Virginia Brown Faire (born Virginia Cecelia Labuna;[1] June 26, 1904 – June 30, 1980) was an American silent film actress, appearing in dramatic films and, later, in sound westerns.
Early years
Virginia Cecelia Labuna was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Joseph Labuna and Martha Delsand.[2] Other sources have her last name as La Buna.[3][4] She attended Wadleigh High School for Girls.[2]
She was brought to Hollywood in 1919 after being one of the four winners of the Motion Picture Classic magazine's "Fame and Fortune" contest, which she had entered as Virginia Brown, using her stepfather's last name.[4] The winners later appeared in a short film, A Dream of Fair Women (1920).[5]
Film
Not long after she turned 15 years old that she presented herself at the Metro studio where she was almost immediately put on. Shortly after she appeared in pictures for Fox Films, she was with Universal Pictures.[6] Between 1920 and 1935, she appeared in some 75 films. Her first film credit was the 1920 film Runnin' Straight, a Hoot Gibson short western at Universal. Faire was the leading lady of John Gilbert in Monte Cristo (1922). She was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1923 and appeared with Wallace and Noah Beery in Stormswept that same year. She is most remembered for her role as Tinker Bell in the 1924 film Peter Pan.[2]
Faire married actor Jack Dougherty on February 6, 1927. They separated in September of that year and reconciled briefly, but they separated again by April 5, 1928,[8] and she filed for divorce on June 22, 1928.[9]
She married director Duke Worne on January 29, 1930.[10] Worne died in 1933.[11] In 1935, she married furniture manufacturer William Bayer, and they remained wed until her death.[3]
Death
Faire died of cancer on June 30, 1980, in Laguna Beach, California, aged 76.[7]
^Staff Writer (February 9, 1930). "Another Marriage". Detroit Free Press. Vol. 99, no. 281. Detroit, Michigan. Part 4, p.3 – via Newspapers.com. In taking out the license Miss Faire gave her off-stage name, Virginia Cecilia Labuna, and her age as 25 years.
^Staff Writer (January 29, 1930). "Movie Couple to Wed in Mountains". Santa Ana Register. Vol. 25, no. 53. Santa Ana, California. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
^Staff Writer (October 15, 1933). "Duke Worne, Veteran Film Actor and Director, Dies". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 92, no. 42. Chicago, Illinois. Part 1, p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.