Flora Bramley

Biography

Jane (Flora) Bramley was born in Ashford Kent, England to Thomas, a professional classical musician, and Ethel Pridmore Bramley. After appearing on stage in musical revues, Flora visited America with her family where she and her sister Alma attempted to start careers in Hollywood. Her paternal aunt (Ann) was married to I.C. Freud, a business associate of studio executive Joseph M. Schenck. Her first film (for Film Booking Offices of America), The Dude Cowboy (1926) was followed by three more films, all for United Artists. Harry Brand, general manager of the Buster Keaton studios, arranged for her appearance in Buster Keaton's College (1927). She appeared onstage at the Empire Theatre for the 1927 production, Interference. In 1928, she was selected to be a WAMPAS Baby Star (sometimes miscredited as Flora Bromley), selling more tickets and boxes to the Wampas Frolic than any other candidate. That year, her third film, We Americans (1928) was released. In late 1929, she appeared on stage at the Fulton in Oakland, California on 1 December 1929, as Laurel in Stella Dallas. After appearing in The Flirting Widow (1930,) Flora returned to England and continued her acting career in London. She married William Hartman-Cee in London in 1947, and sometime during the 1960s she and her husband moved to Moline, Illinois near her sister Norgie. Her husband died in 1982, and she was an avid gardener in her later life. She died at the Trinity Medical Center in Moline on Wednesday, June 23, 1993.