The Hawley Society was organized in 1923 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, by descendants of Joseph Hawley (1603-1690), believed to be one of the first Hawleys to settle in the new world. We exist to preserve the memory, records and history of the Hawley Family, and to promote friendly acquaintance and sociability among our members.

 

We were incorporated in Connecticut in 1927 and are a corporation managed by an Executive Committee who serve as volunteers. There are no employees on payroll. Membership dues help fund the ongoing operations. Two of our primary missions are continuing the search to find our English antecedents and to update and republish THE HAWLEY RECORD, 1890.

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WANDA HAWLEY

 

Wanda Hawley (a.k.a. Wanda Petit), (July 30, 1895 – March 18,  1963) was a veteran of the silent screen films era. She entered the theatrical profession with an amateur group in Seattle, and later toured the U.S. and Canada as a singer. She co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in the 1922’s The Young Rajah, and rose to stardom in a number of Cecil B. DeMille and director Sam Wood’s films.

Hawley was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but together with her family moved to Seattle, Washington, when she was a child. She received her education in Seattle.
Hawley made her screen debut with the Fox Film Corporation and after playing with them for eight months joined time Famous Players-Lasky and appeared as leading lady for Douglas Fairbanks, in Mr. Fix-It (1918) She had also appeared opposite William S. Hart, Charlie Ray, Bryant Washburn, Wally Reid and others. She was five feet three inches high, weighed a hundred and ten pounds, and had blond hair and greyish blue eyes. She was an able sportswoman.

With the advent of sound, Hawley’s career ended, and she reportedly was working as a call girl in San Francisco by the early 1930s. She is interred in the Abbey of Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA.

Selected filmography

Mr. Fix-It (1918)

We Can’t Have Everything (1918)

Old Wives for New (1918)

For Better, for Worse (1919)

You’re Fired (1919)

The Tree of Knowledge (1920)

The Affairs of Anatol (1921)

A Trip to Paramountown (1922)(*short)

Thirty Days (1922)

Fires of Fate (1923)

Bread (1924)

Smouldering Fires (1925)

Wizard of Oz (1925)

The Midnight Message (1926)

Pirates of the Sky (1927)

The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Trails of the Golden West (1931)

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