Constance Binney

Constance Binney
Born	June 28, 1896 New York City, New York
Died	November 15, 1989 (aged 93) Whitestone, Queens, New York
Occupation	Stage, film actress
Spouse(s)	Leonard Cheshire (later Baron Cheshire of Woodhall) 1941-1951

Constance Binney (June 28, 1896 – November 15, 1989) was an American stage and film actress and dancer.

Biography

Born in New York City, Constance Binney was educated at Westover School, a private college preparatory boarding school for girls in Middlebury, Connecticut and in Paris, France. She made her Broadway theatre debut in 1917 and the following year appeared with her actress sister, Faire Binney(1898–1957), in the Maurice Tourneur silent film, Sporting Life based on the play by Cecil Raleigh and Seymour Hicks. In 1919, she starred opposite John Barrymore in The Test of Honor.

Although Constance Binney left the film business in 1923, her contribution to the industry was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6301 Hollywood Blvd. Unfortunately, modern assessment of her career is limited as most of her films are now lost, with only two of her films surviving in a complete form, Erstwhile Susan and The Case of Becky, along with a single reel of First Love.^[1]

Binney married Charles Edward Cotting, Jr, an investment banker in Boston in 1926. Their announcement made the first page on the Boston Globe on January 24,1926. They divorced in 1932. They lived at 410 Beacon Street.

Constance Binney last performed on Broadway in 1924. She appeared on stage in London and in 1941, during the Second World War, married the British war hero, Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire who was twenty-one years her junior. However, this marriage was childless and the couple were estranged after the war ended, divorcing in 1951.^[2]Pconstanxe was reported to be engaged to a Boston banker in the January 24,1926 edition of the Boston Globe (page 1)

Constance Binney died in 1989 in Whitestone, Queens, New York City, aged 93.

Filmography

• The Sporting Life (1918) (* with sister Faire Binney)
• The Test of Honor (1919)
• Erstwhile Susan (1919) (copy ; Museum of Modern Art)
• The Stolen Kiss (1920)(print held at ; BFI, London)
• 39 East (1920)
• Something Different (1920)
• The Magic Cup (1921)
• Such a Little Queen (1921)
• Room and Board (1921)
• The Case of Becky (1921)
• First Love (1921) (copy; reel one only or fragment, Museum of Modern Art and or Library of Congress)
• Midnight (1922)
• The Sleepwalker (1922)
• A Bill of Divorcement (1922)
• Three O'Clock in the Morning (1923)

References

1. Slide, Anthony (2010). "Constance Binney". Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2249-X.
2. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 11. Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 321. ISBN 0-19-861361-X.Article on Leonard Cheshire by Christopher Foxley-Norris.

External links

• Constance Binney at the Internet Broadway Database
• Constance Binney at the Internet Movie Database
• Constance Binney at AllMovie
• passport portrait of Constance Binney
• portrait gallery (Univ. of Washington, Sayre)