Florence Gilbert

Biography

Born and mostly raised in Chicago. Mother took her and brother Eddie to Los Angeles when she was 14 (c. 1918) but reportedly looked a few years older, and got her into movies. Worked for Christy and Fox Studios. Around 1926, married entrepreneur Ashton Dearholt and bore him two children, son Lee and daughter Caryl Lee, and left show business permanently to tend home and family. Divorced Dearholt after he returned from a business trip to Guatemala with would-be starlet Ula Holt in tow and insisted on Holt living in the Dearholt home. Married Dearholt-family friend Edgar Rice Burroughs, 28 years her senior, who had admired her from afar, had recently also separated from his wife. Left this marriage allegedly because, after a period of happiness, during which they moved to Hawaii, Burroughs began drinking, treated her coldly, and was verbally hostile towards her son, while lavishing affection on her daughter. Florence Gilbert's third husband was Albert S. Chase who legally adopted both her children. She remained socially connected to the film community through her professional friendships and marriages. Daughter Caryl Lee eventually became an animal trainer in Hollywood, using the name Cindy Cullen.