Esther Ralston (née Esther Louise Worth; September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an American film actress who was popular in the silent era.

Marriages First marriage On December 25, 1925, Ralston married her manager, the actor George Webb Frey (1897–1943) in Manhattan, New York. He was credited in films as George Webb. They had a daughter, Mary Esther (born 1931), who, at birth was known as the "$100,000 Baby" because her mother turned down a substantial film contract while pregnant. George and Esther divorced in 1934. George filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles in March 1934.

Second marriage On June 16, 1935, Ralston married actor Will Morgan (né Wilburt Whitfield Morgan), then a former New York stage actor and singer. They divorced in 1938. Morgan led the saxophone section for eight years for Fred Waring.

Third marriage On August 6, 1939, Ralston married radio announcer and columnist Ted Lloyd (né Theodore Allen Lloyd; 1915–1961) in Greenwich, Connecticut. Music publisher Jack Robbins (né John Jacob Robbins; 1894–1959) was Lloyd's best man. The couple had two children, Judy (born 1942) and Ted, Jr. (born 1943). Ted and Esther divorced in 1954. Before marrying Ralston, Lloyd had worked for newspapers and a trade magazine, Radio News. In 1942, Lloyd became director of radio for 20th Century Fox. In 1946, with Hal Horne and Armand Deutsch, Lloyd formed Ted Lloyd, Inc., to manage personalities and to produce radio (later, TV) programs. He produced several radio dramas, including My True Story for the NBC Red Network, Adventures of the Abbotts on NBC Red Network (18 episodes in 1955), Whispering Streets for CBS Radio, and Escape for CBS-TV.

Esther Ralston Actress - Born September 17, 1902 in Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Died January 14, 1994 in Ventura, California, USA

Birth Name Esther Worth

Nickname "The American Venus"

Height 5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Bio (1) Projected as wholesome but fun-loving, Maine-born leading lady Esther Ralston enjoyed a prime silent age career and, at her peak, was packaged and publicized as "The American Venus" by none other than that of showman Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. after appearing as a dazzling beauty queen in the film of the same name (The American Venus (1926)). A decade later, the blonde beauty's career, however, had tapered off.

Christened Esther Worth in 1902, Ms. Ralston endured a "born in a trunk" existence as the child of parents who graced the burlesque, carnival and vaudeville circuits. By the time she was 2, she had become a part of the family act (which included four brothers) with the billing now extended to "The Ralston Family with Baby Esther, America's Youngest Juliet."

Esther broke into silent films as a teen and, after several unbilled roles, went on to become one of filmdom's highest-paid silent stars in scores of dramas, comedies and westerns (the last mentioned notably opposite Hoot Gibson and Tom Mix). Outside of her "American Venus" lead, her more familiar earlier roles were as Mrs. Darling in the silent classic Peter Pan (1924) and as the Fairy Godmother in A Kiss for Cinderella (1925). Her lesser known younger brother Howard Ralston (1904-1992) also worked as an actor on the silent screen. They both had roles in the Mark Twain classic Huckleberry Finn (1920).

Appearing in close to 100 films over a nearly 30-year period of time, she made several of them for Paramount and MGM come the advent of sound, including her first talkie The Sawdust Paradise (1928); the title role in The Case of Lena Smith (1929) a "lost" film directed by Josef von Sternberg; Betrayal (1929) starring Emil Jannings and Gary Cooper, and the romantic musical The Prodigal (1931) opposite Metropolitan opera star Lawrence Tibbett. She also found occasional favor in England, appearing opposite Basil Rathbone in After the Ball (1932) and Conrad Veidt in Rome Express (1932). After supporting roles in Tin Pan Alley (1940) and San Francisco Docks (1940), Esther retired from the big screen and thereafter appeared on stage and in radio soaps.

She earned her fortune from investments but eventually lost that fortune due to the stock market crash. Forced to find work outside of the world of entertainment, she was occasionally glimpsed on TV in the 1950s and early 1960s. In the ensuing years she found herself employed as a department store salesperson and talent executive.

The thrice-divorced actress (her first two were to actor/director George Webb and actor/singer Will Morgan) died in Ventura, California, on January 14, 1994, of a heart attack. She had three children from the totality of her marriages. She was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her film work.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Ted Lloyd (1939 - 1954) ( divorced) ( 1 child)

Will Morgan (1934 - 1938) ( divorced) ( 1 child)

George Webb (1925 - 1933) ( divorced) ( 1 child)

She had two daughters and one son from her marriages.

She lost her film fortune and worked in department stores, a talent agency and a utility company to support herself.

Married and divorced three times, her first two husbands were director/actor George Webb and singer/actor Will Morgan.

After working in England in 1932, she returned to Hollywood the following year and was put under contract to MGM. Because she rejected Louis B. Mayer's advances, she was loaned out for "B" pictures and her film career declined.

Her great-grandnephew is actor Field Cate.

Sister of Howard Ralston.

Musician Bob Ralston is her nephew (son of her brother Bradford Ralston).

Profiled in "Speaking of Silents: First Ladies of the Screen" by William Drew, 1997.

Esther confirmed her first appearance before motion picture cameras was in _The Deep Purple (1915)_, filmed at the World Studios in New Jersey. Afterwards, she appeared with her family in live theatre productions at the smaller venues, eventually crossing the continent and finding themselves in Los Angeles; as early as 1918 she and her brothers began finding extra work at Universal City .

Personal Quotes (1) [interview in 1978] I want to believe in something inspirational, that has courage, that you can hang your hat on a star. And you can't in the restricted films of today. It's too blatant. There's nothing courageous or inspirational about them. I just don't go anymore.

Old Ironsides (1926) $2,500 /week

By Candlelight (1933) $750 /week

Sadie McKee (1934) $750 /week

Romance in the Rain (1934) $750 /week

Strange Wives (1934) $750 /week

Mister Dynamite (1935) $750 /week

As Good as Married (1937) $750 /week