Valeska Suratt (June 28, 1882 – July 2, 1962) was an American stage and silent film actress.
Over the course of her career, Suratt appeared in 11 silent films, all of which are now lost, mainly due to the 1937 Fox vault fire.
New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor claimed that the show was "salacious" and had it shut down because of its sexually suggestive themes.
[5] In December 1910, she teamed up with Fletcher Norton (who became her second husband) in a play titled Bouffe Variety.
Like fellow Fox contract players Theda Bara and Virginia Pearson, Suratt was marketed as a vamp and was cast as seductive and exotic characters.
[8] The same year, she made The Immigrant followed by The Straight Way (1916), Jealousy (1916), The Victim (1916), The New York Peacock (1916), and She (1917).
[9] By 1920, Suratt's career had begun to wane as vaudeville fell out of a favor with audiences, as did the craze for the vamp image.
After novelist Fannie Hurst learned of Suratt's situation, she organized a benefit for her which raised around $2,000.
In an attempt to revive her career, Suratt tried to sell her life's story to one of William Randolph Hearst's newspapers.
Her first husband was William J. Flannery (1869–1950), known as Billy Gould, a vaudeville comedian known for his blackface minstrel roles.