Aside from the card and one image I found on the web, I can find absolutely no information except for the filmography listed on IMDB. It seems that Nancy appeared first in 1926 in Fox's The City, playing the lead. In 1927 she was the lead in two more Fox features, Upstream, directed by John Ford, and Rich But Honest. That same year saw her as the second female lead after Dolores Del Rio in The Loves of Carmen, directed by Raoul Walsh. Nancy next appeared in 1928 in a western, The Ballyhoo Buster. Her final two appearances are as an uncredited Goldwyn Girl in the Eddie Cantor vehicles, Palmy Days (1931) and The Kid From Spain (1932).
What happened? Three lead roles, two second tier roles and finally an uncredited show girl. I have looked all over the web, in magazines from the period, the NYT archives, and in books on silents, and I can't even find out when or where she was born. So, perhaps someone out there can help provide additional information. The fact that I have the postcard shows that Fox put some publicity effort behind her, but it sure didn't seem to survive.
Click in the images for a larger view.
Postcard from 1926-1928
Publicity stillNancy Nash - What do you think - Allure?
9 comments:
I wonder if some stars just didn't
have the drive to fight for bigger
parts. As you say "The Loves of
Carmen" was a top production but
"The Ballyhoo Buster" was a poverty
row Western that starred Jay
Wilsey. She may well have got
married and retired, taken her
husband's name and vanished.
I read a book called "Ginger,
Loretta and Irene Who" by George
Eells and the Irene is Irene
Bentley. She was under contract at
Fox - made 3 films, 2 of them
Westerns and then vanished. The
book I read was written in 1976
and IMDb says that no new
information has come to light
regarding her. He feels that she
may have decided films weren't for
her, left, then later on married.
It is all a mystery.
Was Nancy Nash a WAMPUS Baby Star??
Diane, I agree that is the likely scenario, but of course I am still curious - and will try to pick her out when I get a chance to see the two Cantor flicks. She wasn't a WAMPAS Baby Star.
The IMDB user comment for Upstream here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018530/usercomments
reports this rumor that "A Hollywood old-timer told me that the late Ms. Nash was briefly producer William Fox's mistress, well before his auto accident."
Nancy Nash was my great, great Aunt. Her film name was Nancy Nash. This is not her real name.
My great grandmother and my mother use to ride the trolley to Joplin, Mo. to watch her movies. My great grandmother would cry at the sad parts. She was dying and was saying, mother, mother until it faded away....
Nancy Nash was my dad's niece. Her real name was Maude Miller. She was born in McAllen Texas. She died in Seattle Washington in the early 1960's of cancer. My dad was very sadded by her death. He thought a lot of her and watched her career. He had and we now have movie photos of her. I would love to meet/write any of her relations as I have more information but am seeking more.
I am putting together a book of my grandmother's memories, and trying to find out more about the relatives she mentions. Here is some info that she recorded that may interest you regarding Nancy Nash!
Mary Evans Hillman (Aunt May, as I called her) – Lived directly across the street from her parents, Mary and William Evans, in a big white, two-story house. She was the prettiest woman and the Belle of Galena. Her husband, Walt Hillman, was mayor of Galena and owned mines – home staked and 1st operated with my grandpa, Sam Evans (a policeman), and others.
The following was written in the Galena Weekly Republican about Walt Hillman:
“Walter Hillman, born at Waynesville, Ohio, June 11, 1857. Came to Kansas in 1882, October 8th. Came to Galena in November 1884. Lived 18 years on a farm in Quaker Valley. Married on January 7th, 1884 to Katie West of Galena who died January 1887. On July 24, 1889, married Mary D. Evans, who died January 5, 1911. Has one son, Arthur Hillman, of Pasadena, California. Mr. Hillman is assessing the personal property in Galena and is regarded as a good man for the place. He resides at the Oxford Hotel where he enjoys the friendships of all the guests.”
Mary and Walter’s daughter, Maude Hillman, was a movie star. Nancy Nash was her stage name. Last out when the “talkies” came in. Her voice was too high. Grandma Evans and I went to see her in a movie at the Fox Theater in Joplin, MO. She was the star and died in the movie. It was a silent movie and Grandma cried.
Thanks Christina.
Nancy Nash was my great aunt. Her birth name was Maude Miller. I have some old photos of her but she died when I was a baby.
I am doing some Ancestry for my uncle who had an aunt named Maude Miller. Her parents were Walter & Lucretia Miller. I see she was born in McAllen, Texas, which is where I live now..I just want to make sure I have the right silent film star. I do see up 2 or 3 generations there is a family named Peters.
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