Florence Lawrence. Born January 1, 1890. This petit Canadian born actress is universally acknowledged as the world's first movie star. At age 4 she was performing as "Baby Flo, the wonder whistler" on vaudeville. In the pioneer day of filmmaking, credits with the names of actors were not important. She became known simply as the Biograph Girl. In 1915 she tried to help someone in a studio fire and was badly burned. She never achieved her former active career. By her death in 1938, she had appeared in 250 films.

Posted on Sunday March 19, 2000.