Harriet Hammond

Biography

She was one of Mack Sennett's famous Bathing Beauties. Blonde, blue-eyed Harriet Hammond graced the screen for little more than a decade, having abandoned earlier designs of becoming a concert pianist. She entered films in 1918 and made her name as an athletic knockabout comedienne in two-reel shorts. Harriet appeared with most of the great Sennett comics, including Charles Murray, Chester Conklin, Ford Sterling, Ben Turpin and Billy Bevan. She left Sennett (and slapstick comedy) in 1921 and free-lanced for several years. Commanding leads and second leads in crime films and melodramas, she was now paid a handsome salary (by any standards) of $1000 a week. Sometime prior to 1923, she was injured when dynamite exploded too close to her. Out of work for more than a year, she sued the studio. In the end, neither her career, nor (presumably) her looks quite recovered from the mishap. Sources at the time commented, that she now had a somewhat tragic aura about her. There were several more starring roles for Harriet in the mid- and late 20's. Possibly the best of these was opposite Lew Cody in the romantic comedy Man and Maid (1925), based on a novel by Elinor Glyn. By 1928, Harriet's career was essentially over and she retired after a bit part in her only talkie in 1930.