Corinne Griffith
Toronto Daily Star, April 20 1927
Corinne Griffith (1894-1979) was widely considered the most beautiful woman of the silent film era. She started being the executive producer of her movies in 1924, when she produced three box office hits.
By this time, she was earning $10,000 a week, much of which she invested in real estate. By the time of this photo, she owned properties worth about half a million dollars.
Her film career did not survive long in the age of sound, as apparently she had a nasal voice. But this didn't stop her from becoming even more successful: after retiring from movies in 1932, she became an author and businesswoman and she continued to invest in real estate, including buildings on all four corners of Wilshire Boulevard and South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.
In later years, she made speeches calling for the repeal of the income tax and once testified in divorce proceedings in 1966, for reasons that were not clear, that she was not Corinne Griffith but her younger sister or her twin sister. When she passed away, she left an estate valued at about $150 million, making her one of the wealthiest women in the world.
Created September 19, 2025.