Pearl Sindelar (born Pearl Evelyn Tinker; February 5, 1881 – July 9, 1958)[citation needed] was an American silent film actress.
Early life and education
Pearl Evelyn Tinker was from Virginia City, Nevada, the daughter of William Wallace Tinker and Mollie McCarty Tinker. Her father was a miner.[1] Her mother, who used the stage name "Mae Evelynne", was the daughter of lawyer and adventurer John Templeton McCarty.[2] Pearl Tinker was raised by her mother after her parents divorced in 1885. She briefly attended Snell Seminary in Oakland, California, but soon joined her mother on the vaudeville stage, at first in child roles, as "Pearl Evelynne".[3][4]
Career
Pearl Sindelar starred on stage[5] in the musical The Girl in the Taxi (1910) before she started in silent films. She also appeared in Potash and Perlmutter (1914),[6] and Hospitality (1922).[7] She was active in union organizing in the New York theatre professions, and participated in the Actors' Equity strike of 1919. She also wrote an unpublished memoir of the strike.[8]
After her stage and film career ended, Sindelar became interested in spirituality, especially the "I AM" movement of self-proclaimed prophet Guy Ballard and his wife, Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard. She and her husband joined Ballard's congregation in Los Angeles, and taught classes on "divine ascension" and other topics. She gave the eulogy at the funeral of film director Lois Weber.[3]
When the church's activities were investigated, Pearl and Charles Sindelar were charged with mail fraud, along with other church leaders. They were acquitted in January 1941, and resigned their church positions soon after.[3]
