Mabel Taliaferro (born Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro; May 21, 1887 – January 24, 1979) was an American stage and silent-screen actress, known as "the Sweetheart of American Movies."
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Early years
Taliaferro was born as Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro in Manhattan, New York City and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She was descended on her father's side from one of the early families who settled in Virginia in the 17th century, the Taliaferros, whose roots are from a northern Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
immigrant to England in the 16th century.
Taliaferro was a sister of film and stage actress Edith Taliaferro and the cousin of actress Bessie Barriscale.
Career
Taliaferro began acting on stage at age 2 with Chauncey Olcott. Later she appeared with James A. Hearne and with Sol Smith Russell in ''A Poor Relation.'' In 1899, she achieved distinction in the role of little Esther in Israel Zangwill's play, '' Children of the Ghetto.'' A year later she played the witching elf-child in Yeats's Gaelic fantasy, ''The Land of Heart's Desire
''The Land of Heart's Desire'' is a play by Irish poet, dramatist, and 1923 Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats. First performed in the spring of 1894, at the Avenue Theatre in London, where it ran for a little over six weeks,Yeats, William Butl ...
''. In 1902-3 Taliaferro appeared in ''An American Invasion'' with John E. Dodson and Miss Annie Irish. The following year she was seen in the support of Louis Mann in ''The Consul''. Her greatest opportunity came when she was cast for Lovey Mary in '' Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,'' a part she played continuously for two and one-half years. In 1905 she supported Arnold Daly
Arnold Daly (October 22, 1875 – January 13, 1927) was an American actor, playwright, and producer. He was the father of actress and Algonquin Round Table personality Blyth Daly.
Biography
He was born Peter Christopher Arnold Daly in Brook ...
in '' You Never Can Tell'' and later went on tour in ''The Bishop's Carriage.'' After a brief season in vaudeville she joined William Collier's company in a tour of Australia.
In the first decade of the 20th century, Taliaferro's husband and manager, Frederic Thompson
Frederic Williams Thompson (October 31, 1873 – June 6, 1919) was an American architect, engineer, inventor, and showman known for creating amusement rides and one of the first large amusement parks.
Biography
Frederic Thompson was born i ...
, announced that her first name would be changed to Nell for billing purposes. Her first production with her new name was ''Springtime'', and the change brought an outcry of opposition from the public. By 1910, she was once again Mabel.
In 1911, her movie career began with the Selig Studios
The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company that was founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago. The company produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures, including the first films starring Tom ...
in ''The Three of Us'' and the film version of ''Cinderella'' co-starring her then-husband Thomas Carrigan. She continued performing in films through her retirement in 1921. In 1940, she appeared in her final picture, ''My Love Came Back''. Her final Broadway success was in ''Bloomer Girl'' (1944).
On November 20, 1950, Taliaferro co-starred with Glenn Langan
Glenn Langan (July 8, 1917 – January 26, 1991) was an American character actor on stage and films.
Early years
Born in Denver, Colorado, Langan was the son of Thomas Langan and Kate Quinn Langan. He attended schools there. His early training ...
in "The Floor of Heaven" on '' Studio One'' on TV.
Personal life and death
In 1906, Taliaferro married (as her first husband) Frederic Thompson
Frederic Williams Thompson (October 31, 1873 – June 6, 1919) was an American architect, engineer, inventor, and showman known for creating amusement rides and one of the first large amusement parks.
Biography
Frederic Thompson was born i ...
, who created Luna Park
Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-s ...
in Coney Island as well as the New York Hippodrome, under whose management she starred in the Broadway play '' Polly of the Circus''.
On January 11, 1920, Taliaferro married army officer Josephus P. O'Brien in Darien, Connecticut
Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any ...
. They were divorced in Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
on June 3, 1929. She was also married and divorced actor Thomas Jay Carrigan. Taliaferro married Robert Ober
Robert Howard Ober (May 10, 1881 – December 7, 1950) was an American stage and silent-screen actor.
Early life
Robert Howard Ober was born on May 10, 1881, in Bunker Hill, Illinois, to parents Robert Howard Ober Sr. and Joella W. Ober (née Da ...
. He died in 1950. She had one child.
In 1907, she was injured in a car crash. She died in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
, on January 24, 1979, aged 91.
Filmography
*'' My Love Came Back'' (1940)
*''Alexander Hamilton'' (1924)
*''The Rich Slave'' (1921)
*'' Sentimental Tommy'' (1921)
*''The Mite of Love'' (1919)
* ''Draft 258
''Draft 258'' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Christy Cabanne. It stars Mabel Taliaferro, Walter Miller, and Earl Brunswick, and was released on November 15, 1917.
Cast list
Preservation
With no prints of ''Draft 258'' locat ...
'' (1917)
*''Peggy Leads the Way
''Peggy Leads the Way'' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Lloyd Ingraham and starring Mary Miles Minter. It also features Andrew Arbuckle, Carl Stockdale, Allan Forrest, Emma Kluge, and Margaret Shelby, who is Minter's older siste ...
'' (1917, extant)
*'' The Jury of Fate'' (1917)
*''Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp
''Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp'' is a lost 1917 American drama film directed by Tod Browning.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Neil Dacey (Carrigan) loves Peggy Desmond (Taliaferro). Terence O'Malley (Sack), nephew of Squire O'Malley ...
'' (1917)
*'' A Magdalene of the Hills'' (1917)
* '' The Barricade'' (1917)
* '' A Wife by Proxy'' (1917, extant)
*''The Sunbeam'' (1916)
*'' The Dawn of Love'' (1916)
*''God's Half Acre'' (1916), extant)
*''The Snowbird
''The Snowbird'' is an existing 1916 silent film drama directed by Edwin Carewe and starring Mabel Taliaferro. B. A. Rolfe produced while Metro Pictures distributed.
Cast
*Mabel Taliaferro as Lois Wheeler
* Edwin Carewe as Jean Corteau
*James Cr ...
'' (1916), extant)
*''Her Great Price'' (1916)
*'' The Three of Us'' (1914)
*''The Sunbeam'' (1912)
*''Cinderella'' (1911; released January 1, 1912)
Stage
*''Springtime Folly'' (1951)
*''Bloomer Girl
''Bloomer Girl'' is a 1944 Broadway musical with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and a book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy, based on an unpublished play by writer Daniel Lewis James and his wife Lilith.Suskin, 89 The plot concerns ...
'' (1946)
*''Victory Belles'' (1944)
*''George Washington Slept Here'' (1941)
*''The Prince's Secret'' (1935)
*''Back Fire'' (1932)
*''The Piper'' (1920)
*''Luck in Pawn'' (1919)
*''Young Wisdom'' (1914)
*''The Call of the Cricket'' (1910)
*''Springtime'' (1909)
*'' Polly of the Circus'' (1907)
*''Pippa Passes
''Pippa Passes'' is a verse drama by Robert Browning. It was published in 1841 as the first volume of his ''Bells and Pomegranates'' series, in a low-priced two-column edition for sixpence, and republished in his collected ''Poems'' of 1849, ...
'' (1906)
*'' You Never Can Tell'' (1905)
*'' Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch'' (1905)
*''The Land of Heart's Desire
''The Land of Heart's Desire'' is a play by Irish poet, dramatist, and 1923 Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats. First performed in the spring of 1894, at the Avenue Theatre in London, where it ran for a little over six weeks,Yeats, William Butl ...
'' (1903)
*''The Consul'' (1903)
*'' The Little Princess'' (1903)
*''An American Invasion'' (1902)
*''The Price of Peace'' (1901)
*''Lost River'' (1900)
*''Children of the Ghetto'' (1899)
TV
*''The De Santre Story'' (1956)
*''The Hat from Hangtown'' (1952)
*''Mistress Sims Inherits'' (1949)
*''You Can't Take It with You'' (1945)
References
External links
*
*
Mabel Taliaferro
portrait gallery of Mabel Taliaferro NY Public Library
portrait of Mabel Taliaferro 1910s
(moviecard)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taliaferro, Mabel
1887 births
1979 deaths
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
Actresses from Richmond, Virginia
Actresses from Honolulu
Mabel
Vaudeville performers
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City
American people of English descent
American people of Italian descent