Margaret Campbell (April 24, 1883 – June 27, 1939) was an American character actress in silent films.

Career

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Campbell had been the leading lady of the Bramhall Players and appeared on Broadway in revivals of Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice during the early 1910s. Later she followed her husband, German-born actor Josef Swickard, into films and was usually cast as rather grand ladies. She retired from the screen at the advent of sound.

Death

In 1939, Campbell was murdered by her son; she was sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death with a hammer. The son was also suspected of having murdered a Russian dancer, Anya Sosoyeva, who was bludgeoned to death, and assaulted the young actress Delia Bogard who survived. He was later cleared of those murders when the actual murderer, De Witt Clinton Cook, was captured by the Los Angeles police force. Both attacks occurred on the Los Angeles City College campus.

Margaret Campbell was buried in an unmarked grave at Inglewood Park Cemetery in South Los Angeles community of Inglewood, California.

Filmography

• The Laundry Girl (1919)
• The Price of Innocence (1919)
• Please Get Married (1919)
• Their Mutual Child (1920)
• Notorious Miss Lisle (1920)
• In the Heart of a Fool (1920)
• Lying Lips (1921)
• The Girl in the Taxi (1921)
• Eden and Return (1921)
• Don't Shoot (1922)
• Top o' the Morning (1922)
• Confidence (1922)
• Legally Dead (1923)
• The Clean-Up (1923)
• His Mystery Girl (1923)
• The Dangerous Blonde (1924)
• The Fast Worker (1924)
• The Home Maker (1925)
• The Lady from Hell (1926)
• Monte Carlo (1926)
• The Better Man (1926)
• Children of Divorce (1927)
• Wages of Conscience (1927)
• One Hysterical Night (1929)
• Take the Heir (1930)

Stageplay

• Kassa (1909)
• Hamlet (1913)
• The Merchant of Venice (1913)
• Keeping Up Appearances (1917)
• Difference in Gods (1917)
• Keeping Up Appearances (1918)
• The Silent Assertion (1918)
• Lightnin' (1921)