Ethel Borden

Ethel Borden Harriman (December 11, 1897 – July 4, 1953) was an American actress, author, and screenwriter whose career spanned Broadway, Hollywood, and literary publication. Born in New York into a prominent family, she was the daughter of banker J. Borden Harriman and Florence "Daisy" Hurst Harriman, a suffragist and diplomat who later served as the Minister to Norway. Her paternal grandparents were Laura (née Low) Harriman and banker Oliver Harriman, while her maternal grandparents, Caroline Eliza (née Jaffray) Hurst and F. W. J. Hurst, had accumulated wealth through the cross-Atlantic shipping business.

Before establishing herself professionally, Borden served with the Women's Ambulance Service in France during World War I. Following the armistice, she spent two years performing with a theatrical stock company, laying the groundwork for a Broadway career that extended from 1912 to 1933. Her stage credits included the musical Lady Luxury, the play Cousin Lucy, the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, and Design For Living, in which she played Grace Torrence in the 1933 production. She also contributed as a book writer to Broadway, with credits including the drama Anne of England, written in 1941, and a translation of Hedda Gabler in 1942. Census records from 1940 show Borden living in Nassau, New York, with author Mary Cass Canfield, and both women worked for Broadway producer Gilbert Miller, suggesting a collaborative relationship on Anne of England and related projects.

Playwright Noël Coward encouraged Borden to pursue screenwriting, and she subsequently took on assignments at MGM and RKO during the 1930s, working under the name Ethel Borden. Her Hollywood credits included the screenplays for I Live My Life (1935), After Office Hours (1935), and They Wanted to Marry (1937). Earlier, in 1926, she had published a comedic book titled Romantic, I Call It.

In 1918, Borden married stockbroker Henry Potter Russell (1893–1943) in a ceremony held at the American Cathedral in Paris on the Avenue de l'Alma, attended by a small group that included Ambassador and Mrs. Sharp, Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, General Lewis, and Lieutenant Minot, with Mrs. Vincent Astor serving as matron of honor. The marriage produced two children, Phyllis Russell (1919–2007) and Charles Howland Russell (1921–1981), before ending in divorce in 1925. Later in her life, Borden was in a long-term relationship with British novelist Pamela Frankau. She died of leukemia on July 4, 1953, in New York City, at the age of 55.