From Wikipedia Alma Rubens February 19 1897 January 22 1931 was an American film actress and stage performer Rubens began her career in the mid 1910s She quickly rose to stardom in 1916 after appearing opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Half Breed For the remainder of the decade she appeared in supporting roles in comedies and drama In the 1920s Her first stage opportunity came when a chorus girl in a musical comedy theater troupe became ill Rubens was chosen to take her place and joined the troupe as a regular performer There she met Franklyn Farnum who was also a member He later convinced Rubens to leave the troupe and try her hand at film acting Her breakthrough performance was in 1916 in the movie Reggie Mixes In She made six more films in that same year In 1917 she starred in The Firefly of Tough Luck which was a big success She gained fame when she became Douglas Fairbankss leading lady in The Half Breed 1916 and supported Fairbanks and Bessie Love in the cocaine comedy The Mystery of the Leaping Fish later that same year In 1918 Alma announced that she was changing the spelling of her last name of Rueben to Rubens because it caused too much confusion in the movie industry and in publications She later told Photoplay magazine As a matter of fact my name is not the same spelling as the painters Its either Reubens or RuebensI forget which I never could spell it Couldnt remember where the e came So I let it go Rubens In 1920 she completed The World and His Wife opposite Montague Love which further solidified her popularity In 1924 she starred in The Price She Paid and Cytherea Rubens developed a drug addiction which eventually ended her career She died of pneumonia shortly after being arrested on narcotics charge in January 1931 A funeral service was held on January 24 at the Little Church of the Flowers at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale Her body was then shipped to Fresno where a second service was held at the Christian Science Church on January 26 She was interred in Ararat Massis Armenian Cemetery in Fresno For her contribution to the motion picture industry Alma Rubens has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6409 Hollywood Blvd
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