Kathlyn Williams was a pioneering silver screen star, best known for her role as the "spry blonde" in the first Hollywood cliffhanger, The Adventures of Kathlyn, released in 1913.
Born on May 31, 1879, in Butte, Montana, Kathlyn was of Norwegian and Welsh descent. She began her career as a vocal recitalist and later attended the Sargent School of Acting and studied at Wesleyan University.
Kathlyn's early career was sponsored by Senator W.A. Clarke after her family lost their fortunes. She eventually moved to Hollywood and began making films as early as 1908 with D.W. Griffith at the Biograph Studio.
She became a popular star at the Selig Polyscope Company, appearing in a number of westerns opposite cowboy star Tom Mix. She made history with the first serial adventure, which saved the faltering studio from bankruptcy.
Kathlyn continued to be a popular item after being handed the lead in the Selig epic The Spoilers in 1914, playing her signature role of Cherry Marlotte.
After the Selig Studio folded, Kathlyn signed with Paramount Pictures following her marriage to Paramount executive Charles F. Eyton in 1916. She appeared as the star of several early dramas for both Cecil B. DeMille and his brother William C. de Mille.
Kathlyn's career slowed down in the early 1920s, and she moved into stately dramatic efforts. She retired from films in 1935 after only a handful of talkies and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.
Kathlyn married and divorced three times, and her only child, Victor Hugo Kainer, was born in 1905 but died a young teenager in 1922. She succumbed to a massive heart attack in her Hollywood apartment on September 23, 1960, at the age of 81.
