Examining the Life, Silent and Sound Filme Career of one of Hollywood's Most Important Actresses
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This page gives information on Colleen's birth date. There is lots of documentation out there to be found, and while it all generally points towards 1899, there is enough conflicting info that I cannot give this date with 100% certainty.

Census records give some clues about Colleen's age, though there are conflicts. The 1900 and 1910 census records for Port Huron and Atlanta show Colleen's family with a daughter born in 1899.

To confuse things, state records (directly above) show a birth date of August 19. 1900. However, the second page (below) is stamped that the information was added on JULY 15, 1900, a monh prior to the recorded birth date.

Lastly, both county and state records list her name as "Kathaline" and her sex as "male." So sloppy record-keeping makes it difficult to know her birth date for certain.

Port Huron Daily Times, Thursday Aug. 24, 1899 - Page 3.
Clipping from Steve Moore, item at bottom of page is announcment of a daughter born to Kathleen Morrison's family. The date indicated, however, is August 22nd, while Kathleen was born on August 19.
 
Colleen's daughter Judy has shown me a small silver spoon with the name Kathleen and date August 19, 1902 engraved on it, a gift from Colleen.
 
Colleen's son Homer told me in a telephone conversation that his father told him Colleen was born in 1898.
What is the actual date?

It may be impossible to know for sure. I tend to lean towards 1899, as most of the documentation tends to indicate that date. Colleen always insisted in public she was born in 1902. The question has been asked why she would say 1902 when it was 1899, especially after publishing "Silent Star," wherein she came clean about so many other myths surrounding her story.

All I can say is that with modern search techniques that would not have been available to her, I came up with enough conflicting information that I'm still not sure. I doubt Colleen would have lied about her age, as she was so frank about other aspects of her life. I can only assume that Colleen did not know the date for certain herself. A difference of 2 or 3 years would have been trivial, especially after "Silent Star." The book was ghost-written by Adele Rogers St. Johns, who helped cultivate the Colleen Moore myth. Perhaps all these factors came together to assure that the date will always be in question.