Australians in Hollywood : Biographical Notes

Lotus Thompson
Lotus Thompson (b. 1906) was an established star of the Australian screen, she had been in The Dinkum Bloke and the Hayseeds films (1923), when she sailed for Hollywood in February 1924. But American casting agents proved indifferent to the screen potential of Thompson's upper half, they would employ her only as a stand-in leg model for better known actresses. In despair, Thompson disfigured her shapely pins with acid. Debate would rage about the motives behind this act of self-mutilation: some considered it a cynical publicity stunt, others a legitimate cry for help. In any case, the act brought her an unprecedented level of name recognition, and gave new legs to her career. She went on to appear – all of her – in a number of Hollywood movies of the 20's and 30's, including The Yellow Back (1926), Desert Dust (1927) and Cecil B. DeMille's Madame Satan (1930).

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