Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh | |
---|---|
![]() Publicity photo of Mae Marsh, 1916 | |
Born | Mary Wayne Marsh November 9, 1894 Madrid, New Mexico Territory, U.S. |
Died | February 13, 1968 | (aged 73)
Resting place | Pacific Crest Cemetery Redondo Beach, California |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1910–1964 |
Spouse |
Louis Lee Arms
(m. 1918) |
Children | 3 |
Relatives | Marguerite Marsh (sister) Frances Marsh (sister) Oliver T. Marsh (brother) |
Mae Marsh (born Mary Wayne Marsh;[1] November 9, 1894[2] – February 13, 1968) was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life
Mae Marsh was born Mary Wayne Marsh in Madrid, New Mexico Territory, on November 9, 1894.[3] She was one of five children of Charles Marsh and Mary Wayne Marsh, and she attended Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Hollywood as well as public school.[1]
A frequently told story of Marsh's childhood is "Her father, a railroad auditor, died when she was four. Her family moved to San Francisco, California, where her stepfather was killed in the great earthquake of 1906. Her great-aunt then took Mae and [her older sister] Marguerite to Los Angeles, hoping her show business background would open doors for jobs at various movie studios needing extras."[3]: 113 However, her father, S. Charles Marsh, was a bartender, not a railroad auditor, and he was alive at least as late as June 1900, when Marsh was nearly six.[2] Her stepfather, oil-field inspector William Hall, could not have been killed in the 1906 earthquake, as he was alive, listed in the 1910 census, living with her mother and sisters.[4]
Marsh worked as a salesgirl and loitered around the sets and locations while her older sister worked on a film, observing the progress of her sister’s performance. She first started as an extra in various movies, and played her first substantial role in the film Ramona (1910) at the age of 15.
“I tagged my way into motion pictures,” Marsh recalled in The Silent Picture. “I used to follow my sister Marguerite to the old Biograph studio and then, one great day, Mr. Griffith noticed me, put me in a picture and I had my chance. I love my work and though new and very wonderful interests have entered my life, I still love it and couldn’t think of giving it up.”[3]: 114
Career rise
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Mae_Marsh_1915.jpg/250px-Mae_Marsh_1915.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Intolerance%2C_1916%2C_la_ragazza_%28Mae_Walsh%29_al_processo.jpg/250px-Intolerance%2C_1916%2C_la_ragazza_%28Mae_Walsh%29_al_processo.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Mae_Marsh%2C_as_a_Belgian_girl%2C_and_A._C._Gibbons_as_a_German_soldier%2C_in_Goldwyn%27s_all-star_Liberty_Loan_picture%2C_%22Stake_-_NARA_-_516486.tif/lossy-page1-250px-Mae_Marsh%2C_as_a_Belgian_girl%2C_and_A._C._Gibbons_as_a_German_soldier%2C_in_Goldwyn%27s_all-star_Liberty_Loan_picture%2C_%22Stake_-_NARA_-_516486.tif.jpg)
Marsh worked with D. W. Griffith in small roles at Biograph when they were filming in California and in New York. Her big break came when Mary Pickford, resident star of the Biograph lot and a married woman at that time, refused to play the bare-legged, grass-skirted role of Lily-White in Man's Genesis. Griffith announced that if Pickford would not play that part in Man’s Genesis, she would not play the coveted title role in his next film, The Sands of Dee. The other actresses stood behind Pickford, each refusing in turn to play the part, citing the same objection.
Years later, Marsh recalled in an interview in The Silent Picture: “...and he called rehearsal, and we were all there and he said, ‘Well now, Miss Marsh, you can rehearse this.’ And Mary Pickford said ‘What!’ and Mr. Griffith said ‘Yes, Mary Pickford, if you don’t do what I tell you I want you to do, I’m going to have someone else do The Sands of Dee. Mary Pickford didn’t play Man’s Genesis so Mae can play The Sands of Dee.’ Of course, I was thrilled, and she was very much hurt. And I thought, ‘Well it's all right with me. That is something.’ I was, you know, just a lamebrain.” [3]: 117
Working with Mack Sennett and D. W. Griffith, she was a prolific actress, sometimes appearing in eight movies per year and often paired with fellow Sennett protégé Robert Harron in romantic roles. In The Birth of a Nation (1915) she played the innocent sister who waits for her brothers to come home from war and who, in one of the film's most racially charged scenes, leaps to her death rather than submit to the lustful advances of Gus, the so-called "renegade Negro" who later is killed by the Ku Klux Klan. In Intolerance (1916) she plays the wife who has her baby taken away after her husband is imprisoned unjustly.
She signed a lucrative contract with Samuel Goldwyn worth $2,500 per week after Intolerance, but none of the films she made with him were particularly successful. After her marriage to Lee Arms, a publicity agent for Goldwyn, in 1918, her film output decreased to about one per year.
She starred in the 1918 film Fields of Honor. Marsh's last notable starring role was as a flapper for Griffith in The White Rose (1923) with Ivor Novello and Carol Dempster. She re-teamed with Novello for the film version of his hit stage play The Rat (1925).
In 1955, Marsh was awarded the George Eastman Award,[5] given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
Sound films
Marsh returned from retirement to appear in sound films and played a role in Henry King’s remake of Over the Hill (1931). She gravitated toward character roles, and worked in this manner for the next several decades. Marsh appeared in numerous popular films, such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1932) and Little Man, What Now? (1934). She also became a favorite of director John Ford, appearing in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), 3 Godfathers (1948), and The Searchers (1956).
Marsh has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1600 Vine Street.
Personal life
She married Sam Goldwyn's publicity agent Louis Lee Arms, in 1918; they had three children together. They were married until her death in 1968. Louis Arms died in June 1989 at age 101. They are buried together in Section 5 at Pacific Crest Cemetery in Redondo Beach, California.
Filmography
Silent
- Ramona (1910, Short)
- Serious Sixteen (1910, Short)
- Fighting Blood (1911, Short)
- The Siren of Impulse (1912, Short)
- A Voice from the Deep (1912, Short) as On Beach (uncredited)
- Just Like a Woman (1912, Short) as In Club
- One Is Business, the Other Crime (1912, Short)
- The Lesser Evil (1912, Short) as The Young Woman's Companion
- The Old Actor (1912, Short)
- When Kings Were the Law (1912, Short) as At Court (uncredited)
- A Beast at Bay (1912, Short) as The Young Woman's Friend
- Home Folks (1912, Short) as At Barn Dance
- A Temporary Truce (1912, Short) as A Murdered Settler (uncredited)
- Lena and the Geese (1912, Short) as The 'Adopted' Daughter
- The Spirit Awakened (1912, Short) as The Renegade Farmhand's Sweetheart
- The School Teacher and the Waif (1912, Short) as Schoolgirl
- An Indian Summer (1912, Short) as The Widow's Daughter
- Man’s Genesis (1912, Short) as Lillywhite
- The Sands of Dee (1912, Short) as Mary
- The Inner Circle (1912, Short)
- The Kentucky Girl (1912, Short) as Belle Hopkins - Bob's Sister
- The Parasite (1912, Short) as Rose Fletcher
- Two Daughters of Eve (1912, Short)
- For the Honor of the Seventh (1912, Short) as The Girl in Town
- Brutality (1912, Short) as The Young Woman
- The New York Hat (1912, Short) as Second Gossip
- The Indian Uprising at Santa Fe (1912, Short) as Juan
- Three Friends (1913, Short) as The Wife's Friend
- The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913, Short) as The Telephone Girl
- An Adventure in the Autumn Woods (1913, Short) as The Girl
- The Tender Hearted Boy (1913, Short) as The Tender-Hearted Boy's Sweetheart
- Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913, Short) as Angelina Millingford, a Maid
- Broken Ways (1913, Short) as Minor Role (uncredited)
- A Girl’s Stratagem (1913, Short) as The Young Woman
- Near to Earth (1913, Short) as One of Marie's Friends
- Fate (1913, Short) as Mother, Loving Family
- The Perfidy of Mary (1913, Short) as Mary
- The Little Tease (1913, Short) as The Little Tease, as an Adult
- The Lady and the Mouse (1913, Short) as Minor Role (uncredited)
- The Wanderer (1913, Short) as The Other Parents' Daughter, as an Adult
- His Mother’s Son (1913, Short) as The Daughter
- A Timely Interception (1913, Short) as Minor Role (uncredited)
- The Mothering Heart (1913, Short) as Minor Role (uncredited)
- Her Mother’s Oath (1913, Short) as In Church
- The Reformers (1913, Short) as The Daughter
- Two Men of the Desert (1913, Short)
- Primitive Man (1913, Short)
- For the Son of the House (1913, Short) as The Young Woman
- Influence of the Unknown (1913, Short) as The Young Woman
- The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913, Short) as Sally Cameron
- Judith of Bethulia (1913) as Naomi
- Brute Force (1914, Short) as Lillywhite
- The Great Leap; Until Death Do Us Part (1914) as Mary Gibbs
- Home, Sweet Home (1914) as Apple Pie Mary Smith
- The Escape (1914) as Jennie Joyce
- The Avenging Conscience (1914) as The Maid
- Moonshine Molly (1914, Short) as Molly Boone
- The Birth of a Nation (1915) as Flora Cameron - The Pet Sister
- The Outcast (1915) as The Girl of the Slums
- The Outlaw's Revenge (1915) as The American lover
- The Victim (1915, Short) as Mary Hastings, Frank's Wife
- Her Shattered Idol (1915) as Mae Carter
- Big Jim’s Heart (1915, Short)
- Hoodoo Ann (1916) as Hoodoo Ann
- A Child of the Paris Streets (1916) as Julie / the Child-Wife
- A Child of the Streets (1916)
- The Wild Girl of the Sierras (1916) as The Wild Girl
- The Marriage of Molly-O (1916) as Molly-O
- Intolerance (1916) as The Dear One
- The Little Liar (1916) as Maggie
- The Wharf Rat (1916) as Carmen Wagner
- Polly of the Circus (1917) as Polly
- Sunshine Alley (1917) as Nell
- The Cinderella Man (1917) as Marjorie Caner
- Field of Honor (1918) as Marie Messereau
- The Beloved Traitor (1918) as Mary Garland
- Fields of Honor (1918)
- The Face in the Dark (1918) as Jane Ridgeway
- All Woman (1918) as Susan Sweeney
- The Glorious Adventure (1918) as Carey Wethersbee
- Money Mad (1918) as Elsie Dean
- Hidden Fires (1918) as Peggy Murray / Louise Parke
- The Racing Strain (1918) as Lucille Cameron
- The Bondage of Barbara (1919) as Barbara Grey
- Spotlight Sadie (1919) as Sadie Sullivan
- The Mother and the Law (1919) as The Little Dear One
- The Little 'Fraid Lady (1920) as Cecilia Carne
- Nobody's Kid (1921) as Mary Cary
- Till We Meet Again (1922) as Marion Bates
- Flames of Passion (1922) as Dorothy Hawke
- Paddy the Next Best Thing (1923) as Paddy
- The White Rose (1923) as Bessie 'Teazie' Williams
- Daddies (1924) as Ruth Atkins
- Arabella (1924) as Arabella
- Tides of Passion (1925) as Charity
- The Rat (1925) as Odile Etrange
- Racing Through (1928)
Sound
- Over the Hill (1931) as Ma Shelby
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1932) as Aunt Jane
- That's My Boy (1932) as Mom Scott
- Alice in Wonderland (1933) as Sheep
- Little Man, What Now? (1934) as Wife of Karl Goebbler
- Bachelor of Arts (1934) as Mrs. Mary Barth
- Black Fury (1935) as Mrs. Mary Novak
- Hollywood Boulevard (1936) as Carlotta Blakeford
- Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) as Pioneer Woman (uncredited)
- Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939) as Empire State Building Tourist (uncredited)
- Swanee River (1939) as Mrs. Jonathan Fry (uncredited)
- The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940) as Mrs. Stetson
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940) as Muley's Wife (uncredited)
- Four Sons (1940) as Townswoman (uncredited)
- Young People (1940) as Maria Liggett
- Tobacco Road (1941) as County Clerk's Assistant (uncredited)
- The Cowboy and the Blonde (1941) as Office Worker (uncredited)
- For Beauty's Sake (1941) as Night Manager (uncredited)
- Belle Starr (1941) as Preacher's Wife (uncredited)
- Great Guns (1941) as Aunt Martha
- Swamp Water (1941) as Mrs. McCord (uncredited)
- How Green Was My Valley (1941) as Miner's Wife (uncredited)
- Remember the Day (1941) as Teacher (uncredited)
- Blue, White and Perfect (1942) as Mrs. Bertha Toby
- Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942) as Mrs. Purdy (uncredited)
- It Happened in Flatbush (1942) as Aunt Mae, Team Co-Owner (uncredited)
- Tales of Manhattan (1942) as Molly (Robinson sequence)
- Just Off Broadway (1942) as Autograph Seeker (uncredited)
- The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe (1942) as Mrs. Phillips (uncredited)
- The Man in the Trunk (1942) as Mrs. Inge (uncredited)
- Quiet Please, Murder (1942) as Miss Hartwig (uncredited)
- The Meanest Man in the World (1943) as Old Lady (uncredited)
- Dixie Dugan (1943) as Mrs. Sloan
- The Moon Is Down (1943) as Villager (uncredited)
- Tonight We Raid Calais (1943) as French Townswoman (uncredited)
- The Song of Bernadette (1943) as Madame Blanche - Townswoman (uncredited)
- Jane Eyre (1943) as Leah (uncredited)
- The Fighting Sullivans (1944) as Neighbor of Mrs. Griffin (uncredited)
- Buffalo Bill (1944) as Arcade Customer (uncredited)
- Sweet and Low-Down (1944) as Apartment House Tenant (uncredited)
- In the Meantime, Darling (1944) as Emma (uncredited)
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) as Tynmore Sister (uncredited)
- State Fair (1945) as Ring-Toss Spectator (uncredited)
- The Dolly Sisters (1945) as Annie (uncredited)
- Leave Her to Heaven (1945) as Fisherwoman (uncredited)
- Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946) as Bus Passenger (uncredited)
- Smoky (1946) as Woman Watching Parade (uncredited)
- My Darling Clementine (1946) as Simpson's Sister (uncredited)
- The Late George Apley (1947) as Dressmaker (uncredited)
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947) as Woman in Santa Line (uncredited)
- Thunder in the Valley (1947) as Flower Vendor (uncredited)
- Mother Wore Tights (1947) as Resort Guest (uncredited)
- Daisy Kenyon (1947) as Woman Leaving Apartment (uncredited)
- Fort Apache (1948) as Mrs. Gates
- Green Grass of Wyoming (1948) as Race Spectator (uncredited)
- Deep Waters (1948) as Molly Thatcher
- The Snake Pit (1948) as Tommy's Mother (uncredited)
- 3 Godfathers (1948) as Mrs. Perley Sweet
- A Letter to Three Wives (1949) as Miss Jenkins (uncredited)
- Impact (1949) as Mrs. King
- It Happens Every Spring (1949) as Greenleaf's Maid (uncredited)
- The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) as Sister Hattie
- Everybody Does It (1949) as Higgins - the Borlands' Maid (uncredited)
- When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950) as Mrs. Clara Fettles (uncredited)
- The Gunfighter (1950) as Mrs. O'Brien (uncredited)
- My Blue Heaven (1950) as Maid (uncredited)
- The Jackpot (1950) as Mrs. Woodruff in Photo (uncredited)
- The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) as Talkative Patient (uncredited)
- The Quiet Man (1952) as Father Paul's Mother (uncredited)
- Night Without Sleep (1952) as Maid (uncredited)
- The Sun Shines Bright (1953) as G.A.R. Woman at the Ball
- Titanic (1953) as Woman to Whom Norman Gave His Seat (uncredited)
- Powder River (1953) as Townswoman (uncredited)
- A Blueprint for Murder (1953) as Anna Swenson - Lynne's Housekeeper (uncredited)
- The Robe (1953) as Jerusalem Woman Aiding Demetrius (uncredited)
- A Star Is Born (1954) as Malibu Party Guest (uncredited)
- Prince of Players (1955) as Witch in 'Macbeth' (uncredited)
- The Tall Men (1955) as Emigrant (uncredited)
- The Girl Rush (1955) as Casino Patron (uncredited)
- Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) as Woman in Bank (uncredited)
- Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) as Mrs. Cobb - Steve's Landlady (uncredited)
- While the City Sleeps (1956) as Mrs. Manners
- The Searchers (1956) as Dark Cloaked Woman at Fort Guarding Deranged Woman (uncredited)
- Girls in Prison (1956) as 'Grandma' Edwards
- Julie (1956) as Hysterical Passenger
- The Wings of Eagles (1957) as Nurse Crumley (uncredited)
- Cry Terror! (1958) as Woman in Elevator (replaced by Marjorie Bennett) (scenes deleted)
- The Last Hurrah (1958) as Mourner at Wake (uncredited)
- Sergeant Rutledge (1960) as Mrs. Nellie Hackett (uncredited)
- From the Terrace (1960) as Sandy's Governess (uncredited)
- Two Rode Together (1961) as Hanna Clegg (uncredited)
- Donovan's Reef (1963) as Family Council Member (uncredited)
- Cheyenne Autumn (1964) as Woman (uncredited) (final film role)
References
- ^ a b Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd (1980). Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 457–458. ISBN 9780674627338. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
Mae Marsh.
- ^ a b U.S. Census records for 1900, El Paso, Texas, Sheet No. 6
- ^ a b c d Menefee, David W. (2004). The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 113–125. ISBN 9780275982591. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
- ^ U.S. Census records for 1910, Los Angeles, California, Sheet No. 4A
- ^ "Eastman House award recipients · George Eastman House Rochester". Eastmanhouse.org. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- Bibliography
- When the Movies Were Young by Linda Arvidson, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969
- Adventures with D.W. Griffith by Karl Brown, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973
- "Robertson-Cole Offers Mae Marsh in a Sumptuously Produced Play from Novel", "The Moving Picture World, 18 December 1920
- Mae Marsh in an Interview with Robert B. Cushman by Anthony Slide in The Silent Picture, New York: Arno Press, 1977
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Works by or about Mae Marsh at the Internet Archive
- Works by Mae Marsh at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Mae Marsh at IMDb
- Mae Marsh at Find a Grave
- Screen acting, Mae Marsh, Photostar publishing co, 1921
- Mae Marsh at Virtual History