She met her first husband, Clark Twelvetrees, while both were enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. They both worked on the New York stage but he couldn't get his acting career going and turned to alcohol. They divorced in 1931 and he died seven years later of acute alcoholism following a street brawl.
With her stage experience a big plus, Helen went to Hollywood with a number of other actors to replace the silent stars that could not or would not make the transition to talkies. Named a 1929 WAMPAS Baby Star she quickly signed a contract with Pathé/RKO. For most of her screen career she was cast a woman falling for and defending the wrong men. We recently watched her in Millie (1931) and she was quite good in her role spanning twenty years as innocent single, to happily married, to unhappily married, to happily single, to unhappily single, to a down and out woman on the edge. She left RKO when Selznick brought onboard the more versatile (and younger) Katharine Hepburn and spent the remainder of her screen career as a freelance actress. Helen made 33 films from 1929 to 1939 and then returned to summer stock. She never had a really happy off-screen life and her sudden death in 1958 was pronounced a suicide.
I own no postcard images of Helen, but I scanned these two photos from New Movie Magazine, Sept. 1931 and Hollywood magazine, Oct. 1931.
And this just in (August 25) - received a copy of
New Movie Magazine, April, 1930,
and lo and behold, another lovely picture of Helen.
Helen Twelvetrees - What do you think - Allure?