Actress & long time Coronado resident Anita Page dies at 98
September 7th, 2008 Posted in Coronado NewsSilent screen actress Anita Page was one of the all time great beauties of the silver screen. Miss Page began her film career in New York in 1925 eventually signing a long-term contract at M-G-M. She was a silent screen star and when “talkie” films started replacing silent films she was cast in MGM’s first ’all-talking, all-dancing, all-singing’ musical, “The Broadway Melody” (1929.) The film, a huge success, broke all records and won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year.
The song “You Were Meant For Me” was written for Anita Page, and sung to her in two different films, “The Broadway Melody” and “Hollywood Review of 1929.” The song became a number one hit and remained her theme song throughout the rest of her career.
Anita Page first fell in love with Coronado in 1929 when she was filming “Flying Fleet” at the Hotel del Coronado. She stopped acting in 1936 when she fell in love with Herschel House, a Navy aviator. The couple married six weeks later and lived in Coronado for more than forty years with her husband. They had two daughters, Linda and Sandra. Page happily adapted to life as an officer’s wife, hosting many parties at their home in Coronado. Her husband retired from the Navy as an admiral. The couple were married for 54 years until Admiral House passed away in 1991.