Helene Costello - Biography

Biography

Born in New York City, New York, USA she was the daughter of the prominent stage and pioneering film actor Maurice Costello and his actress wife Mae Costello (née Altschuk) and the younger sister of actress Dolores Costello. Helene first appeared on screen (opposite her father) in the 1909 film adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. She would continue acting in films throughout the 1910s as a child actor and reach her peak of public popularity in the 1920s, although never quite rivalling the success of her sister Dolores.

Although she had been appearing on screen since her early childhood, in 1927 Helene Costello was selected as a WAMPAS Baby Star, a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States, which honored thirteen young women each year who they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom.

Costello appeared alongside such popular film actors of the silent era as Myrna Loy, Louise Fazenda, Marie Prevost, Tom Mix, and even Rin Tin Tin. She would also occasionally appear with her sister Dolores in films such as the Warner Bros. all-star Technicolor release The Show of Shows (1929).

Helene Costello's career declined with the advent of sound films and she began to appear less and less on screen. She did manage to stay in the headlines briefly in the 1930s however, when she and her sister were sued by their famous actor father for financial support. Helene was married to actor and director Lowell Sherman from 1930 to 1932.

Helene Costello died of pneumonia and tuberculosis in Los Angeles, California in 1957 at the age of 50 and was interred at the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles which is a Catholic cemetery.

For her contribution to the motion film industry, Helene Costello was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.