Merna Kennedy
3 credits on HibingeTV
American actress who played the ring girl in The Circus (1928). She was discovered by Charlie Chaplin, who cast her opposite himself in the film. She appeared in a handful of other films in the early sound era before retiring from acting. She died in 1944.
Acted In
Musical, Crime
A 1929 American musical crime film directed by Paul Fejos from the 1926 play of the same name by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. Universal's first talking picture with Technicolor sequences, Broadway follows the backstage drama of a Paradise Nightclub choreographer Roy (Glenn Tryon) and his dancer girlfriend Billie Moore (Merna Kennedy), who try to avoid the criminal element running the club. Evelyn Brent plays Pearl, a woman tied to the nightclub's gangster owner. Director Fejos developed a special crane capable of moving the extremely cumbersome camera at 600 feet per minute, giving the film inventive camera work that contrasts sharply with the mostly static musicals of the 1928-30 period. The film was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. and distributed by Universal Studios. The film is in the public domain.
Musical · Crime · Drama
Broadway
1929 - as Billie Moore
Crime, Drama
A carnival boxer (John Darrow) falls for a nightclub girl (Merna Kennedy) who is mixed up with a gangster, and tries to fight his way out — literally, in a fixed fight he is paid to throw. Mickey Rooney, thirteen and billed as Mickey McGuire, turns up in a supporting role on the way to stardom, and J. Carrol Naish plays the heavy. A typical poverty-row crime melodrama of 1933, it is worth watching mainly for Rooney and for the seedy carnival atmosphere Albert Herman shoots on real midway locations. Released the same year as King Kong and Forty-Second Street, this is what the other half of Hollywood was making. The film is in the public domain.
Crime · Drama · Romance
The Big Chance
1933 - as Mary Wilson
Comedy, Silent
Chaplin's Tramp stumbles into a circus and accidentally becomes the star of the show. The audience laughs at him, not with his act but at his bumbling, and the ringmaster realizes the Tramp is the draw. The Tramp himself is oblivious, thinking he is a serious performer. He falls for the ringmaster's daughter, who in turn falls for the tightrope walker. Chaplin produced, directed, wrote, edited, and starred in the film, and composed the score years later. It won an Academy Award for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing, and producing.
Comedy · Silent
The Circus
1928 - as The Ring Girl