22 Facts About Mae Murray

Mae Murray was born in New York City, the second-oldest child of Joseph and Mary Koenig.

Mae Murray had two brothers, William Robert and Howard Joseph.

In May 1896, Mae Murray's father, died from acute gastritis due to his alcoholism.

Mae Murray began acting on the Broadway stage in 1906 with dancer Vernon Castle.

Mae Murray became a star of the club circuit in both the United States and Europe, performing with Clifton Webb, Rudolph Valentino, and John Gilbert as some of her many dance partners.

Mae Murray made her motion picture debut in To Have and to Hold in 1916.

Mae Murray became a major star for Universal, starring with Rudolph Valentino in The Delicious Little Devil and Big Little Person in 1919.

At the height of her popularity, Murray formed her own production company with Robert Z Leonard.

Mae Murray appeared in the title role in the Erich von Stroheim-directed film The Merry Widow, with John Gilbert.

The film was critically panned at the time of release, and Mae Murray made only one more film: High Stakes, with Sherman.

Meanwhile, in 1927, Mae Murray was sued by her then-masseuse, the famous Hollywood fitness guru Sylvia of Hollywood, for the outstanding amount of $2,125; a humiliating and detailed court case followed.

Mae Murray's appearances collected mixed reviews: her dancing was well received, but she was criticized for her youthful costumes and heavy makeup application, which were seen as attempts to conceal her age.

Mae Murray's finances continued to collapse, and for most of her later life, she lived in poverty.

Mae Murray was the subject of the authorized biography The Self-Enchanted, written by Jane Ardmore, that has been incorrectly called Murray's autobiography.

In September 1908, in Hoboken, New Jersey, while she was appearing in the Follies of 1908, Murray married William M Schwenker Jr.

Mae Murray married David Mdivani, her fourth husband, on June 27,1926.

When Mae Murray attempted to regain custody of her son in 1939, Cunning and her other brothers, John, Ambrose, and Cortland, refused, according to The New York Times, at which time Mae Murray and her former husband Mdivani entered a bitter custody dispute.

Mae Murray campaigned for the reelection of President Herbert Hoover in 1932.

Many years later, Mae Murray moved into the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, California, a retirement community for Hollywood professionals.

Mae Murray died there on March 23,1965, at the age of 79.

Mae Murray is interred in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California.

Mae Murray was one of three actresses whose eyes were combined to form the Chicago International Film Festival's logo, a stark, black-and-white close-up of the composite eyes set as repeated frames in a strip of film.