Mae Marsh

Studio promotional photo

Mae Marsh (born Mary Wayne Marsh, November 9, 1895 in Madrid, New Mexico, died February 13, 1968 in Hermosa Beach, California) was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.

Career Rise

She first started as an extra in various movies, and had first starring role in the film Ramona (1910) at the age of 15.

Working with Mack Sennett and D.W. Griffith, she was a prolific actress, sometimes appearing in eight movies a year and often paired the fellow young Sennett protegé Robert Harron in romantic roles. Her first leading role was in Griffith's film Man's Genesis (1912), and also appeared in his films The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916).

In The Birth of a Nation she played the innocent sister who waits for her brothers to come home from war. In Intolerance she gives her best performance as the wife who has her baby taken away after her husband is unjustly convicted of murder. Both films were controversial in their day and still are, particularly The Birth of a Nation, but most critics agree that Marsh was impressive in both.

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.

Marsh's last notable starring role was as a flapper for Griffith in The White Rose in 1923 with Ivor Novello and Carol Dempster. She re-teamed with Novello in 1925 for the film version of his hit stage play, The Rat.

'Talkies'

After talkies, however, her career picked up. Marsh appeared in numerous memorable films, such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1932). She also became a favorite of director John Ford, appearing in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Three Godfathers (1948), and The Searchers (1956).

Marsh has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1600 Vine Street.

External links

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