Trivia

Adoree was literally born in a circus tent. Her father was a circus clown and her mother was an equestrienne. She was taught acrobatics, horseback riding, and dancing as a child and at the age of 15 she joined a group of touring mimes.

During the filming of Back to God's Country (1927), the cast was snowbound for a month in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. According to Adoree's career article in "Films in Review" by Roi A. Uselton, on February 24, 1927, at a dinner celebrating the rescue of the film's company, Kathleen O'Connor accused her husband, director Lynn Reynolds of a liaison with Adoree. After the accusation he struck his wife, ran into another room and then shot himself to death. Adoree denied being involved in the incident.

Interred at Hollywood Forever cemetery, Hollywood, California, USA, Abbey of the Psalms, #119.

Was most fond of her chow Blue Boy and posed with him in publicity photos. She also had a mutt named Useless and a cat named Worthless.

According to Hollywood Forever Cemetery records, Adorée's funeral and cremation were paid for by her friend Marion Davies who, until the end of her life, claimed that The Big Parade (1925) was her favorite film. Adorée's sister Mira Adoree purchased a crypt for her in the foyer of the Abbey of the Psalms (prime real estate in the cemetery) for $650.

Although Adorée was nominally employed by MGM from 1930 until her death, her contract and salary were suspended during her illness. Studio publicity chief Howard Strickling set up a private fund to help pay for her medical expenses.

After the huge success of The Big Parade (1925) MGM raised Adorée's salary from $250 to $750 a week.

Adorée was a patient at the Pamsetgaaf Among the Pines sanitarium in Prescott, Arizona from October 1930 to June 1932. In 1931 she underwent throat surgery (a phrenectomy) which was performed by Norman Bethune, who had devised a technique to minimize scarring. The stay at Pamsetgaaf may have prolonged Adorée's life but sadly it did not cure her condition.

In the most ambitious move of her career, Renée Adorée personally negotiated for the rights to play the title role in a screen adaptation of Rudolf Friml's hit Broadway musical "Rose-Marie" (1924). MGM bought the property as a starring vehicle for Adorée, and the movie went into production in 1927 with William Nigh directing. But after five weeks of shooting, including location work at Huntington Lake, CA, the front office was unhappy with the results and they ordered the film scrapped; MGM took a $242,000 loss. All that survives of this aborted attempt are a handful of production stills. This project was Adorée's only opportunity to star in a feature.

Adorée's most frequent costar was John Gilbert. They made nine films together and they can also be seen together in the MGM documentary short 1925 Studio Tour (1925).

Screen actress and circus performer.

She has an entry in Jean Tulard's "Dictionnnaire du Cinéma/Les Acteurs", published in Paris in 2007 by Bouquins/Robert Laffont (pg. 12).

Tom Moore met Adorée at a 1920 New Year's Eve party in New York. He brought her to Hollywood, put her up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and got her a supporting role in his film Made in Heaven (1921). They married after production wrapped. Publicity for this film naturally promoted the new couple as "A Match Made in Heaven".

In the comedy The Talk of Hollywood (1929) Adorée was spoofed as the character Adore Renee (played by Fay Marbe), a temperamental French star coping with the coming of sound. Although she only made two full talkies, Adorée's career was ended by illness, not sound films.

Actor Tom Moore married Adorée on the condition that she would retire from show business, but she had been a performer since childhood and so she was tantalized by job offers at every Hollywood gathering they attended. By the end of 1921 she had signed a contract with Fox Films. This act contributed to the breakup of their marriage.

Although she smoked in real life, MGM did not allow Adorée to be shown smoking in her films or in her publicity photos. In one scene of The Pagan (1929) she brandishes an empty cigarette holder.

In a 1928 poll of motion picture exhibitors, Adorée was ranked 17th among the Top 20 actresses with box office clout.

Made six features for Fox Films between 1920 and 1924. Only Monte Cristo (1922), in which she has a minor role, survives.

In 1923 Adorée signed a contract with independent producer Louis B. Mayer, for whom she made The Eternal Struggle (1923) and Women Who Give (1924). He brought her into the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio the following year.

As of 2024, 22 of Adoree's 42 films are known to survive. This does not include her appearance in the MGM in-house documentary 1925 Studio Tour (1925), which has also been preserved.

Renée Adorée appears in two films selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": The Big Parade (1925) and Show People (1928). Both were directed by King Vidor.

Despite her unmistakably French looks, Renée Adorée was often cast in roles of different nationalities (especially Spanish).

Sister-in-law of Owen Moore and Matt Moore.

Sister-in-law of Joe Moore.

Died five days after her 35th birthday, during a heat wave in Los Angeles.

At Renee's funeral, Mira Adoree told reporters that her sister's dying wish was to have her ashes scattered at sea. The late actress was duly cremated, but for unknown reasons she was interred at what was then Hollywood Memorial Park (now Hollywood Forever Cemetery).

Between marriages she was romantically linked with actors Gaston Glass and George K. Arthur, and Broadway composer Rudolf Friml ("Rose-Marie").