Eleanor Boardman was born on August 19, 1898 to parents who were feircely religious and thought that films were wicked. But Eleanor's independant spirit led her to belive otherwise, and she became a teen model for Eastman Kodak. By the ages of 15 and 16, she became the "Kodak Girl". Much like we see Nikki Tyler as The Cover Girl. The ad she appeared in was shown nationwide. With such luck in hand, Eleanor set her sails for Hollywood to become an actress. In 1922, she became a contract player with the Goldwyn Pictures company. Two years later, when it became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Eleanor remained a contract player, and stayed at the studio until 1932.
Friends included F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, John Gilbert, and Marion Davies. In 1932, after having made a few talkies, Eleanor left MGM and divorced Vidor the following year. She made her last movie in Spain in 1934 entitled The Three Cornered hat with Henri d'Abbadie d'Arrast as a director. He was alike to Eleanor in the sense that he too had once been an important part of Hollywood and was now working in another film studio in another country. They married shortly after the picture was completed. For years, Eleanor divided her time between the United States and Europe where the d'Arrasts lived in a chateau in the Pyrenees in the south of France. In 1968, Henri died, and Eleanor moved to Montecito, California in a beautiful home she designed herself. She stayed there until her death on December 12, 1991 at the age of 93.
