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.

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.

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)
The Twin Pawns (1919) bfi/National Film and Television Archive (London); Filmmuseum (Amsterdam)
The ABC of Love (1919) Filmmuseum (Amsterdam)
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

©2001, by Greta de Groat. All Rights Reserved

Last revised June 17, 2008