Edwina Booth(1904-1991)
- Actress
American leading actress of the early talkie period, whose ordeal
during the production of Trader Horn (1931) led her retirement and to false rumors
of her death. She had some brief stage experience before getting some
unimportant film roles. She was given a leading role in the ambitious
adventure film Trader Horn (1931) and travelled to Africa shoot the film. She
contracted an infection (most often referred to as 'jungle fever') and
was upon her return to the U.S. bedridden for nearly six years and
never again acted in films. The story grew up that she had died of the
fever, and it has remained one of the most persistent myths of early
Hollywood. In reality, Booth was quite ill, but survived. She sued MGM,
the producers of the film, for a sum in excess of one million dollars.
The case was settled out of court. She spent part of her later years
working at the Los Angeles Mormon Temple. She died at 86 in a Los
Angeles nursing home.