Alberta Vaughn; Comedic Star of Silent Films

A memorial service will be held today at 10 a.m. at the Pierce Brothers Chapel in Hollywood for Alberta Vaughn, comedic star of several silent films of the 1920s, who died Sunday at her home in Studio City. She was 87 and had cancer.

Miss Vaughn came to Hollywood after being voted “the prettiest girl in Kentucky,” her native state, when she was 16. Her longtime friend and nurse, Nadine Ford, said comic Buster Keaton introduced her to Mack Sennett, who used her in several of his bathing beauty productions.

For the next few years she appeared opposite such beginning film stars as John Wayne (then a USC student and football player) and Harry Langdon. She and Clara Bow were among the 1924 crop of “Wampus Baby Stars,” a group of young actresses singled out for success by the studios.

Among the two-reel comedies in which she appeared were “The Go-Getters,” “The Pace Makers” and “The Adventures of Maisie.” She starred opposite Richard Barthelmess in “The Drop Kick” and with Hoot Gibson in “The Wild Horse.” She left films after her marriage in 1934 to Joseph E. Egli, a Paramount casting director.

There are no known survivors.