Jennie Lee (American actress)

Not to be confused with Jennie Lee (British actress).

Jennie Lee
Jennie Lee, 1870s
Born	(1848-09-04)September 4, 1848 Sacramento, California
Died	August 5, 1925(1925-08-05) (aged 76) Hollywood, California
Years active	1912-1924

Mary Jane Lee (September 4, 1848 – August 5, 1925), known as Jennie Lee, was an American stage actress and actress of the silent film era.

Jennie Lee appeared in 58 films between 1912 and 1924, working especially in character parts under the directors John Ford and D. W. Griffith. She began her stage career at age nine and went on to support such actors as John Edward McCullough, Joseph Jefferson, Edwin Booth, and Helena Modjeska. She and her husband, actor William Courtright, appeared together in Griffith's Intolerance (1916). Incontestably, Lee's most famous portrayal was that of servant Mammy in The Birth of a Nation (1915), a role she played in blackface.

Selected filmography

• The Mothering Heart (Griffith, 1913, Short) - The Wash Customer
• The Sorrowful Shore (Griffith, 1913, Short) - On Shore (uncredited)
• Two Men of the Desert (Griffith, 1913, Short) - Old Indian Woman
• The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (Griffith, 1913, Short) - The Waifs' Guardian
• Judith of Bethulia (Griffith, 1913) - Bethulian
• Brute Force (Griffith, 1914, Short) - Cavewoman
• The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915) - Mammy - The Faithful Servant
• The Slave Girl (Browning, 1915, Short)
• Her Shattered Idol (1915) - Ben's Mother
• A Child of the Paris Streets (1916) - Madame Dufrane
• An Innocent Magdalene (Dwan, 1916) - Mammy
• Pillars of Society (1916) - Nurse (uncredited)
• Intolerance (1916) - Woman at Jenkins Employees Dance (uncredited)
• The Little Liar (1916) - Boardinghouse Keeper
• The Children Pay (Ingraham, 1916) - Susan - the Girls' Governess
• Nina, the Flower Girl (Ingraham, 1917) - Nina's grandmother
• Stage Struck (Morrissey, 1917) - Mrs. Teedles
• A Woman's Awakening (1917) - Mammie
• Her Official Fathers (1917) - Aunt Lydia
• Souls Triumphant (O'Brien, 1917)
• Madame Bo-Peep (1917) - Housekeeper
• The Innocent Sinner (1917) - Mother Ellis
• The Clever Mrs. Carfax (1917) - Mrs. Mary Keyes
• Sandy (1918) - Aunt Melvy
• Riders of Vengeance (Ford, 1919) - Harry's Mother
• Bill Henry (Storm, 1919) - Aunt Martha Jenkins
• Rider of the Law (Ford, 1919) - Jim's Mother
• The Secret Gift (1920) - Aunt Soiphie
• The Big Punch (Ford, 1921) - Buck's Mother
• One Man in a Million (1921) - Mrs. Koppel
• North of Hudson Bay (Ford, 1923) - Mother Dane
• Young Ideas (1924) - Grandma
• Hearts of Oak (Ford, 1924) - Grandma Dunnivan (final film role)

External links

• Jennie Lee at IMDb
• Jennie Lee at the Internet Broadway Database