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Born Aileen Bisbee into a prominent and wealthy San Francisco, California family and educated in Europe, Aileen began her acting career shortly after her 1916 marriage to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son of a wealthy titled British Jamaican landowner and a member of the Privy and Legislative Councils of Jamaica.

One of Pringle`s first high-profile roles was in the Rudolph Valentino film Stolen Moments (1920). However, many of Pringle`s first roles were only modestly successful, and she continued to build her career until the early 1920s when she was personally selected by her friend, the romance novelist Elinor Glyn to star in the 1924 film adaptation of her novel Three Weeks opposite matinee idol Conrad Nagel. The role catapulted Pringle into leading-lady status and her career began to build momentum.
Pringle`s acting career continued to soar throughout the early 1920s. However, she was allegedly disliked by many of her co-workers for her apparently haughty and dismissive behavior. At one point she allegedly threatened actor Conrad Nagel with physical violence after he was instructed in a scene to carry her. Pringle`s apparent disdain for her profession began to hurt her career, and by the late 1920s her roles became fewer and fewer.

Although disliked by some Hollywood insiders, Aileen Pringle was often dubbed by the press as the "Darling of the Intelligentsia" because of her close friendship with such literary figures as Carl Van Vechten, Joseph Hergesheimer, Rupert Hughes, and H. L. Mencken who became a life-long friend of the actress. [1] Ralph Barton, American artist, was also a devoted friend and used her as the model for Dorothy in his illustrations for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos. [2] Another admirer was George Gershwin who met her in Hollywood and wrote much of the Second Rhapsopdy at her Santa Monica, California home. [3] Her wit, keen intellect and sparkling personality made her a sought-after companion.[4]

After her 1926 divorce from Charles Pringle, Aileen Pringle further focused on her acting career, including Dream of Love (1928) with Joan Crawford and Wall Street (1929) co-starring Ralph Ince, brother of Thomas Ince. However, with the advent of talkies, the studios began heavily promoting a new crop of starlets and Pringle`s career faded.

During the sound era, she continued to take small parts in major films and even uncredited roles. In 1944 Pringle married noted author, James M. Cain, but the union only lasted two years and ended in a bitter divorce. By the late 1940s, Pringle retired from the screen and lived a wealthy retirement in New York City, where she died in 1989 at the age of 94.