| By 1936, in her own words she was broke due to "poor business investments and wildcat stocks", Elinor was financially destitute and was unable pay her rent or medical bills. Elinor was twice found by the police wandering the streets in a bad mental state when she and her mother were about to be evicted from their apartment. Both of her ex husbands stepped in to help them out. William Boyd hired a doctor and a nurse for her and agreed to pay all her expenses until she was able to work again. Daniels took care of her rent. "If Elinor could just get her health back" said Mrs. Crowe "I know she could go into pictures again. But her nerves won't stand it. Everything is gone now - money, furs, jewels, cars. I don't know what we are going to do when another rent day comes around." In 1938 Elinor along with other broke and forgotten silent movie stars petitioned the governor for a law that would compel actors and actresses to save 10% of their earnings in order to protect them from having to beg for bit parts when they were no longer in demand. It was called Career Insurance or Mandatory Film Savings Law, sadly this turned out to be a press agent stunt to exploit fallen stars in order to promote a new movie. |
| Eleanore Virginia Crowe was born December 21, 1904 in Richmond, Virginia. Though her first screen credit was at the tender age of 13, Eleanore started her career as a violinist. According to some releases she studied music in Berlin, Paris and London. After returning to the States she worked on stage and in Vaudeville. The family moved to California and Eleanor started work in silent movies in 1916, later she was elected a WAMPAS Baby Star of 1924. Also known as Lenore Fair, Elinor was a popular and credited actress both in drama and comedy after starring along with Albert Ray in a string of popular comedies. But her biggest roles came when she caught the attention of Cecil B Demille. DeMille made her the lead in 1926's Volga Boatman which was the biggest film of her career. As the feminine lead she certainly did shine! Elinor was cast along side William Boyd (future Hopalong Cassidy star) and when the filming was done in 1926 they went to Santa Ana and were married. After the wedding, she went on to act in more movies some of which also starred Boyd. Like The Yankee Clipper (below). In 1929 after her marriage ended, Elinor continued to act although the parts became less important and more scarce. Her last part was an uncredited bit in 1934. |
| The Volga Boatman 1926 |
| Driven 1922 |
| Elinor Fair |
| With Rollo her Wired Hair Terrier ca 20's |
| Click on the pictures for a larger view. |
| WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1924 Elinor Fair is third from the left. Clara Bow is first. |
| The Lost Princess 1919 |
| Elinor married Jack White, an actor, in 1941, but this marriage also would be short lived. White filed for divorce charging that Elinor was continuously intoxicated, he received a marriage annulment in early 1944. |
| Elinor passed away in 1957. |
| After all the good parts stopped coming her way, things started to unravel for Elinor. After years of being a top billed actress she was only given small and sometimes uncredited bits. Life would never be the same for her and soon her mental stability was also called into question as her behavior became more and more erratic. In 1932 after having a fight with her movie stunt pilot fiancé Frank Clark she flew to Yuma Arizona and eloped with aviator Thomas Daniels out of spite. A few hours after the nuptials, Elinor returned to her fiancé and explained to the press "I was blue after having quarreled with Frank Clark my sweetheart and I thought I'd show him how smart I was. It was just a big mistake." After this affair, Daniels was arrested for writing a bad check to cover the flight to Arizona though this was soon cleared up when he made good on the payment. A few days later Elinor was reported to be 'seriously ill and at the home of her mother recovering'. There is no evidence of her ever marrying Frank Clark. In July of 1934 shortly after Elinor received her annulment from their first marriage, she remarried Thomas Daniels. Their second divorce came about a year and a half later in 1935. |
| Elinor with husband William Boyd |
| The Yankee Clipper 1927 |
