Mae Murray

Acting

Mae Murray

Born — Died

1889-05-10 — 1965-03-23

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

46 titles

American actress and dancer.

Known for

Film credits

1930s · 3 titles

1920s · 19 titles

Show People poster
7.1

Hollywood hopeful Peggy Pepper arrives at a major studio, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things don't go entirely according to plan.

Show People

1928

The Masked Bride poster
10.0

An American millionaire wants to reform a Parisian cabaret singer who moonlights as a jewel thief.

The Masked Bride

1925

Jazzmania poster
10.0

The queen of a mythical European nation flees to America when a general threatens to overthrow her government.

Jazzmania

1923

Fascination poster
8.0

A young woman with a Spanish father and an American mother living in Spain under the supervision of a strict aunt slips out to attend a bullfight. There she becomes fascinated by the toreador Carrita. A lost film.

Fascination

1922

Broadway Rose poster
9.0

Rosalie Lawrence, a dancing star on Broadway, falls for rich Hugh Thompson. His parents disapprove and want him to marry Barbara Royce, so he and Rosalie marry secretly. However, Hugh isn't quite the man he seems, as Rosalie is soon to find out.

Broadway Rose

1922

The Right to Love poster
9.0

An adulterous aristocrat plans to murder his American wife.

The Right to Love

1920

The Merry Widow poster
6.7

Prince Danilo falls in love with dancer Sally O'Hara. However, his uncle, King Nikita I of Monteblanco, forbids the marriage due to her being a commoner. Thinking she's been jilted by her prince, Sally marries lecherous old Baron Sadoja, whose wealth has kept the kingdom afloat. When he suddenly dies, Sally must be wooed all over again by Danilo.

The Merry Widow

1925

On with the Dance poster
4.0

Sonia, a Russian dancer, comes to New York seeking her fortune. She marries Peter Derwynt, a young architect, but their marriage is not a good one. Sonia falls under the spell of a rich Broadway mogul, Jimmy Sutherland, whose wife is in love with Peter. The mix of relationships comes crashing apart when Sutherland ends up murdered.

On with the Dance

1920

Altars of Desire poster
8.0

Mae Murray plays a willful American lass whose wealthy dad (Robert Edeson) sends her to Paris so that she may pick up some "refinement." Instead, she picks up a fortune-hunting nobleman, played as a frivolous fop by a monocled Andre Beranger. True-blue hero Conway Tearle prevents Murray from making a bigger fool of herself than she already is.

Altars of Desire

1927

Circe the Enchantress poster
7.2

Mae Murray as a Jazz Age baby who treats men like swine until she falls for the upright doctor living next door.

Circe the Enchantress

1924

The Gilded Lily poster
9.0

A hostess at a Broadway cafe marries one of her many suitors, and finds out her new husband is prone to drinking heavily.

The Gilded Lily

1921

Married Flirts poster
9.0

Nelly is so intent on her writing career, that she neglects her appearance and her husband, Wayne. Jill Wetherell, who is looking for a rich husband, finds Wayne to be easy prey and Nelly catches them together. She divorces Wayne and travels to Europe. Jill, however, throws Wayne over for Perley Rex.

Married Flirts

1924

Valencia poster
8.0

"Felipe, a sailor falls madly in love with Valencia, a Spanish dancing girl, who is sought after by Don Fernando, the governor. When Felipe deserts his ship, the Don throws him in prison, but Valencia obtains his release and shares his disgrace and exile." Moving Picture World, 8 Jan 1927, p. 144.

Valencia

1926

Mademoiselle Midnight poster
5.7

Renée (Mae Murray) is the heiress of a Mexican ranch, granddaughter of a woman known for her recklessness and frivolity at night. This first "Mademoiselle Midnight" is banished in the opening scene by Napoleon III at Empress Eugenie's insistence to Mexico. Renee is kept locked at the hacienda at night by her father to prevent her following in her grandmother's wayward footsteps. She falls in love with a visiting American (Monte Blue) but is also pursued by the craven outlaw Manuel Corrales. Miss Murray gets to do some of her trademark dancing, but this one isn't a comedy, despite comic relief provided by Johnny Arthur.

Mademoiselle Midnight

1924

Idols of Clay poster
9.0

A girl raised isolated from society in the South Seas falls in love with a visiting sculptor.

Idols of Clay

1920

Fashion Row poster
7.0

Two peasant sisters flee Russia during the revolution and sail to America. One, Olga Farinova (Mae Murray), masquerades as a princess, becomes a noted actress, and marries a millionaire's son. Olga repudiates her sister, Zita (Mae Murray), who has no illusions about her past life or present poverty. When Olga is shot by Kaminoff (Elmo Lincoln), a rejected suitor, Zita is adopted into the husband's family.

Fashion Row

1923

Peacock Alley poster
10.0

A young man brings his new worldly Parisian wife back home to Pennsylvania.

Peacock Alley

1922

The French Doll poster
9.0

Georgine Mazulier, the daughter of a French furniture dealer, is exploited by her father and Snyder, an American hustler, to sell fake antiques to millionaires. When she falls for a gigolo, they take her to America looking for a new mark. They settle on "Kippered Kod" tycoon Wellington Wick as her prospective husband but that plan runs afoul rather quickly.

The French Doll

1923

Kodachrome Two-Color Test Shots No. III poster
6.4

This two-color (green-blue and red) film was produced as a demonstration reel at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, under the direction of Kodak scientist John Capstaff. It features leading actresses, including Mae Murray, Hope Hampton, and Mary Eaton, posing and miming for the camera to showcase the capability of the complex Kodachrome process to capture their translucent movie star complexions and colorful, high-fashion clothing.

Kodachrome Two-Color Test Shots No. III

1922

1910s · 20 titles

Face Value poster
NR

A runaway becomes a thief and is sentenced to a reformatory.

Face Value

1918

The Delicious Little Devil poster
5.7

A poor hat-check girl loses her job and is forced to get a job as a dancer at a roadhouse. There she falls in love with the son of a rich businessman. The boy's father, believing her to be after the family's money, determines to embarrass her and show his son what she really is.

The Delicious Little Devil

1919

The Big Little Person poster
NR

After Arathea Manning loses her hearing during an epidemic of scarlet fever among the children she teaches, her fiancé Arthur Endicott, who is involved with another woman, complains of always having to shout to make himself heard. An inventor, Gerald Staples, gives Arathea an auriphone, a device to restore her hearing, but one of her problem pupils, in a fit of rage, breaks it. Gerald asks Arathea, whom he calls "The Big Little Person -- small in size, but big in ideas," to be the secretary of his new company marketing the invention. He falls in love with her and plays the piano for her even though she hears only rumblings.

The Big Little Person

1919

What Am I Bid? poster
9.0

Betty Yarnell lives with her drunkard father in the North Woods mountains. Betty is shunned by the villagers whenever she ventures out to pick up her father from Abner Grimp's saloon, and her only friend is a little lamb. In debt to Abner, John Yarnell signs a note turning over his daughter to Abner in return for unlimited drinks. When Abner goes to the cabin to claim Betty, revenue officer Ralph McGibbon arrives from the city and rescues her. Abner sends his Indian partner Dark Cloud, but Ralph rescues Betty again, although he is badly beaten up.

What Am I Bid?

1919

At First Sight poster
NR

Famous romance writer Hartly Poole retreats to the country for inspiration. There he meets ardent admirer Justina Chaffin, who is about to marry a fortune-hunting scoundrel. After Justina and Hartly fall in love, she discovers her fiancé's deception and flees to Hartly's cottage. Seeing her car parked in front, the sheriff accuses Hartly of abduction, but all is resolved when Justina and Hartly exchange vows.

At First Sight

1917

Her Body in Bond poster
NR

The cabaret act of husband-and-wife dancing team Peggy and Joe Blondin is broken up when Joe becomes consumptive and is ordered West to recuperate. Peggy remains in New York to maintain the couple's income but gradually becomes desperate when letters sent her by her husband request more and more money. Joe's letters actually are being intercepted and rewritten by millionaire Harlan Quinn, who has designs on Peggy and wishes to portray Joe's situation as hopeless. After receiving a particularly alarming letter, Peggy consents to sell her honor to Harlan.

Her Body in Bond

1918

The Plow Girl poster
NR

Lord Percy hires attorney John Stoddard to find the missing Brentwood heiress. Failing his mission, John rescues an orphan named Margot and passes her off as the lost granddaughter. As guilt drives them to confess, Margot’s former abuser arrives and reveals a shocking truth: he killed her parents, making Margot the real, legitimate heir.

The Plow Girl

1916

A Mormon Maid poster
5.0

This silent melodrama is set against the 1840s westward migration of the Mormons. Dora, a young woman, and her family are saved from an Indian attack by a Mormon community traveling to Utah. They join the wagon train. Dora is pursued by two men, one a recent convert, the other a scheming elder with a stable of wives. The Mormon elder wants her in his harem. When the mother kills herself from revulsion toward polygamy, the daughter must consider her own future and the man she loves. One of Mae Murray's few surviving films, this was intended by Robert Leonard to be a thoughtful drama about the goods and evils of Mormonism, but today it is generally considered pure anti-Mormon propaganda.

A Mormon Maid

1917

The Bride's Awakening poster
NR

A husband orders his wife to keep their marriage a secret, in order to better continue his affair with a married woman.

The Bride's Awakening

1918

The ABC of Love poster
5.6

Romance between the playwright Harry Bryant and the homeless and illiterate Kate.

The ABC of Love

1919

The Primrose Ring poster
NR

Margaret MacLean, who has been saved from life in a wheelchair by the miracle of medicine, vows to devote her life to caring for crippled children. She becomes a nurse in the children's ward of Dr. MacLean's hospital, but after the beloved doctor's death, his son Bob returns home from abroad and decrees that he is closing the ward and that Margaret's little charges must leave the hospital. Furious, Margaret quits her job and storms out, with Bob in pursuit. As he rushes across the street, Bob is struck by a car and must be hospitalized. During his convalescence, he realizes that he is in love with Margaret and decides to have a home built for her and her patients. Unable to locate Margaret, Bob hires detectives, who find her and bring her to the home. There Margaret finds that all her dreams have come true as she sees her little charges happily living in their new home and gladly accepts Bob's proposal of marriage

The Primrose Ring

1917

Danger, Go Slow poster
NR

Muggsy Mulane, a waif who wears boy's clothing, jumps a freight train to the country after Jimmy "the Eel," the leader of the gang of crooks with whom she works, is arrested. In the village of Cottonville, Muggsy befriends Aunt Sarah, whom she later discovers is Jimmy's mother. When Muggsy learns that the greedy Judge Cotton, who holds the mortgage on Aunt Sarah's property, is planning to foreclose, she threatens to blackmail him, and he relents.

Danger, Go Slow

1918

The Scarlet Shadow poster
9.0

Elena Evans is raised by her puritanical Aunt Elvira, who believes that because of Elena's mother, Elena possesses "the scarlet strain."

The Scarlet Shadow

1919

To Have and to Hold poster
NR

Lady Jocelyn, a favorite in the court of England's King James, escapes a forced marriage to the hated Lord Carnal by fleeing to American colonies. There she meets and marries Captain Ralph Percy. Pursued by Lord Carnal, Lady Jocelyn and her new husband eventually find themselves shipwrecked on a desert island with Lord Carnal.

To Have and to Hold

1916

Modern Love poster
NR

Stage actors Della and Julian, while playing a series of one-night-stands, miss their train and the troupe on it. They move into a hotel. A fight breaks out.

Modern Love

1918

Princess Virtue poster
NR

The daughter of a disowned upper class Bostonian finds acceptance in Parisian society.

Princess Virtue

1917

The Big Sister poster
NR

A daughter of the slums has a little brother and makes a brave attempt to earn enough for both herself and Jimmy after her father is sent to jail on a fake charge trumped-up by "Nifty" Mendez, who is very anxious to get her in his toils. Betty escapes from the city and Nifty. On the road Jimmy is struck by Rodney Channing's motor. The injury is not serious but Jimmy must remain in Channing's home for some time. During the visit, love grows up between Channing and Betty, who is now of course very happy. But a newspaper announcement and the author send Nifty again into her life and simultaneously with his entrance comes the exit of happiness.

The Big Sister

1916

The Twin Pawns poster
6.8

A drama about twin sisters Daisy and Violet, who grow up unaware of each other's existence, one with their wealthy father and the other with their poor mother. The two sisters are manipulated by a criminal.

The Twin Pawns

1919

The Dream Girl poster
NR

The father of San Francisco waif Meg runs an illegal liquor club and supports "English" Hal in scheme to blackmail a wealthy girl. Meg is put on probation to Benjamin Merton, father of the girl to be blackmailed. When she discovers her father's plan she reveals all, risking expulsion from her new home and the company of its very attractive son Tom.

The Dream Girl

1916

On Record poster
NR

Wanting to escape from the drab life of the country, Helen Wayne moves to the big city and becomes a secretary for the Calder family. Just before beginning her new job, however, Helen meets a man who promises to take the hungry girl to dinner. When she goes to the prearranged meeting place, she is arrested and her name is put on the police record. Some time later, Helen and young Rand Calder fall in love. As they are about to announce their engagement, Martin Ingleton, the man who earlier had caused Helen's arrest, attempts to ruin Rand's business ventures. When all of the principals go to court to fight the issue, Ingleton recognizes Helen and tries to label her a woman of unworthy character. Instead of causing Rand to admonish her, however, Ingleton instigates Helen to tell the judge her story and she is exonerated.

On Record

1917

Series credits

Behind the camera