Princess Mona Darkfeather was born Josephine M. Workman in the Boyle
Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles on 13 January 1882. Her
grandparents were William Workman (1799-1876), a native of England, and
Nicolasa Urioste (1802-1892), who hailed from the Taos Pueblo of New
Mexico. Consequently, though Darkfeather stated in a 1914 film magazine
interview that she was descended "from an aristocratic Spanish family,"
she likely had at least some Indian blood through her grandmother. Her
father was José (Joseph) Workman (1833-1901), who worked as a ranch
superintendent in Kern County, California, when he married Josephine
Belt (1850-1937), a native of Stockton, California, of American and
Peruvian ancestry. Josephine was the youngest of their seven children.
The first hint of her involvement in entertainment appears to have been
captured in the 1900 federal census, where her profession was given as
"whistler." Some have speculated this was a job calling out to
passersby to visit a nickelodeon theater. In 1909, however, the year
films were first made in Los Angeles, Josephine answered an
advertisement calling for a dark-featured woman for acting roles.
Quickly, she became a major star in the fledgling film industry in
Hollywood with her peak period of activity coming between 1913 and
1915.
Working with film director Frank E. Montgomery (a.k.a., Akley),
Princess Mona made dozens of short films as a stereotypical Indian for
such companies as Bison, Nestor, Kalem and Centaur and one full-length
film for Universal in 1917. Her last film appearance was in 1926. Her husband
continued to work in the industry as a cameraman and bit player, the
former Princess lived in obscurity for decades.
She lived in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles until her death
on 3 September 1977 when she was 95 years old. She died as a ward of
the State of California and her collection of film memorabilia,
recalled by relatives, was likely discarded as she had lost contact
with her family. Josephine Workman/Princess Mona Darkfeather was buried
in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, but in late 2014 her great-nephew, Doug Neilson, had a grave marker installed to identify this early silent film star.
