Vivienne Osborne

Vivienne Osborne, born Vera Vivienne Spragg on December 10, 1896, in Des Moines, Iowa, was an American actress whose career spanned Broadway theatre and both silent and sound film. She died on June 10, 1961.

Osborne began performing at the age of five and spent her early years touring throughout Washington with a stock theater company, accumulating substantial stage experience before reaching adulthood. She made her Broadway debut in The Whirlwind in 1919, playing Bessie Van Ashton, and her first screen appearance also came that year, though the film was never released. Her first silent film, The Gray Brother, similarly went without distribution and was never released to the public.

Her Broadway career extended from 1919 to 1934 and encompassed a wide range of roles. Early credits included The Bonehead in 1920, in which she played Jean Brent, and The Silver Fox in 1921, where she appeared as Frankie Turner. She took on the role of Climene in Scaramouche in 1923, followed by New Toys and The Blue Bandanna in 1924. In 1925 she appeared as Miss Kane in Houses of Sand, as Aloma in Aloma of the South Seas, and stepped in to replace Lenore Ulric as Carla in The Harem. The following year she appeared in two productions running concurrently into 1927, Fog, in which she played Eunice, and One Glorious Hour, in which she played Maria.

From March through December 1928, Osborne appeared as Lady De Winter in the Florenz Ziegfeld musical production of The Three Musketeers. Theatre Magazine described her voice in that production as being of true operatic quality. Following her performance, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. offered her a role in The Iron Mask, his final silent film and a sequel to his 1921 picture The Three Musketeers. Osborne declined the offer, choosing instead to remain in New York City and continue her stage work.

She returned to Broadway in Week-End in 1929, playing Marga Chapman, and appeared the following year in The Royal Virgin as the Countess of Rutland and in As Good as New as Mrs. Violet Hargrave. Her final Broadway credit was Order Please in 1934, in which she played Phoebe Weston.

Osborne signed with Paramount Studios in 1931 and was assigned to character roles before departing to join Warner Studios in pursuit of more substantial parts. She subsequently left Warners and entered into a three-year contract with Radio Pictures. Among her film appearances during this period was the 1931 sound film Husband's Holiday, in which she played Mary Boyd. The Spokesman-Review noted that Osborne did fine work in the film, singling out several emotionally affecting scenes she shared with co-star Juliette Compton. Throughout the remainder of her career, Osborne continued to move between stage and screen work.