Before she became a famous pre-Code film siren, her 1920s journey was defined by a major career pivot, intensive stage work, and a distinct bohemian lifestyle. Hopkins originally moved to New York City to pursue a career in ballet. However, after suffering a broken ankle, she was forced to pivot her artistic ambitions toward acting and musical theater.

At age 20, she started her professional show business career as a chorus girl in New York City. She made her official Broadway debut in Irving Berlin’s Music Box Revue in 1921. Throughout the mid-to-late 1920s, she transitioned from musical chorus lines to serious dramatic stage roles. A major milestone of this era was her performance in the acclaimed 1926 stage adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.

While working on Broadway, she lived a fiercely independent and bohemian lifestyle in New York. She actively rejected conventional expectations for women of the era, preferring the company of intellectuals, journalists, and prominent writers like John O’Hara. Toward the very end of the decade, she dipped her toes into cinema by starring in a dramatic short film titled The Home Girl (1928), just before signing a major contract with Paramount Pictures in 1930.

Produced from 1953 to 1955, the TR2 featured a lively 2.0-liter inline-four engine producing around 90 horsepower, capable of exceeding 100 mph, making it one of the most affordable production cars of its time to achieve that milestone.

With its clean, purposeful styling, separate chassis, and engaging driving dynamics, the TR2 quickly found success both in Britain and especially in the American market. A total of 8,636 examples were built before it was succeeded by the more powerful TR3.

Today, the 1955 TR2 remains admired for its simplicity, character, and important place in Triumph’s sporting heritage. These photos capture the timeless charm and pioneering spirit of the 1955 Triumph TR2, a true icon of 1950s British sports car design.