May Waldron (born Mary Dougherty, November 1, 1861 or 1868 – December 22, 1924), and later known as May Waldron Robson, was a Canadian-born American actress.

Early life

Mary Waldron Dougherty was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, the daughter of William E. Dougherty, a newspaper publisher; she was raised in Chicago. Her mother was an actress. May Waldron also lived in Buffalo, New York as a young woman.

Career

May Waldron began her career in Chicago, in operettas including ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which ...

'' and ''The Pirates of Penzance.'' Waldron's Broadway appearances included roles in ''Billy'' (1909), '' The Country Boy'' (1910-1911), ''

The Woman Haters ''The Woman Haters'' is a 1913 American short silent comedy film featuring Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. Cast * Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle * Nick Cogley See also * Fatty Arbuckle filmography __NOTOC__ These are the films of the American silent fil ...

'' (1912), ''Cousin Lucy'' (1915), ''

Ladies' Night A ladies' night is a promotional event, often at a bar or nightclub, where female patrons pay less than male patrons for the cover charge or drinks. In the United States, state courts in California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have rule ...

'' (1920-1921), and ''Better Times'' (1922-1923). She also appeared in touring productions of ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'' and ''

She Stoops to Conquer ''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18th ...

'', and in different roles in ''The Henrietta'' (1887), in its original run and in its 1901-1902 revival. Her ten film credits came in the silent films ''Vaccinating the Village'' (1914), ''Lured from Squash Center'' (1914), ''The Precious Twins'' (1914), ''At the Cross Roads'' (1914), '' The Trail of the Lonesome Pine'' (1916), ''The Gates of Gladness'' (1918), '' The Prodigal Wife'' (1918), '' The Lost Battalion'' (1919), ''His Bridal Night'' (1919), and ''A Broadway Saint'' (1919). Waldron's weight was a matter of public comment. She was often described as "buxom", or "stout". She fasted for a month to lose weight for a part in 1889; one report compared Waldron to a circus performer and went into detail about her "reducing herself from a mountain of quivering adipose to a lithe, graceful figure, scarcely heavier than the average able bodied woman."

Personal life

Waldron married actor

Stuart Robson Stuart Robson may refer to: * Stuart Robson (actor) * Stuart Robson (speedway rider) See also * Stewart Robson Stewart Ian Robson (born 6 November 1964) is an English former football player and TV and radio football pundit. He played for A ...

in 1891; she was widowed when he died in 1903. They had a son, Stuart Robson Jr. Waldron died suddenly from a stroke in 1924 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, aged near 60 years.

References

External links

* *
A photograph of May Waldron
in MacCauley's Theatre Collection,

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

Photographic Archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldron, May 1860s births 1924 deaths Canadian stage actresses Actresses from Hamilton, Ontario