Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Born Today February 5: Maxine Elliott


1868-1940

Maxine Elliott was indeed an actress, but first and foremost, she was a successful businesswoman and investor. She was born on this day in Rockland, Maine--her birth name was Jessie Dermott and her father was a pretty-well-to-do sea captain.  As far as her acting career was concerned, she of course started on the stage, and it seems a way to escape her home life or troubled teenage past. She made her stage debut in 1889; it is also the occasion that she adopted her stage name, which would become the name that she was personally known by for the remainder of her life.  In 1895 she was hired by theater man Augustin Daly in a supporting role--this proved to be her big break. She, continuing to work with and for Daly, became a star of sorts.  She also proved to be a very shrewd business person, negotiating a contract for one play's profit that wound up handsomely benefiting her.  By 1905, she was living and working in London (it is worth noting here, that her younger sister was the wife of noted British actor Johnston Forbes-Robertson). She returned to the United States in 1908 and set up her own theater. Her theater--The Maxine Elliot (built expressly for her, demolished in 1960)--was the only theater in the country that was owned and operated by a woman.  While she continued with success in her chosen field, she also got into investments elsewhere with the help of financier J. P. Morgan (there were rumours of a relationship beyond business and friendship--but nothing has ever come of these--she was also linked, earlier, to the King of England romantically).  She was by 1910 a very wealthy and successful woman.  She made her film debut in 1913 in the Vitagraph short drama Slim Driscoll, Samaritan, but film acting was not to her taste and she only appeared in four more films between 1913 & 1919. Three of those films were in 1913, and one of these--From Dusk To Dawn--was a full feature running 1 and 1/2 hours and consisting of 4 reels.   She didn't appear in another film until 1917, when she was given a starring role in Alan Dwan's Fighting Odds, based on a play co-penned by Irvin S. Cobb and Roi Cooper Megrue.  Her last film appearance came just one year before she retired from acting altogether. She starred as "The Eternal Magdalene" in The Eternal Magdalene.  She was filmed in 1918 visiting Charlie Chaplin in his studio, and as of this date, it is the only film footage of her that has survived (there have been persistent rumours about Fighting Odds and a possible print abroad for years--nothing has ever come of it...it is similar to London After Midnight in that respect).  Elliott's last stage performance came in 1920; she then retired to a life of wealth and social engagements. She had homes in the U.S., Britain, and France; but it was in France that she spent most of her time. She died there in Cannes on the 5th of March in 1940 at the age of 72. She was buried locally in the Protestant Cemetery. Though twice married and divorced, she never had any surviving children. Her wealth appears to have passed to the Forbes-Robertson side of the family.  






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