The Photograph
Miss Maude Fealy
Maude Fealy was an American stage and silent film actress whose career survived into the sound era.
-- Maude Fealy - The Early Years
Maude Mary Hawk was born on the 4th. March 1883 in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of James Hawk and actress and acting coach, Margaret Fealy.
Her mother re-married to Rafaello Cavallo, conductor of the Pueblo, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and Fealy lived in Colorado off and on for most of her life.
At the age of three, Maude made her first stage appearance in her mother's 1884 production of 'Faust', and made her Broadway debut in the 1900 production of 'Quo Vadis', again with her mother.
-- Maude Fealy's Acting Career
Fealy toured England with William Gillette in 'Sherlock Holmes' from 1901 to 1902. Between 1902 and 1905, she frequently toured with Sir Henry Irving's company in the United Kingdom, and by 1907 was the star in productions touring the United States.
Fealy appeared in her first silent film in 1911 for Thanhouser Studios, making another 18 between then and 1917, after which she didn't perform in film for another 14 years.
During the summers of 1912 and 1913, she organised and starred with the Fealy-Durkin Company that put on performances at the Casino Theatre at the Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver, and the following year began touring the western half of the U.S.
Fealy had some commercial success as a playwright-performer. She co-wrote 'The Red Cap' with Grant Stewart, a noted New York playwright and performer, which ran at the National Theatre in Chicago in August 1928.
Other plays written or co-written by Fealy include 'At Midnight'.
Maude also co-wrote 'The Promise' with the highly regarded Chicago playwright Alice Gerstenberg.
Throughout her career, Fealy taught acting in many cities where she lived, in the early years with her mother. Maude taught under names which included Maude Fealy Studio of Speech, Fealy School of Stage and Screen Acting, and Fealy School of Dramatic Expression. Maude taught in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Burbank, California; and Denver, Colorado.
By the 1930's, Maude was living in Los Angeles where at the age of 50 she returned to secondary roles in film, including a credited appearance in 'The Ten Commandments' (1956). Later in her career, she wrote and appeared in pageants, programs, and presented lectures for schools and community organisations.
-- The Personal Life of Maude Fealy
In Denver, Colorado, Maude met a drama critic from a local newspaper named Louis Hugo Sherwin (the son of opera singer Amy Sherwin). The two married in secret on the 15th. July 1907 because, as they expected, her domineering mother did not approve. The couple soon separated, and divorced in Denver in 1909.
Fealy then married an actor named James Peter Durkin. He was a silent film director with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company. This marriage ended in divorce for non-support in 1917.
Soon after this Fealy married John Edward Cort. This third marriage ended in a 1923 annulment, and was her last marriage. She bore no children in any of the marriages.
-- The Death of Maude Fealy
Maude was hospitalized with arteriosclerosis for the last two years of her life. Maude died in her sleep at the age of 88 on November 9, 1971, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
Maude was laid to rest in the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
-- A Final Thought From Maude Fealy
"I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, though since
my mother married a second time and went to live
in Denver, I've always claimed to be a Western girl.
You know the California girls are famed as the best
actresses. So it's too bad that mamma did not go to
San Francisco instead of Denver. Then I should have
been ever so much greater."