Former La Jolla resident Violet La Plante, also known as “Violet Avon” and “Violet Benson,” may not have a name as recognizable as others during the years she was a silent film star, but she did have an interesting career.

La Plante was known for such films as “Battling Buddy” (1924), “The Clean Heart” (1924), and “My Home Town” (1928). Of course, these were well before the “talkies,” as the silent film was then the rage and there was no synchronized recorded sound (or any spoken dialogue). But that’s not all.

WAMPAS STAR

Additionally, La Plante was a member of the elite WAMPAS Baby Stars which was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers. It honored 13 (15 in 1932), young actresses, each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. At the time, the baby star was common slang for starlet. Her sister, Laura La Plante, was named a 1923 “Star.”

EARLY DAYS

Violet La Plante was born on Jan. 17, 1908, in St. Louis and would follow in her older sister Laura’s footsteps as a future Hollywood star. Born Nov. 1, 1904, Laura La Plante appeared in such films as “The Dangerous Blonde” (1924), “The Cat and the Canary” (1927), “Silk Stocking” (1927), “Show Boat” (1929), and “The Girl In Possession” (1934). Her last film was “Spring Reunion” (1957).

After the sisters’ parents were divorced, their mother took them to live in San Diego, and Violet began acting in the early 1920s, adapting her surname to “La Plante,” like her sister.

According to John “J-Cat” Griffith, an M.P. Corps U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran and a former CHP Officer residing in San Diego County, who wrote Violet La Plante’s bio for FindGrave.com: “I came across her some time back while doing a research project about silent film era performers for the imdb.com website. I’ve also done projects for Hollywood Forever, Forest Lawn, Cypress Lawn, Arlington National, etc., and countless other cemeteries.”

FILMS, OTHER MEDIA

Violet La Plante would go on to appear in various films such as “Battling Buddy,” a 1924 American silent Western film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Buddy Roosevelt, (June 25, 1898 – Oct. 6, 1973), who was an American film and television actor and stunt performer from Hollywood’s early silent film years through the 1950s.

Violet La Plante also appeared in the 1924 American silent Western film “Walloping Wallace” directed by Norbert A. Myles and starring Buddy Roosevelt,  and Lew Meehan.

In 1926 she was in “The Ramblin’ Galoot,” a 1926 American silent Western film that was directed by Fred Bain at the Poverty Row studios of Action Pictures, the film stars Buddy Roosevelt and Frederick Lee.

She appeared in “How to Handle Women” in 1928, which was an American silent comedy film directed by William James Craft and starring Glenn Tryon. Violet La Plante played “The Stenographer.”

“The Clean Heart” was another silent drama film in 1924 directed by J. Stuart Blackton and starring Percy Marmont, Otis Harlan, and Marguerite De La Motte. Violet played “Brida.”

Despite the “WAMPAS Baby Star” title, Violet La Plante would never reach the status or success of Laura La Plante. In 1926 and 1927 she would star in only one film each year, then in 1928, she would have only two films. Her career ended before “talking films,” with her last role in the 1928 film “How to Handle Women.”

She was also in a few newspaper articles and magazines at the time including a two-page spread in “Photoplay Magazine” touting “13 Baby stars of 1925” on the bottom left of page 28.

MARRIED AND DIVORCED

Violet La Plante married Charles S. Benson on Sept. 7, 1934, in Los Angeles, a chiropractor born in New York in 1906. She and Charles had a son, Roger Sorrell Benson (1934-2016).

The couple would divorce in 1939, and during the divorce one citation says, … “Actress Violet La Plante divorced Charles S. Benson, chiropractor, and won $75 monthly for support of herself and their 3-year-old son.” “California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1K8JF-KC8 : 8 December 2017), Charles S Benson and Violet La Plante, 07 Sep 1934; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,113,655.

Charles died on March 4, 1983, in Los Angeles.

DEATH AND END OF CAREER

Violet La Plante eventually settled in La Jolla, where she lived at the time of her death on June 1, 1984, at 76, from undisclosed causes.

She is buried at El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego; her plot is located in the Freedom Terrace and her Memorial ID is 11362

Sister Laura La Plante died Oct. 15, 1996, at age 91 in Woodland Hills, in Los Angeles County. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea.