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Mae Murray


Mae Murray is now largely remembered for her imperious offscreen personality and her gradual loss of touch with reality, rather than for the fact that she had a major Hollywood career spanning more than a decade. A skilled dancer, she usually had a dance sequence in each film. It is difficult to assess her screen persona from her often bizarre publicity stills. In the early 1920s, theatre owners give glowing accounts of her films in the pages of Moving Picture World. Though a fair number of her films survive (see below), most are in European archives and few people have seen them. However, her most famous film, The Merry Widow, does air occasionally on Turner Classic Movies.

On the Web


The Internet Movie Database filmography

The Silent Ladies photo gallery

Mae Murray, the Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips, by J. Stephen Walters, on Silents are Golden

The Rise to Stardom of Mae Murray The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips, by Jimmy Bangley, from Classic Images

Information on Murray's dancing career from Streetswing.com Dance History Archives

Murray's entry in The Blue Book of the Screen (1923)

Murray's entry in Stars of the Photoplay (1924)

Tammy Stone's Silent Collection page on Mae Murray

Starlight profile on Mae Murray

Merry Widow, feature of the month on Silents are Golden

Silent Films Available Online

The Twin Pawns (1919)
Thought Equity site

The ABC of Love (1919)
Thought Equity site

The Right to Love (1920)
Thought Equity site


Silent Films Available on Video

A Mormon Maid (1917)
Available from Nostalgia Family Video , Movies Unlimited
Mademoiselle Midnight (1924)
Available from Nostalgia Family Video , Facets
Merry Widow (1925)
Available from Facets


Further Reading

Ankerich, Michael G.. Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips .. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2012.

Ardmore, Jane Kesner Morris. The self-enchanted: Mae Murray, image of an era.. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959.

Lahue, Kalton C. Ladies in Distress. South Brunswick and New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1971. p. 194-203.

Franklin, Joe [and William K. Everson].Classics of the Silent Screen. New York : Citadel Press, 5th ed., 1971 (originally published 1959): p. 206.



The following films exist either in whole or in part--I do not at this time know which ones are incomplete.

(Thanks to Jack Gardner and the unknown questioner whose email I lost for spurring me to look these up)

High Stakes (1931) has been on video?
Bachelor Apartment (1931) has played on Turner Classic Movies
Peacock Alley (1930) Cinémathèque Suisse (Lausanne); Library of Congress (Washington); bfi/National Film and Television Archive (London); may be found on video from various sources
Show People (1928) Cameo, has played on Turner Classic Movies
Altars of Desire (1927) Turner
Valencia (1926) Turner
Merry Widow (1925) Cinémathèque Royale (Bruxelles); Filmmuseum/Münchner Stadtmuseum (München); George Eastman House (Rochester); Filmmuseum (Amsterdam); UCLA Film and Television Archive (Los Angeles); Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow); Cineteca Nazionale (Roma); Arhiva Nationala de Filme (Bucuresti); Filmoteca Española (Madrid); Deutsches Filmmuseum (Frankfurt); bfi/National Film and Television Archive (London); Danish Film Institute (Kobenhavn); Has played on Turner Classic Movies
Mademoiselle Midnight (1924) Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow); UCLA Film and Television Archive (Los Angeles, 16mm); may be found on video from various sources
Jazzmania (1923) exists at least in part in George Eastman House (Rochester)
The French Doll (1923) Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow)
Broadway Rose (1922) Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow), George Eastman House?
Peacock Alley (1922) Library of Congress?, incomplete
Idols of Clay (1920) Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow)
Right to Love (1920) Filmmuseum (Amsterdam) and available online
The Twin Pawns (1919) bfi/National Film and Television Archive (London); Filmmuseum (Amsterdam) and available online
The ABC of Love (1919) Filmmuseum (Amsterdam) and available online
A Delicious Little Devil (1919) Filmmuseum (Amsterdam); will appear on video soon from Milestone Film and Video with Valentino/Swanson Beyond the Rocks
Face Value (1918) George Eastman House (Rochester)
The Bride's Awakening (1918) Filmmuseum (Amsterdam)
Princess Virtue (1917) incomplete, Library of Congress (Washington, reels 1,2,5,6, 35 mm)? Canadian Film Archive (?)
A Mormon Maid (1917) Library of Congress (Washington); UCLA Film and Television Archive (Los Angeles); may be found on video from various sources

Unsung Divas

©2001, by Greta de Groat. All Rights Reserved

Last revised April 20, 2013