Laura Bullivant

Biography

Born Laura Mae Bullivant on May 3, 1899 in Spokane, Washington, she was the daughter of Dr.James Bullivant and the former Rachel Jane Jose. Laura's parents had married in Toronto, Ontario, in 1892, and moved to Spokane in 1895. Dr. Bullivant, a veterinary surgeon, specialized in the treatment of horses and cattle, and quickly became professionally established in Spokane. Laura attended the Garfield Elementary School in Spokane... From an early age, Laura was enamored of the performing arts. Her parents enrolled her in the F. W. Bouley School of Dance. After enrolling in North Central High School, Laura became a prominent member of the Masque, the school's dramatic society. In April 1916, Laura was cast in minor parts with the Wilkes Players at Spokane's American Theatre. At the same American Theatre, Laura also found stage work with the Jane Urban Stock Company. Now using the stage name of Laura Lee, she joined the Ellis Musical Comedy Company in Seattle, Washington. A major break for Laura came in December 1919 when she, along with fellow Spokane dancer Barbara Meikle, was chosen to join the vaudeville troupe of Julian Eltinge. Eltinge, a very talented and often controversial figure, was the foremost female impersonator of his day. Laura toured the Orient with Eltinge and his company for five months, playing cities in Japan, China, the Philippines, and elsewhere. In Tokyo, Laura was the company member chosen to accompany Eltinge for a special audience with Japan's most famous actors, O. Zimo and O. Time. Returning to Spokane in the summer of 1920, Laura secured work with the Woodward Players, with whom Dwight Frye had journeyed from Denver to Spokane during the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Producer/director O. D. Woodward hired Laura as his company ingénue. Laura was also able to exhibit her singing and dancing skills during the 1920/21 Woodward stock season (for example, her rendition of "My Little Irish Rose" in The Man From Mexico). Dwight Frye, fresh from a successful stock season in Pittsfield, MA, was contacted by O. D. Woodward to rejoin his company in Spokane for 1921/22. Dwight (as Dr. Jimmie Galen) and Laura (as his wife, Lucia Galen) acted together for the first time in "The Girl in the Limousine" (9/4/21). In "My Lady Friends," a Spokane reviewer wrote, "Laura Lee and Dwight Frye have a stormy love affair to finally 'make up'." Years later, Dwight would note the irony of being paid to carry on a romance on stage with the woman who would one day become his wife. In early 1923, with Dwight beginning to make his mark on Broadway with "Rita Coventry." Laura was also in New York City, playing in "The Cake Eaters," a vaudeville piece at the Palace starring Jean Adair. Laura wrote in her diary of running from her show after the curtain descended to catch the remainder of Dwight's powerful opening night performance in "Rita Coventry." Dwight and Laura would eventually work together again on stage in the summer of 1927 in a play entitled "Dumb Luck," which closed out of town before reaching Broadway. At this point, Laura was now going by the professional name of Laurette Bullivant. Dwight and Laura were married at New York's The Little Church Around the Corner on August 1, 1928. They honeymooned in Bermuda and returned to Laura's Manhattan apartment at 166 W. 72nd St. Laura opened at the National Theatre on Broadway on April 30, 1929, in "Congratulations." She had the featured role of Mary Sutton opposite star Henry Hull. The following summer, Dwight and Laura moved to Hollywood, where dramatic changes awaited. Perhaps the most significant event for Laura was the birth of her only child, Dwight David Frye, on December 26, 1930, as her husband completed work on Dracula. Raising Dwight David (or "Buddy," as he was called) was Laura's foremost concern. She did not act again until the spring of 1933, when she and Dwight toured with Pauline Frederick from the West Coast to the East in both "Her Majesty, the Widow" and "Amber." The following year, Frederick brought "Her Majesty, the Widow" to Broadway, opening at the Ritz Theatre (now the Walter Kerr Theatre) on June 18, 1934. Laura and Dwight also toured together (and with "Buddy") during the summer and fall of 1934 in "The Pursuit of Happiness," playing cities as large as Boston and as small as Netcong, New Jersey. In this Revolutionary War comedy, Laura, as Prudence was said to have "ably seconded" her real-life husband, who played the lead of the Hessian, Max. Returning to Hollywood when Dwight signed to appear in Bride of Frankenstein, Laura placed her emphasis on family, especially her son, and gave up her performing career. After Dwight's tragic death on November 7, 1943, Laura went to work at the Hollywood office of Western Airlines, dealing with tickets and reservations. During the difficult period following her husband's death, Laura came into contact with actor Alexis "Lex" Luce, a former leading man with whom both of the Fryes had worked with in stock in the 1920s. Laura suffered a stroke in 1974 from which, according to her son Dwight David Frye, she "never fully recovered, but she was still bright, happy, and cheery." Laura died peacefully in her sleep on February 27, 1979, at the age of 79, and her ashes rest with those of Lex in Silver Lake Cemetery in Bucksport, Maine.