Bartlett's several marriages were well-reported during her life, which included Joseph Schildkraut, who she divorced in 1930, Horace Liveright which lasted just several months, and later Michel Picard.

Born in Union City, Tennessee,[1] Bartlett grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she lived with her parents Madison and Ella and an African-American house servant named Sarah Garnell.

"[5] She learnt various languages to perfection outside her stage career, including German, French, Spanish as well as her native English,[6] and would spend considerable time studying, as well as training in singing, fencing, and dancing.

[8] She appeared alongside Leo Carrillo in a production of The Bad Man, changing her gown several times as she did not feel her choices matched the mood she wanted to convey.

Her father, M. Madison Russell Porter, was a member of the East India Company and would often travel around the world[3] in his capacity as a phosphate manufacturer.

He was born in Romania to a Romanian father Rudolph Schildkraut, a distinguished actor and a Hungarian mother, although also had Turkish and Spanish ancestry.

They were married in Philadelphia City Hall in the presence of their parents[3] on April 2, 1922,[11] following Schildkraut's engagement in 'Liliom' at which point the couple then sailed to Europe.

This ultimately did not bore out as envisaged and Schildkraut noted that "if my wife wishes to be freed from me I shall probably not make any contest", commenting that while he still loved her, he would not live unhappily.

[16] She was ultimately awarded a divorce on June 9, 1930, in an agreement reached out of court, in which Schildkraut would have to pay his wife a $250 weekly alimony and divide $20,000 worth of "community property".