She had a successful Hollywood career, playing an assortment of leads, often as tense and distraught, sometimes misguided, women. She is best remembered for her role as the wife in DODSWORTH (1936). She left Hollywood after completing that film, appeared in two British productions, then retired from films altogether, returning occasionally to Broadway, several times as actress (e.g., Leave Her to Heaven, 1940) and once as actress and director (Second Best Bed, 1946).
Other notable film credits include THE DUMMY, CHARMING SINNERS and THE LAUGHING LADY (all 1929), SARAH AND SON, PARAMOUNT ON PARADE, ANYBODY'S WOMAN and THE RIGHT TO LOVE (all 1930), UNFAITHFUL, THE MAGNIFICENT LIE and ONCE A LADY (all 1931), TOMORROW AND TOMORROW, THE RICH ARE ALWAYS WITH US, THE CRASH and FRISCO JENNY (all 1932), LILLY TURNER and FEMALE (both 1934), LADY OF SECRETS, GIRLS' DORMITORY and DODSWORTH (all 1936), THE RAT (1937) and A ROYAL DIVORCE (1938). She appeared as Gertrude in the 1953 Hallmark Hall of Fame television production of "Hamlet."
Miss Chatterton, who had authored a Broadway play, Monsieur Brotonneau, in 1930, wrote several successful novels in the 50s. An active, liberated woman, she was also a licensed pilot and flew her own plane cross-country. Her three husbands were all actors: Ralph Forbes (1924-32), George Brent (1932-34), and Barry Thomson (1942-died 1960). She died of a brain hemorrhage in Norwalk, Connecticut, at the age of 67.
Nominated for Actress 1928-9: MADAME X
Nominated for Actress 1929-30: SARAH AND SON
2 nominations