Chatteron isn't regarded as one of the great Hollywood stars - when I first read David Shipman's book on legends from this era she was one of the few I hadn't heard of. But she had her moment in the sun, particularly in the early 1930s. Today she is best remembered if at all for her role as the wife in Dodsworth and maybe the lead in Madame X.
She was born into what should have been an affluent background (dad was an architect) but things got harder when her parents separated. Dad was a bit useless so Chatterton went on to the stage at a relatively young age in order to support her mother. Chatterton travelled around the country doing a lot of acting. She worked for a company run by a husband and wife where the husband, Henry Miller, fell in love with her and cast her in several hits including The Rainbow and Daddy Long Legs.
Chatterton's stage career was winding down when she decided to go out to Hollywood. She had a good reputation from Broadway and went straight into leading roles at Paramount. She was fortunate to arrive with the coming of sound too so her theatre training stood her in good stead.
For a few years Chatterton was a genuine draw, featuring in a series of melodramas and comedies that are rarely seen today for whatever reason. Her career went into decline in the mid 30s - she made a few films in Europe then went back to the stage, touring steadily and making the occasional trip back to Broadway,
Acting wasn't the be all and end all to Chatterton. She loved the money Hollywood bought her - she spent it like it was going out of fashion- but she didn't live for it. She had a very lively love life (partners included Miller, Fritz Lang, Rex Smith, Ralph Forbes, and George Brent - the last two she married); she enjoyed travel; she was a pioneering aviatrix, palling around with Amelia Earhardt and running her own competition; she was highly intelligent - which caused her to interfere a lot with her productions (arguing with directors, rewriting scenes)... I'm sure she was a good critic and astute and all that but her improvements didn't seem to improve anything; later in life she became a best selling novelist; she was politically and culturally progressive (lots of gay friends, very much a liberated woman).
There was lots of stuff in here I didn't know - I'm unfamiliar with much of Chatterton's career. O'Brien does a very good job, it's excellently researched. I have to admit though that for much of the time I didn't really care - this wasn't O'Brien's fault as much as mine... I didn't find Chatterton that interesting, or her films.
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