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IMDbPro

Mae Marsh(1894-1968)

  • Actress
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Mae Marsh c.1923 / **I.V.
Trailer for this suspense filled western drama
Play trailer3:20
3 Godfathers (1948)
2 Videos
59 Photos
Mae Marsh's father was an auditor for the railroad who died when she was four. Her family moved to San Francisco, where her stepfather was killed in the 1906 earthquake. Her great-aunt then took Mae and her sister to Los Angeles. With her show business background, Mae's aunt took them to the various movie studios for work as extras. Mae was a little freckle-faced girl, who came to work one day as an extra at Biograph to substitute for her sick sister. She had blue eyes and her hair color was indeterminate, but she had definite screen presence. She began her film career working for Mack Sennett and D.W. Griffith. Her first leading role was as the bare-legged prehistoric girl in Man's Genesis (1912). By 1913 Mae was being groomed as the successor to Mary Pickford. Most of her film roles were dramatic or tragic, or a combination of both. She appeared in Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). After that film, Samuel Goldwyn signed her to a contract at $2500 per week - far exceeding the $35 per week she got in 1915. Goldwyn was at his best when it came to publicity. It was he who gave Mae the title "The Whim Girl". Other than the publicity, her film career with Goldwyn was a disappointment and she retired on the eve of her marriage in 1918. During the 1920s Mae did a few movies in Hollywood and England, but stayed retired for the most part. It was not until the Wall Street "crash" in 1929 that began the Great Depression that she returned full-time to the screen, as she, like many others, was wiped out financially. After her financial situation improved, she returned to films sporadically, usually out of boredom. She worked in a dozen movies during the 1930s and took a number of roles in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a favorite of director John Ford and appeared in many of his films, such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), My Darling Clementine (1946) and The Quiet Man (1952), and she had a role in A Star Is Born (1954).
BornNovember 9, 1894
DiedFebruary 13, 1968(73)
BornNovember 9, 1894
DiedFebruary 13, 1968(73)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos59

E.K. Lincoln and Mae Marsh in The Beloved Traitor (1918)
Robert Harron and Mae Marsh in The Little Liar (1916)
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh and Tully Marshall in A Child of the Paris Streets (1916)
Robert Harron and Mae Marsh in Hoodoo Ann (1916)
Mae Marsh in His Mother's Son (1913)
Mae Marsh in The Racing Strain (1918)
Robert Harron and Mae Marsh in Her Shattered Idol (1915)
Mae Marsh in The Victim (1915)
Mae Marsh in The Outcast (1915)
Mae Marsh in Racing Through (1928)
Arthur Housman and Mae Marsh in The Bondage of Barbara (1919)

Known for

The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Birth of a Nation
6.2
  • Flora Cameron - The Pet Sister
  • 1915
Intolerance (1916)
Intolerance
7.7
  • The Dear One
  • 1916
Impact (1949)
Impact
7.0
  • Mrs. King(as Mrs. Peters)
  • 1949
Hoodoo Ann (1916)
Hoodoo Ann
5.9
  • Hoodoo Ann
  • 1916

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Edward G. Robinson, James Stewart, Sal Mineo, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalban, Richard Widmark, Dolores del Rio, Carroll Baker, Arthur Kennedy, and Gilbert Roland in Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
    Cheyenne Autumn
    • (uncredited)
  • John Wayne and Lee Marvin in Donovan's Reef (1963)
    Donovan's Reef
    • (uncredited)
  • James Stewart and Richard Widmark in Two Rode Together (1961)
    Two Rode Together
    • (uncredited)
  • John McIntire in Wagon Train (1957)
    Wagon Train
    • (uncredited)
  • Paul Newman, Leon Ames, Ina Balin, Myrna Loy, and Joanne Woodward in From the Terrace (1960)
    From the Terrace
    • (uncredited)
  • Jeffrey Hunter and Constance Towers in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
    Sergeant Rutledge
    • (uncredited)
  • Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, and Pernell Roberts in Bonanza (1959)
    Bonanza
  • Spencer Tracy, John Carradine, Jeffrey Hunter, Basil Rathbone, Pat O'Brien, Ricardo Cortez, Edward Brophy, Donald Crisp, Wallace Ford, Dianne Foster, James Gleason, and Basil Ruysdael in The Last Hurrah (1958)
    The Last Hurrah
    • (uncredited)
  • James Mason and Inger Stevens in Cry Terror! (1958)
    Cry Terror!
    • (scenes deleted)
  • Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne in The Wings of Eagles (1957)
    The Wings of Eagles
    • (uncredited)
  • Julie (1956)
    Julie
  • Richard Denning, Helen Gilbert, Adele Jergens, and Joan Taylor in Girls in Prison (1956)
    Girls in Prison
  • John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Ward Bond, Jeffrey Hunter, and Vera Miles in The Searchers (1956)
    The Searchers
    • (uncredited)
  • Sally Forrest in While the City Sleeps (1956)
    While the City Sleeps
  • Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, and Joanne Dru in Hell on Frisco Bay (1955)
    Hell on Frisco Bay
    • (uncredited)

Videos2

Intolerance
Trailer 0:42
Intolerance
3 Godfathers
Trailer 3:20
3 Godfathers

Personal details

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    • November 9, 1894
    • Madrid, New Mexico Territory, USA
    • February 13, 1968
    • Hermosa Beach, California, USA(heart attack)
    • 1918 - 1968 (her death, 3 children)
    • Frances Marsh(Sibling)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 28 Articles
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    In the Spring of 1918, the 18-year-old Ernest Hemingway claimed in letters to friends and family that he was engaged to Marsh. Hemingway was in New York at the time, preparing to go to Italy as an ambulance driver with the Red Cross, and he said he met Marsh at a party. Hemingway soon said that Marsh had broken the engagement. When asked about this incident 48 years later, in 1966, Marsh said she'd wished she'd known Hemingway (see letter and footnote in "Ernest Hemingway--Selected Letters," page 8).
  • Quotes
    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.
    • The Cinderella Man
      (1917)
      $2,500 /week

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