Mary Alden
Mary Maguire Alden (born June 18, 1883 in New York City , † July 2, 1946 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress .
life and career
Mary Alden studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began her career as a stage actress, she also appeared in Broadway plays. In 1911 she made her film debut in A Brass Button as one of the first well-known actresses - at that time the medium of film was still frowned upon by many stage actors . By 1937 Alden was in front of the camera for a total of more than 120 films. She celebrated her greatest success in 1915 with her portrayal of the housekeeper Lydia Brown in David Wark Griffith's pioneering film epic The Birth of a Nation , but at the same time this is her most controversial film appearance: Her character is a racially portrayed mulatto woman who takes her house owner, a governor brings their sexual bondage and thus influences his political decisions.
With age and the dawn of talkies in the late 1920s, Alden's roles became smaller. In her last film appearances in the 1930s, she was often unmentioned in the credits. She spent the last four years of her life at the Motion Picture & Television Country House , where she died in 1946 at the age of 63.
Filmography (selection)
- 1911: A Brass Button
- 1914: Home, Sweet Home
- 1914: The Battle of the Sexes
- 1915: The Birth of a Nation (The Birth of a Nation)
- 1916 intolerance (Intolerance)
- 1916: The Good Bad Man
- 1916: To Innocent Magdalene
- 1919: The Mother and the Law
- 1925: The Plastic Age
- 1926: Brown of Harvard
- 1928: The Cossacks (The Cossacks)
- 1928: Followed by wanted poster (Ladies of the Mob)
- 1931: The Bad Sister
- 1932: Strange Interlude
- 1932: Hell's House
- 1932: Rasputin: The Demon of Russia (Rasputin and the Empress)
- 1937: That I May Live
Web links
- Mary Alden in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Broadway League: Mary Alden - Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB. Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
- ^ The Threat of the Mulatto in The Birth of a Nation: DW Griffith. Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
- ^ Stefanie Laufs: Fighting a Movie with Lightning: "The Birth of a Nation" and the Black Community . Anchor Academic Publishing (aap_verlag), 2013, ISBN 978-3-95489-151-1 ( google.de [accessed November 20, 2018]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alden, Mary |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alden, Mary Maguire (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American film actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 18, 1883 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 2, 1946 |
| Place of death | Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) , California |