Film Star in Sanatorium

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1028, 19 July 1930, Page 18

Film Star in Sanatorium

Renee Adorer Former Hollywood Idol, now Forgotten raw J EXEE ADOREE, tlie popular film star, who 1 KuF! for a time ' vus on the stage in Australia, is MBLQTjS|i TO lying seriously ill with lung trouble in a sanatorium—the same sanatorium in which Mabel Normand died. Miss Adoree tvas taken ill six months ago, and was advised to go into a nursing home. The star, howver, was in the middle of making a picture, and kept on working when she ought to have been resting. When the picture was completed, her condition was so serious that she was taken to a sanatorium immediately, where she has been for over five months.

The tragic part is that, like other stars who have suffered similar illnesses, Miss Adoree has been practically forgotten by the majority of the film colony. Before her illness the star was noted for her lavish entertaining, her beautiful Beverley Hills home being ‘‘open house” to all. But now, a few months later, she is almost forgotten, and although the sanatorium she is in is but 20 miles from Hollywood, only six former friends have visited her. Though never a big star, Renee Adoree has been one of the most popular leading women on the screen for many years. She scored her biggest success as the little French heroine with John Gilbert in ‘‘The Big Parade.” One of Miss Adoree’s most vivid

memories of the time when she was dancing in Paris was when she played on the same programme as Sarah Bernhardt. The divine actress, then an aged woman with one leg, did the last act of ‘‘Camille.” Each night, after Renee's turn was done, she watched the great artist, and each night tears streamed down the face of the little dancer. One night Bernhardt stopped and looked at the sobbing child. “You little fool,” she said, "you'll never be a great actress; you are too sincere. I never shed a real tear in my life.” But tears have been a part of Renee Adoree’s career. In Hollywood they call her "the girl who just missed stardom,” for she is one of the best-natured women on the screen.