Sally O'Neil

Biography

Cute-as-a-button, diminutive (5'2"), green-eyed brunette Sally O'Neil (sometimes billed as Sally O'Neill was a silent and early sound leading lady who maintained her leading status throughout her movie career. Born on October 23, 1908, in Bayonne, New Jersey, her father, Thomas Francis Patrick Noonan, was a judge and her mother, Hannah Kelly, a one-time singer with the Metropolitan Opera. One of 11 children, Sally's younger sister, who billed herself as Molly O'Day, became a well-known movie actress around the same time. Sally was educated in a convent and started in vaudeville where she was billed as "Chotsie Noonan" (her real name was Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan). She started in silents at age 17 and found an early penchant for playing unassuming Pickford-like innocents in short films. Sally moved quickly into starring roles with the lightweight feature film Don't (1925) opposite John Patrick that was billed as "a rip-roaring picture of rebellious youth!" in which she plays a Clara Bow-type party girl. She quickly found stardom with her second film, the dramedy Sally, Irene and Mary (1925) co-starring as flighty, naïve chorus girl Mary opposite the more worldly Constance Bennett and virtuous Joan Crawford. As a result of this success, she was named (as was sister Molly) a Wampas Baby Star in 1926. The actress became a mildly popular MGM commodity (in both lead and second lead categories) in a number of films, including Mike (1926) opposite William Haines; the comedy The Auction Block (1926) starring Charles Ray and Eleanor Boardman in which she played a third wheel flirt; the action romancer Battling Butler (1926) opposite Buster Keaton; the sports comedy Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) again opposite Haines; the title romantics in both Frisco Sally Levy (1927) and Becky (1927); and the dramedy The Callahans and the Murphys (1927) as the Callahan daughter of feisty Marie Dressler. Elsewhere for other studios, Sally co-starred with her sister Molly in the silent romantic drama The Lovelorn (1927) as well as the dramatic features Mad Hour (1928) and Bachelor's Paradise (1928) and the romantic musical comedy Broadway Fever (1929). Possessing a strong New Jersey accent and developing a severe case of stage fright did not help things come the advent of talking pictures. While Sally certainly maintained in pictures for nearly another decade, her star diminished and she never made it into the top tier. Such representative early sound films include another feature opposite sister Molly (Sisters (1930)) and the flashy title roles in Kathleen Mavourneen (1930) and The Brat (1931). She played a Broadway gold-digger in Ladies Must Love (1933); a vixen in the drama By Appointment Only (1933); a woman caught between two men in the adventure Sixteen Fathoms Deep (1934); and a female reporter in Too Tough to Kill (1935). Her last picture was a starring role as an Irish lass in the obscure British production Kathleen (1937). Following this, Sally faded view, but turned to Broadway with "When We Are Married" (1939) and "The Old Foolishness" (1940). She also toured with the USO until the 1950s. Divorced from James Kenaston in 1952, Sally married businessman Stewart S. Battles a year later. They divorced in 1957, but would remarry. She died of pneumonia at the age of 59 on June 18, 1968.