Film Star Laura La Plante, 92, Dies

Laura La Plante, an early screen star who made the transition from silent screams to audible sobs and songs, died on Monday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 92.

In a career in which she appeared in some 75 films, many in the silent era, La Plante was cast primarily as a comedian but showed considerable dramatic range.

If a villain needed a heroine to tie to the railroad tracks in the face of an onrushing train, for example, La Plante could be counted on to wriggle and squirm convincingly until the hero rescued her.

She also became something of a footnote to Hollywood history as the first woman to sing on screen when she was actually heard singing and sobbing in the original film version of “Show Boat,” in 1929.