born Nov. 14, 1906, Cherryvale, Kan., U.S.
died Aug. 8, 1985, Rochester, N.Y.
U.S. film actress.
She danced in Florenz Ziegfeld 's Follies (1925) and soon gained a Hollywood contract. Noted for her magnetic screen presence and dark bobbed hair, she personified the 1920s flapper in the silent films A Girl in Every Port (1928) and Beggars of Life (1928). In Germany she gave legendary performances in G.W. Pabst 's Pandora's Box (1928) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). Back in Hollywood (1930), however, she was offered only minor roles, and she retired in 1938 with little fame and no fortune. Her films were rediscovered in the 1950s, and her book Lulu in Hollywood (1982) won critical praise.