Vivian Martin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Vivian Martin (July 22, 1893 – March 16, 1987) was an American stage and silent film actress.


Biography

Martin was born in
Sparta, Michigan Sparta is a village in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,244 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Sparta Township. Sparta is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is located about north of ...
and began her career as a child actress on the stage with comedian Lew Fields. Her early theatrical appearances included ''Stop Thief'', ''Officer 666'', ''The Only Son'' and with Richard Mansfield in ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. A winsome and pretty blonde, Martin entered the motion picture industry in 1914. Her first role was in ''The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England'' (1914) for the
World Film Company The World Film Company or World Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company, organized in 1914 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Short-lived but significant in American film history, World Film was created by financier and fil ...
, in which she played Sally, a parson's daughter. Martin subsequently became a contract player for the Famous Players Film Company, where she achieved popularity as a rival to Mary Pickford. Among her other credits are ''The Third Kiss'' (1919), ''Her Official Fiancee'' (1919), ''The Innocent Adventuress'' (1919), and ''Louisiana'' (1919). She made forty-four movies in all, including some for the Fox Film Corporation. In the early 1920s, Martin started her own production company and released her films through the
Goldwyn Goldwyn is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Beryl Goldwyn (born 1930), English ballerina * John Goldwyn (born 1958), American film producer * Liz Goldwyn (born 1976), American film director * Robert G ...
Corporation. Her career entered into a downward spiral soon afterwards as a result of a lawsuit for payment of studio rentals. Although eventually settled out of court, the case did irreparable damage to her standing among her peers. In April 1921 Martin left movies and returned to the stage. Her theatrical revival began with a three-act comedy entitled ''First Night Out'' by Adelaide Matthews and Ann Nichols. Vivian Martin died in New York City in 1987, aged 93. Her obituary in the ''New York Times'' noted her philanthropy and association with the
Professional Children's School Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades six through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic ed ...
in New York. She contributed to the lives of young performers as both a friend and benefactress. Martin married actor William Jefferson in 1913; they eventually divorced. Several of Martin's early and rare films survive at the Library of Congress.


Filmography

*''
The Wishing Ring ''The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England'' is a 1914 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Vivian Martin. Based on the 1910 play of the same name by Owen Davis that ran on Broadway starring Marguerite Cla ...
'' (1914) *''Old Dutch'' (1915) *''The Arrival of Perpetua'' (1915) *''An Indian Diamond'' (1915) *''The Little Miss Brown'' (1915) *''The Little Dutch Girl'' (1915) *''The Little Mademoiselle'' (1915) *'' The Butterfly on the Wheel'' (1915) *''Over Night'' (1915) *''Merely Mary Ann'' (1916) * ''
A Modern Thelma ''A Modern Thelma'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and starring Vivian Martin, Harry Hilliard and William H. Tooker.Solomon p.233 Cast * Vivian Martin as Thelma * Harry Hilliard as Sir Philip * William H. Too ...
'' (1916) *''
The Stronger Love ''The Stronger Love'' is a 1916 American drama silent film directed by Frank Lloyd, written by Julia Crawford Ivers, and starring Vivian Martin, Edward Peil, Sr., Frank Lloyd, Jack Livingston, Alice Knowland, and Herbert Standing. It was releas ...
'' (1916) *'' Her Father's Son'' (1916) *''
The Right Direction ''The Right Direction'' is a 1916 American comedy silent film directed by E. Mason Hopper, written by Julia Crawford Ivers, and starring Vivian Martin, Colin Chase, Herbert Standing, Alfred Hollingsworth, Billy Mason and Baby Jack White. The fil ...
'' (1916) *''
The Wax Model ''The Wax Model'' is a lost 1917 American drama silent film directed by E. Mason Hopper and written by Julia Crawford Ivers. The film stars Vivian Martin, Thomas Holding, George Fisher, Helen Jerome Eddy, Clarissa Selwynne and Katherine Vaughn. ...
'' (1917) *''
The Spirit of Romance ''The Spirit of Romance'' is a 1910 book of literary criticism by the poet Ezra Pound. It is based on lectures he delivered at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London between 1908 and 1909 and deals with a variety of European literatures. As w ...
'' (1917) *''
The Girl at Home ''The Girl at Home'' is a 1917 American drama silent film directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Beulah Marie Dix and George Middleton. The film stars Vivian Martin, Jack Pickford, James Neill, Olga Grey, Edythe Chapman and William Elmer. Th ...
'' (1917) *'' Giving Becky a Chance'' (1917) *'' Forbidden Paths'' (1917) *'' A Kiss for Susie'' (1917) *''
Little Miss Optimist ''Little Miss Optimist'' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Robert Thornby and written by Gardner Hunting. The film stars Vivian Martin, Tom Moore, Charles West, Ernest Joy, Charles K. Gerrard, and Helen Bray. The film was relea ...
'' (1917) *''
The Trouble Buster ''The Trouble Buster'' is a lost 1917 American drama silent film directed by Frank Reicher, written by Tom Forman and Gardner Hunting, and starring Vivian Martin, James Neill, Paul Willis, Charles West, Louise Harris, and Mary Mersch. It was ...
'' (1917) *'' The Sunset Trail'' (1917) *''
Molly Entangled ''Molly Entangled'' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Robert Thornby and written by Edith M. Kennedy. The film stars Vivian Martin, Harrison Ford, Noah Beery, Sr., G.S. Spaulding, Helen Dunbar, and Gibson Gowland. The film was rel ...
'' (1917) *''
The Fair Barbarian ''The Fair Barbarian'' is a 1917 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Thornby and written by Edith M. Kennedy, based on an 1881 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Vivian Martin, Clarence Geldart, Douglas MacLean, Jane Wol ...
'' (1917) *''
A Petticoat Pilot ''A Petticoat Pilot'' is a lost 1918 American comedy silent film directed by Rollin S. Sturgeon and written by Joseph C. Lincoln and Gardner Hunting. The film stars Vivian Martin, Theodore Roberts, James Neill, Harrison Ford, Bert Hadley and ...
'' (1918) *''
Unclaimed Goods ''Unclaimed Goods'' is a 1918 American silent film, silent Western (genre), Western comedy film directed by Rollin S. Sturgeon and written by Gardner Hunting and Johnston McCulley. The film stars Vivian Martin, Harrison Ford (silent film actor), ...
'' (1918) *''
Viviette ''Viviette'' is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Walter Edwards, written by Julia Crawford Ivers and William J. Locke, and starring Vivian Martin, Eugene Pallette, Harrison Ford, Kate Toncray, Clara Whipple, and Donald Blakemore. It ...
'' (1918) *'' Her Country First'' (1918) *'' Mirandy Smiles'' (1918) *'' Jane Goes A-Wooing'' (1919) *'' You Never Saw Such a Girl'' (1919) *''
Little Comrade ''Little Comrade'' is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Chester Withey and written by Alice Eyton and Juliet Wilbor Tompkins. The film stars Vivian Martin, Niles Welch, Gertrude Claire, Richard Henry Cummings, Larry Steers, ...
'' (1919) *'' The Home Town Girl'' (1919) *''
An Innocent Adventuress ''An Innocent Adventuress'' is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Robert G. Vignola and written by Clara Genevieve Kennedy. The film stars Vivian Martin, Lloyd Hughes, Edythe Chapman, Gertrude Norman, Jane Wolfe, and Tom Bates ...
'' (1919) *'' Louisiana'' (1919) *''
The Third Kiss ''The Third Kiss'' ( es, El tercer beso) is a 1942 Argentine romantic drama film directed by Luis César Amadori and starring Pedro López Lagar, Silvia Legrand and Amelia Bence. At the 1943 Argentine Film Critics Association Awards, Amelia ...
'' (1919) *''
His Official Fiancée ''His Official Fiancée'' is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Robert G. Vignola and written by Edith M. Kennedy and Berta Ruck. The film stars Vivian Martin, Forrest Stanley, Vera Sisson, Hugh Huntley, Mollie McConnell, Kathr ...
'' (1919) *''Husbands and Wives'' (1920) *''
The Song of the Soul ''The Song of the Soul'' is a 1920 silent film drama directed by John W. Noble and starring Vivian Martin. It was produced by Messmore Kendall and Robert W. Chambers. Goldwyn Pictures distributed the film. The films is preserved in the Cinemat ...
'' (1920) *''Mother Eternal'' (1921) *'' Pardon My French'' (1921) * ''
Soiled Soiled is an English experimental, electro-minimal cinematographic music project, created in 2002 by Marcus H. He has released five albums, numerous EPs, collaborations and compilation tracks. History Marcus H is originally from Bristol having p ...
'' (1925) *''Folies Bergere de Paris'' (1934) (uncredited role)


References


External links

* *
Silent Ladies and Gents
features pictures of Vivian Martin
''Vivian Martin'' portrait gallery at NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Vivian 1893 births 1987 deaths American film actresses American silent film actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Michigan 20th-century American actresses People from Sparta, Michigan