Ealing’s Connection to Hollywood: The Forgotten Star of Silent Cinema

Long before Ealing became famous for its film studios, it was home to a forgotten star of silent cinema - Florence Turner, one of the earliest screen actresses to achieve international fame.

Florence, originally from America, was a pioneering silent film actress in the early 1900s, often credited as one of the first true movie stars. At the height of her career, she moved to London and helped establish Turner Films, an independent production company, in Ealing in 1913. She wrote, produced, and starred in several films, making her one of the first female filmmakers in the world.

However, when the silent film era ended, her fame faded, and she struggled to maintain a career in the new world of "talkies." She eventually returned to America, where she lived in relative obscurity, despite her once-legendary status.

Ealing is often associated with the classic Ealing Studios comedies of the 1940s and '50s, but it played a role in shaping cinema much earlier than that - thanks to Florence Turner, the silent film star who set up her own studio here over a century ago.