Maude Fulton (May 14, 1881 – November 9, 1950) was an American actress, playwright, stage director, theater manager, and later a Hollywood screenwriter.

Early life

Born in 1881 in El Dorado, Kansas, she was the daughter of newspaperman Titus Parker Fulton and Lulu Belle Couchman. She grew up in El Dorado, Kansas and Lexington, Missouri, and worked as a stenographer, telegraph operator, and short story writer before becoming an actress. She first appeared on the stage in amateur productions in

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen ( Lakota: ''Ablíla'') is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately northeast of Pierre. The city population was 28,495 at the 2020 census, making it the third most populous ci ...

in 1904."Maude Fulton's Story," ''New York Times'', March 25, 1917, pg. X5.

Career

On the opening night of Fulton's Broadway debut, in the cast of '' Mam'zelle Champagne'' (1906),

Harry K. Thaw Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr.. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, the younger Thaw is most notable for murdering the renowned architect Sta ...

murdered architect

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over the affections of

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. In all, Fulton acted or danced in seven Broadway shows. She also appeared in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

with William Rock, whom she met when he choreographed her on Broadway in ''The Orchid'' (1907) and appeared with her in ''Funabashi'' (1908) and ''The Candy Shop'' (1909). Fulton's greatest personal success was the 1917 play ''The Brat'', which ran for 136 performances. Written by Fulton, it was produced by

Oliver Morosco Oliver Morosco (June 20, 1875 – August 25, 1945) was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, film producer, and theater owner. He owned the Morosco Photoplay Company. He brought many of his theater actors to the screen. Frank A. Garb ...

, starred Fulton and John Findlay, and featured

Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular ''Andy H ...

and

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. ''The Brat'' was made into a 1919 silent picture starring

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, a

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talkie in 1931, and again as ''The Girl From Avenue A'' in 1940, with

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, and

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. She wrote another play, ''The Humming Bird'', which opened on Broadway in 1923. It starred Fulton and Hilda Spong, and was directed by and featured her then-husband Robert Ober. Maude Fulton, vaudeville entertainer (SAYRE 2390)

Maude Fulton, vaudeville entertainer (SAYRE 2390)

During the silent era, Fulton wrote the

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

s for many pictures such as ''

Lady Windermere's Fan ''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is ...

'' (1925) with Ronald Colman and ''

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'' (1926) with

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

. She continued writing for films in Hollywood through the 1930s, with writing credits on a total of 21 pictures and acting credits on five.Maude Fulton profile
imdb.com; accessed February 20, 2016.

Personal life

Fulton and Ober were married from 1920–26, and had no children.

Death

She died on November 9, 1950 in a

San Fernando, California San Fernando ( Spanish for " St. Ferdinand") is a general-law city in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is bordered on all sides by the City of Los Angeles. As of the 20 ...

hospital, aged 69.

References

External links

*
Maude Fulton photo gallery, Univ. of Washington, sayre collectionMaude Fulton portrait gallery at NY Public Library, Billy Rose Collection''Maude Fulton''
findagrave.com

nytimes.com; accessed February 20, 2016.
portrait probably 1920s rather than 1920 as listed
.
accessible window version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Maude 1881 births 1950 deaths People from El Dorado, Kansas Actresses from Kansas American stage actresses Vaudeville performers 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Screenwriters from Kansas 20th-century American screenwriters