Ethel Borden

Ethel Borden Harriman (December 11, 1897 – July 4, 1953) was an American heiress, actress, and author who worked as a screenwriter at MGM and RKO during the 1930s.

Ethel Borden
circa 1915–1917
Born
Ethel Borden Harriman

December 11, 1897
New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 4, 1953(1953-07-04) (aged 55)
New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, author
Spouse
Henry Potter Russell
​
​
(m. 1918; div. 1925)​
Parent(s)J. Borden Harriman
Florence J. Harriman

Early life

Ethel Harriman was born into a wealthy New York family in 1897. Her father, J. Borden Harriman, was a banker, and her mother, Florence "Daisy" Hurst, was a suffragist and diplomat who served as the Minister to Norway after her father's death.[1][2]

Her paternal grandparents were Laura (née Low) Harriman and banker Oliver Harriman. Her maternal grandparents were Caroline Eliza (née Jaffray) Hurst and F. W. J. Hurst, who became wealthy in the cross-Atlantic shipping business.[3]

Ethel served with the Women's Ambulance Service in France during World War I, and afterward spent two years as an actress in a theatrical stock company.[4][5]

Career

She played Grace Torrence in a 1933 production of Design For Living and began writing screenplays after being encouraged to do so by playwright Noël Coward.[4] She published a comedic book, Romantic, I Call It, in 1926, and took on writing assignments in Hollywood at MGM, penning films like They Wanted to Marry and I Live My Life under the name Ethel Borden.[lower-alpha 1][7][8] She continued to act in the 1930s, appearing in productions such as the Ziegfeld Follies.[6] She is credited by the Broadway Internet Database as translating Hedda Gabler in 1942,[9] and writing Anne of England in 1941. Ancestry census records for 1940 show her living with the 46 year old Mary Cass Canfield (author of the one act play Lackeys of the Moon) in Nassau, New York, and they were both hired by Broadway producer Gilbert Miller, so the 2 women probably collaborated on Anne of England and other works for Miller.

Personal life

In 1918 Ethel married stockbroker Henry Potter Russell (1893–1943) in the American Cathedral in Paris on the Avenue de l'Alma.[10] The "quiet wartime ceremony" was only attended by a few "intimate friends, among them Ambassador and Mrs. Sharp, Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, and General Lewis. Mrs. Vincent Astor of New York served as matron of honor and Lieutenant Minot was best man." Henry was a son of Charles H. Russell of New York.[11] Before their divorce in 1925, they were the parents of:[1][2]

  • Phyllis Russell (1919–2007), who married five times.[12]
  • Charles Howland Russell (1921–1981), who married Alice Gwynne Allen, a daughter of Horace Ransom Bigelow Allen and Alice (née Gwynne) Preston.[13]

Later in her life, Borden was in a long-term relationship with the British novelist Pamela Frankau.[14][15]

She died of leukemia on July 4, 1953, aged 55, in New York City.[16][3]

Selected filmography

Notes
  1. She dropped the name Harriman professionally to conceal her wealthy background.[6]

References
  1. "Obituaries: Mrs. Ethel H. Russell". The New York Daily News. July 6, 1953. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  2. "Noted Diplomat May Make a Home Here". The San Francisco Examiner. August 29, 1958. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  3. "EX-ENVOY'S DAUGHTER DIES; Mrs. Harriman Russell, Former Scenarist, Was A. E. F, Nurse". The New York Times. July 5, 1953. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  4. "Find 'Lost' Society Woman Is Writing Scripts in Studio". Press and Sun-Bulletin. October 1, 1934. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  5. "American Heiresses Work in War-Torn France". El Paso Herald. March 19, 1918. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  6. Carey, Gary (1981). All the Stars in Heaven: Louis B. Mayer's MGM. Dutton. p. 182. ISBN 0-525-05245-3.
  7. "Daughter Writes Book". The Indianapolis Star. August 28, 1927. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  8. "Heiress Writer". The Decatur Herald. July 30, 1934. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  9. "Preview of 'Hedda Gabler' on Wednesday Will Aid American Friends of Norway, Inc". The New York Times. January 23, 1942. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  10. "ETHEL HARRIMAN MARRIES; Wed to Lieutenant Henry Potter Russell of New York in Paris". The New York Times. January 31, 1918. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  11. "Aimee Gourand to Be Relation of H.P. Russell". The New York Daily News. July 31, 1927. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  12. "PHYLLIS RUSSELL ENGAGED TO WED; The Granddaughter of Mrs. J. Borden Harriman to Be Bride of John Hartley Lewis". The New York Times. May 11, 1940. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  13. "ALICE ALLEN WED TO PILOT OFFICER; Bride of Geoffrey B. Russell of RCAF, a Grandson of Mrs. J. Borden Harriman". The New York Times. June 13, 1943. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  14. Gonda, Caroline (2009). ""A Roller-coaster of a Life with Everything in it": Pamela Frankau (1908–67)". In Roden, Frederick (ed.). Jewish/Christian/Queer: Crossroads and Identities (PDF). Ashgate. pp. 181–203. ISBN 978-0-7546-7375-0.
  15. Gonda, Caroline (2018). "Love and loss in wartime: An unpublished narrative by Pamela Frankau (1908–67)" (PDF). Journal of Lesbian Studies. 22 (4): 446–458. doi:10.1080/10894160.2018.1432743. PMID 29509079.
  16. "Harriman, Florence Jaffray (1870–1967)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research. 2002. Retrieved July 13, 2019 – via Encyclopedia.com.

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