Clarissa Kimball was born in Chicago on Sept. 6, 1890 to Edward M. and Pauline (n�e Maddern) Kimball, traveling stock actors. As a young adult, she was a very active stage actress,. She and her first husband, James Young, left the stage and joined the Vitagraph Company to work in film. With these early films, her popularity began to rise and soon Young and her husband joined the World Film Corporation, where she became the biggest star. She and producer Lewis J. Selznick started the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation, which saw some success but which was also the beginning of a period of creative disputes and legal suits that followed Young for the rest of her career. She started another new film company with Harry A. Garson, The C. K. Y. Film Corporation, and later she joined Garson Productions. Young died on Oct. 15, 1960 of a stroke.