Priscilla Moran

Biography

Priscilla Moran was born into poverty, her parents both ill with tuberculosis at the time of her birth (and from which, neither ever recovered.) Her father owned and ran a small movie house in Sedalia, and she was named for actress Priscilla Dean. When she was barely four, it was suggested that the family move to a drier climate to try to improve their health. Friends urged them to go to Hollywood, where they felt Priscilla would be able to easily break into the movies and provide a source of income for her parents. During a trip to a casting office, she was spotted by the director of "The Toll of the Sea", and was picked on the spot for a part. Priscilla became an instant favorite of her co-stars and other actors - including her namesake, Priscilla Dean. When her co-stars learned of the parents' financial problems, they took up a collection to help her. Soon, Priscilla's own salary easied her family's financial burden. However, upon her mother's death, almost all the money was used to pay for doctors and burial expenses. On April 22, 1923, her father left her with the John Coogan family (parents of Jackie Coogan), and dropped out of sight. The Coogans wanted to adopt her, but six months later her father reappeared and took her away. Nothing is known of this time of her life, and there was no news of the Morans for several months. Eventually, they resurfaced in New York, where Mr. Moran had begun the Priscilla Moran Productions Company, and was looking for investors. One woman paid Moran $35,000 for stock on the condition that she receive custody of Priscilla - so that she could "protect her investment." Moran agreed, Priscilla got a new home, and he disappeared again. Two months later he resurfaced and went to visit Priscilla, but never returned her. They ended up in New York where he named a movie executive her legal guardian in his will. He then borrowed $500 dollars and left for the Southwest, where he died only days later. Her father's death made Priscilla's life more complicated. There was a drawn-out court battle with three parties asking for custody - her first guardian, the man named in her father's will, and her aunt and grandmother. The judge viewed the first two petitioners as having tried to buy Priscilla, and custody was awarded to the aunt and grandmother. Priscilla went to yet another new home, and her life as a "movie star" came to an end.