Olive Tell - Actress (Hollywood silent era)

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Wednesday 19, November 2025, 05:15.

Tell in 1924

Born September 27, 1894

New York City, U.S.

Died June 8, 1951 (aged 56)

New York City, U.S.

Years active 1917–1938

Spouses:

George Willis Kreh - (m. 1923; died 1923)​

Henry Hobart - ​(m. 1926)​

Relatives Alma Tell (sister)

Introduction:

Olive Tell (September 27, 1894 – June 8, 1951) was a stage and screen actress from New York City.

Biography:

Tell was educated in several cities in Europe. She and her younger actress sister Alma graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1915.[3] The sisters began appearing in Broadway theaters around 1918. Olive made her New York debut in the drama Husband and Wife. At first, she preferred acting in theater and detested her work on screen.

She first appeared in motion pictures during World War I. Her early screen roles were in silent films, including The Silent Master (1917), The Unforeseen (1917), Her Sister (1917), and National Red Cross Pageant (1917). Tell appeared with popular film actors of the era such as Donald Gallaher, Karl Dane, Ann Little, Rod La Rocque, Ethel Barrymore and a young Tallulah Bankhead.

Her first husband was killed in World War I. Tell married George Willis Kreh in April 1923; he died four months later; she married First National Pictures movie producer Henry Morgan Hobart in 1926. Hobart and Tell moved to California in 1926 and stayed in Hollywood for 12 years.

Her final screen credits came in the late 1930s. She performed in In His Steps (1936), Polo Joe (1936) with Joe E. Brown, Easy to Take (1936), and Under Southern Stars (1937). Tell's final screen appearance was in the drama Zaza (1939), directed by George Cukor.

Olive Tell died in Bellevue Hospital in 1951 after suffering a fractured skull at the Dryden Hotel, 150 East Thirty-Ninth Street, New York City, where she resided. She was 56 years old.

Partial filmography:

The Silent Master (1917) - Miss Virginia Arlen

The Unforseen (1917) - Margaret Fielding

Her Sister (1917) - Eleanor Alderson

National Red Cross Pageant (1917) - Louvain - Flemish episode

The Girl and the Judge (1918) - Winifred Stanton

To Hell with the Kaiser! (1918) - Alice Monroe

Secret Strings (1918) - Janet Newell

The Trap (1919) - Jean Carson - the Schoolteacher Heroine

Love Without Question (1920) based on the novel "The Abandoned Room" by Charles Wadsworth Camp[6] - Katherine

A Woman's Business (1920) - Barbara

Wings of Pride (1920) - Olive Muir

Clothes (1920) - Olivia Sherwood

The Wrong Woman (1920) - Viola Sherwin

Worlds Apart (1921) - Elinor Ashe

Chickie (1925) - Ila Moore

Womanhandled (1925) - Lucy Chatham

Prince of Tempters (1926) - Duchess of Chatsfield

Summer Bachelors (1926) - Mrs. Preston Smith

Slaves of Beauty (1927) - Anastasia Jones

Sailors' Wives (1928) - Careth Lindsey

Soft Living (1928) - Mrs. Rodney S. Bowen

The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929) - Mrs. Gertrude Rice

Hearts in Exile (1929) - Annna Reskova

The Very Idea (1929) - Marion Green

Cock o' the Walk (1930) - Rosa Vallejo

Lawful Larceny (1930) - Vivan Hepburn

The Right of Way (1931) - Kathleen

Ten Cents a Dance (1931) - Mrs. Carlton

Woman Hungry (1931) - Betty Temple

Ladies' Man (1931) - Mrs. Fendley

Devotion (1931) - Mrs. Trent

Delicious (1931) - Mrs. Van Bergh

False Faces (1932) - Mrs. Day (uncredited)

Strictly Personal (1933) - Mrs. Castleton

The Witching Hour (1934) - Mrs. Helen Thorne

The Scarlet Empress (1934) - Princess Johanna Elizabeth

Private Scandal (1934) - Deborah Lane

Baby Take a Bow (1934) - Mrs. Carson

Four Hours to Kill! (1935) - Mrs. Madison

Shanghai (1935) - Mrs. Hilton

Brilliant Marriage (1936) - Mrs. Jane Taylor

Yours for the Asking (1936) - Society Woman (uncredited)

In His Steps (1936) - Elaine Brewster

Polo Joe (1936) - Mrs. Hilton

Easy to Take (1936) - Announcer (uncredited)

Zaza (1939) - Jeanne Liseron (uncredited) (final film role)

END.

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