- 392 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
This story of a silent-film star's rise and fall offers "a lesson about those heady days of early Hollywood and the transience of fame" (
Library Journal).
Renowned for her classic beauty and charismatic presence, Mae Murray rocketed to stardom as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, moving across the country to star in her first film,
To Have and to Hold, in 1916. An instant hit with audiences, Murray soon became one of the most famous names in Tinseltown.
But Murray's moment in the spotlight was fleeting. The introduction of talkies, a string of failed marriages, a serious career blunder, and a number of bitter legal battles left the former star in a state of poverty and mental instability that she would never overcome.
In this intriguing biography, Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray's career from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg lights of Hollywood, recounting her impressive body of work on the stage and screen and charting her rapid ascent to fame and decline into obscurity. Featuring exclusive interviews with Murray's only son, Daniel, and with actor George Hamilton, whom the actress closely befriended at the end of her life, Ankerich restores this important figure in early film to the limelight.
"If Billy Wilder hasn't made the definitive movie about the delusions of stardom in
Sunset Boulevard, Murray's story, a blend of absurdity and pathos, would make a terrific one." —
The
Washington Post
Includes photos
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half title
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1. Untangling Mae Murray’s Tangled Beginnings, 1885–1899
- 2. Dancing into the New Century, 1900–1907
- 3. Ziegfeld and the Millionaire, 1908–1911
- 4. Life Is a Cabaret, 1912–1914
- 5. From Footlights to Kliegs, 1915
- 6. The Disillusions of a Dream Girl, 1916
- 7. Ready for My Close-ups, Mr. Lasky!, 1917
- 8. The Delicious Little Mae, 1918–1919
- 9. On with the Dance, 1920
- 10. Strutting Like a Peacock through Tiffany’s, 1921–1922
- 11. Mae the Enchantress, 1923–1924
- 12. The Merry Widow and the Dirty Hun, May 1924–March 1925
- 13. From Merry Widow to Gay Divorcée, 1925
- 14. Princess Mdivani, 1926
- 15. The Lion’s Roar, the Baby’s Cry, 1927
- 16. A World of Cheap Imitation, 1928
- 17. The Sound of Bee-Stung Lips, 1929–1931
- 18. Oh, Brother!, 1932
- 19. From a Prince to a Toad, 1933
- 20. Losing Koran, 1934–1940
- 21. Outliving Fame, 1941–1957
- 22. Self-Enchantment, 1958–1960
- 23. A Star in Twilight, 1961–1965
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Professional Theater
- Filmography
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index