She was a Ziegfeld girl in her late teens, became a silent movie star at 19, made an effortless transition to the talkies, was a rival to “It Girl” Clara Bow, starred in movies which outgrossed actresses like Mary Pickford and Greta Garbo, and when asked to smoke a cigarette in a movie at age 23, had to be shown how to do it. Then she quit Hollywood because she felt like it and learned how to fly a plane.
All that, and beauty. Here’s Billie Dove:
Did I mention that she was a redhead?