Mildred Kornman

Biography

Mildred Gene Kornman was the daughter of German-born still photographer Eugene Kornman and his wife, the actress Verna Kornman. Eugene was employed on the staff of Harold Lloyd at Hal Roach Studios. His close friendship with star comedian Lloyd led to the child being named Mildred, after Lloyd's wife Mildred Davis. The younger sister (by ten years) of the already established child actress Mary Kornman, Mildred began appearing on screen as a toddler and eventually followed in her sister's footsteps as a regular cast member of Our Gang, playing Joe Cobb's sibling. She featured in some 20 episodes of the series between 1926 and 1935, beginning with the two-reel comedy short Thundering Fleas (1926). Mildred also worked as a bit part player and extra (frequently for 20th Century Fox) on and off between 1930 and 1962. Mildred was educated at Hollywood High School (graduating in 1943) and later attended UCLA where she majored in English, Spanish and art. She began to freelance as a photographic model from the age of sixteen, some of her income used in support of her family during the depression years. Married at eighteen and having changed her name to Ricki VanDusen, she now concentrated increasingly on her new career path as a leading fashion model, soon featuring on the cover of prestigious American magazines, such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and in advertising campaigns for top shelf cosmetics firms like Elizabeth Arden, Revlon and Helena Rubenstein. In 1968, she set up her own business, the fashion boutique Van Dusen-Green Inc. in Encino, California. In the wake of her acting career, she also emulated her father by taking up professional photography. Fully retired at 89, Mildred/Ricki resided on a secluded ranch in Utah and passed away seven years later in August 2022, one of the very last survivors from the age of silent cinema.