], and [[Andrew Huxley]].<ref>''The New York Times'', September 23, 1992.</ref> |
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==Death== |
==Death== |
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Bergere died about two weeks shy of her 88th birthday at |
Bergere died about two weeks shy of her 88th birthday at Roosevelt Hospital in New York from complications after falling and breaking her hip. She was survived by her younger brother Bernice C. Branch.<ref>''The New York Times'' obituary, December 1, 1974.</ref> She is buried next to Rathbone at [[Ferncliff Cemetery]] in New York. |
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==Filmography== |
==Filmography== |
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===Writer=== |
===Writer=== |
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{| class="wikitable sortable" |
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{{div col|colwidth=15em}} |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''[[The Eternal City (1923 film)|The Eternal City]]'' (1923) |
|||
! Year |
|||
* ''[[Six Days (1923 film)|Six Days]]'' (1923) |
|||
! Films |
|||
* ''[[The Cheat (1923 film)|The Cheat]]'' (1923) |
|||
! class="unsortable" | Credit |
|||
* ''[[The Rustle of Silk]]'' (1923) |
|||
! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|||
* ''[[Bella Donna (1923 film)|Bella Donna]]'' (1923) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''[[Kick In (1923 film)|Kick In]]'' (1923) |
|||
| 1915 |
|||
* ''[[The Man from Home (1922 film)|The Man from Home]]'' (1922) |
|||
| ''The Esterbrook Case'' |
|||
* ''[[Three Live Ghosts (1922 film)|Three Live Ghosts]]'' (1922) |
|||
| |
|||
* ''[[Peacock Alley (1922 film)|Peacock Alley]]'' (1922) |
|||
| Short<br>Lost film |
|||
* ''[[Forever (1921 film)|Peter Ibbetson]]'' (1921) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''[[Paying the Piper (film)|Paying the Piper]]'' (1921) |
|||
| 1915 |
|||
* ''[[Idols of Clay (1920 film)|Idols of Clay]]'' (1920) |
|||
| ''Saints and Sinners'' |
|||
* ''[[The Right to Love (1920 film)|The Right to Love]]'' (1920) |
|||
| |
|||
* ''[[On with the Dance (1920 film)|On With the Dance]]'' (1920) |
|||
| Short{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} |
|||
* ''The Broken Melody'' (1919) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''[[Counterfeit (1919 film)|Counterfeit]]'' (1919) |
|||
| 1915 |
|||
* ''[[The Witness for the Defense (1919 film)|The Witness for the Defense]]'' (1919) |
|||
| ''[[At Bay]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
* ''Our Better Selves'' (1919) |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
* ''[[The Avalanche (1919 film)|The Avalanche]]'' (1919) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''The Profiteers'' (1919) |
|||
| 1915 |
|||
* ''The Cry of the Weak'' (1919) |
|||
| ''[[Via Wireless]]'' |
|||
* ''[[Common Clay (1919 film)|Common Clay]]'' (1919) |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
* ''[[The Narrow Path (1918 film)|The Narrow Path]]'' (1918) |
|||
| |
|||
* ''[[A Japanese Nightingale]]'' (1918) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''More Trouble'' (1918) |
|||
| 1915 |
|||
* ''[[The Hillcrest Mystery]]'' (1918) |
|||
| ''Wasted Lives'' |
|||
* ''[[The On-the-Square Girl]]'' (1917) |
|||
| |
|||
* ''The Iron Heart'' (1917) |
|||
| Short |
|||
* ''[[Kick In (1917 film)|Kick In]]'' (1917) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''[[The Romantic Journey]]'' (1916) |
|||
| 1916 |
|||
* ''[[Arms and the Woman]]'' (1916) |
|||
| ''[[New York (1916 film) | New York]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
* ''Virtue Triumphant'' (1916) |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
* ''New York'' (1916) |
|||
|- |
|||
* ''Wasted Lives'' (1915) |
|||
| 1916 |
|||
* ''At Bay'' (1915) |
|||
| ''Virtue Triumphant'' |
|||
* ''Saints and Sinners'' (1915) |
|||
| |
|||
* ''The Esterbrook Case'' (1915) |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
{{div col end}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1916 |
|||
| ''[[Big Jim Garrity]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1916 |
|||
| ''[[Arms and the Woman]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1916 |
|||
| ''[[The Romantic Journey]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1917 |
|||
| ''[[Kick In (1917 film)|Kick In]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1917 |
|||
| ''[[The Iron Heart (1917 film) | The Iron Heart]]'' |
|||
| Story |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1917 |
|||
| ''[[The On-the-Square Girl]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1918 |
|||
| ''[[The Hillcrest Mystery]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1918 |
|||
| ''[[Innocent (1918 film) | Innocent]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1918 |
|||
| ''[[More Trouble]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1918 |
|||
| ''[[A Japanese Nightingale]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1918 |
|||
| ''[[The Narrow Path (1918 film)|The Narrow Path]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[Common Clay (1919 film)|Common Clay]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[The Cry of the Weak]]'' |
|||
| Story |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[The Profiteers]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[The Avalanche (1919 film)|The Avalanche]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[Our Better Selves]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[A Society Exile]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[The Witness for the Defense (1919 film)|The Witness for the Defense]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[Counterfeit (1919 film)|Counterfeit]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1919 |
|||
| ''[[The Broken Melody (1919 film)|The Broken Melody]]'' |
|||
| Story |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1920 |
|||
| ''[[On with the Dance (1920 film)|On With the Dance]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1920 |
|||
| ''[[The Right to Love (1920 film)|The Right to Love]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1920 |
|||
| ''[[Idols of Clay (1920 film)|Idols of Clay]]'' |
|||
| Story |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1921 |
|||
| ''[[Paying the Piper (film)|Paying the Piper]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1921 |
|||
| ''[[Forever (1921 film)|Peter Ibbetson]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1922 |
|||
| ''[[Peacock Alley (1922 film)|Peacock Alley]]'' |
|||
| Story |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1922 |
|||
| ''[[To Have and to Hold (1922 film) | To Have and to Hold]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1922 |
|||
| ''[[Three Live Ghosts (1922 film)|Three Live Ghosts]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1922 |
|||
| ''[[The Man from Home (1922 film)|The Man from Home]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1923 |
|||
| ''[[Kick In (1923 film)|Kick In]]'' |
|||
| Adaptation |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1923 |
|||
| ''[[Bella Donna (1923 film)|Bella Donna]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1923 |
|||
| ''[[The Rustle of Silk]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1923 |
|||
| ''[[The Cheat (1923 film)|The Cheat]]'' |
|||
| Adaptation |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1923 |
|||
| ''[[Six Days (1923 film)|Six Days]]'' |
|||
| Adaptation |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1923 |
|||
| ''[[The Eternal City (1923 film)|The Eternal City]]'' |
|||
| Scenario |
|||
| Lost film |
|||
|- |
|||
|} |
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===Casting director=== |
===Casting director=== |
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[[Category:20th-century American women writers]] |
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]] |
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]] |
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[[Category:American expatriates in Spain]] |
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[[Category:American expatriates in France]] |
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[[Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom]] |
Latest revision as of 22:45, 9 April 2024
Ouida Bergère | |
---|---|
Born | Eunie Branch December 14, 1886 |
Died | November 29, 1974 New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 87)
Occupation(s) | Actress, screenwriter |
Spouses |
|
Children | Cynthia Rathbone |
Ouida Bergère (born Eunie Branch; December 14, 1886 – November 29, 1974) was an American screenwriter and actress.
Biography
[edit]Eunie Branch was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Stephen W. and Ida Branch, both natives of Tennessee. Her early years were spent in Madrid, Paris and England. She came to the U.S. at eight years of age. Her father was a merchant who later worked as a railroad timekeeper. By the time of the taking of the 1900 Federal Census she was living with her brother's family in Searcy, Arkansas as Eunie Branch.[1]
A decade later she is listed in the census with her parents in Little Rock, Arkansas as Eula Burgess. Her marital status then was recorded as divorced and occupation, actress.[2][3][4] In January of that year she appeared as Ouida Bergère playing the stenographer in the play Via Wireless and was one of few cast members to receive positive reviews in the production.[5]
Career
[edit]Bergère began her career as an actress. Playwright Winchell Smith gave her her first role, but she eventually abandoned her stage career and turned her attention to writing. She wrote for the New York Herald and for various magazines, and wrote the stories for silent film productions. [6]
She wrote most of the stories for the films of Elsie Ferguson, and many for Mae Murray, including On With the Dance. She also wrote for Pola Negri, Corinne Griffith, Bert Lytell, and Betty Compson, many of which were directed by her second husband George Fitzmaurice. In 1920, she wrote the screen version of Peter Ibbetson, starring Elsie Ferguson and Wallace Reid. During this time, she met Basil Rathbone, who was playing the lead role in the stage production of the play, and they eventually married in 1926.[7]
As well as the United States, Bergère worked on films in England, France and Italy. While in Rome, she wrote a screenplay titled The Eternal City (1923), based on the Hall Caine novel, directed by her husband George Fitzmaurice, and released by the Samuel Goldwyn Company. The film enlisted the assistance of the Fascists, and of Mussolini, with the help of the American ambassador in Rome. The film included a scene in which Mussolini appeared writing a letter and summoning a man to post it. 10,000 Blackshirts appeared in the Coliseum scenes for the film.[8][9]
Family
[edit]After her marriage to actor Basil Rathbone on April 18, 1926,[10] Bergère gave up her film work to assist him in his work and in the management of his business affairs. Their first child died in infancy in 1928. They adopted a daughter named Cynthia Rathbone (1939–1969), and raised Ouida's niece, Ouida Branch, who married David Bruce Huxley, brother of Julian Huxley, Aldous Huxley, and Andrew Huxley.[11]
Death
[edit]Bergere died about two weeks shy of her 88th birthday at Roosevelt Hospital in New York from complications after falling and breaking her hip. She was survived by her younger brother Bernice C. Branch.[12] She is buried next to Rathbone at Ferncliff Cemetery in New York.
Filmography
[edit]Writer
[edit]Year | Films | Credit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1915 | The Esterbrook Case | Short Lost film | |
1915 | Saints and Sinners | Short[citation needed] | |
1915 | At Bay | Scenario | Lost film |
1915 | Via Wireless | Scenario | |
1915 | Wasted Lives | Short | |
1916 | New York | Scenario | Lost film |
1916 | Virtue Triumphant | Lost film | |
1916 | Big Jim Garrity | Scenario | |
1916 | Arms and the Woman | Scenario | Lost film |
1916 | The Romantic Journey | Scenario | Lost film |
1917 | Kick In | Scenario | |
1917 | The Iron Heart | Story | Lost film |
1917 | The On-the-Square Girl | Scenario | |
1918 | The Hillcrest Mystery | Scenario | Lost film |
1918 | Innocent | Scenario | Lost film |
1918 | More Trouble | Scenario | Lost film |
1918 | A Japanese Nightingale | Scenario | |
1918 | The Narrow Path | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | Common Clay | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | The Cry of the Weak | Story | Lost film |
1919 | The Profiteers | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | The Avalanche | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | Our Better Selves | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | A Society Exile | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | The Witness for the Defense | Scenario | |
1919 | Counterfeit | Scenario | Lost film |
1919 | The Broken Melody | Story | Lost film |
1920 | On With the Dance | Scenario | Lost film |
1920 | The Right to Love | Scenario | |
1920 | Idols of Clay | Story | |
1921 | Paying the Piper | Scenario | Lost film |
1921 | Peter Ibbetson | Scenario | Lost film |
1922 | Peacock Alley | Story | Lost film |
1922 | To Have and to Hold | Scenario | Lost film |
1922 | Three Live Ghosts | Scenario | |
1922 | The Man from Home | Scenario | |
1923 | Kick In | Adaptation | |
1923 | Bella Donna | Scenario | |
1923 | The Rustle of Silk | Scenario | Lost film |
1923 | The Cheat | Adaptation | Lost film |
1923 | Six Days | Adaptation | |
1923 | The Eternal City | Scenario | Lost film |
Casting director
[edit]- At Bay (1915)
Actress
[edit]- Getting Even (1912)
- Mates and Mis-Mates (1912)
References
[edit]- ^ 1900 US Census
- ^ 1910 US Census Records
- ^ New York Times, December 1, 1974 (surviving brother B.C. Branch), pg. 83
- ^ SS Europa Passenger Manifest October 23, 1933 (listed place of birth as Little Rock)
- ^ The Indianapolis Star, January 25, 1910, p. 10
- ^ California and Californians, Vol. Three. Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1932.
- ^ The New York Times, December 1, 1974.
- ^ California and Californians, Vol. Three. Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1932.
- ^ The New York Times, December 1, 1974.
- ^ The New York Times, April 19, 1926.
- ^ The New York Times, September 23, 1992.
- ^ The New York Times obituary, December 1, 1974.
External links
[edit]- Ouida Bergère at IMDb
- Ouida Bergère at the Internet Broadway Database
- Ouida Bergere at Women Film Pioneers Project
- Ouida Bergère at AllMovie
- American film actresses
- American silent film actresses
- American stage actresses
- American women screenwriters
- 1886 births
- 1974 deaths
- Actresses from Little Rock, Arkansas
- Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas
- Accidental deaths from falls
- Accidental deaths in New York (state)
- 20th-century American actresses
- Women film pioneers
- Screenwriters from Arkansas
- Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery
- 20th-century American women writers
- 20th-century American screenwriters
- American expatriates in Spain
- American expatriates in France
- American expatriates in the United Kingdom