Mabel Taliaferro Explained

Mabel Taliaferro
Birth Name:Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro
Birth Date:May 21, 1887
Birth Place:Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Death Place:Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Other Names:Nell Taliaferro
Occupation:Actress
Years Active:1899–1956
Spouse:
    Children:1
    Relatives:Edith Taliaferro (sister)
    Bessie Barriscale (cousin)

    Mabel Taliaferro (born Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro; May 21, 1887 – January 24, 1979) was an American stage and silent-screen actress, known as "the Sweetheart of American Movies."

    Early years

    Taliaferro was born as Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro in Manhattan, New York City and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She was descended on her father's side from one of the early families who settled in Virginia in the 17th century, the Taliaferros, whose roots are from a northern Italian immigrant to England in the 16th century.[1]

    Taliaferro was a sister of film and stage actress Edith Taliaferro and the cousin of actress Bessie Barriscale.[2]

    Career

    Taliaferro began acting on stage at age 2 with Chauncey Olcott. Later she appeared with James A. Hearne and with Sol Smith Russell in A Poor Relation. In 1899, she achieved distinction in the role of little Esther in Israel Zangwill's play, Children of the Ghetto. A year later she played the witching elf-child in Yeats's Gaelic fantasy, The Land of Heart's Desire. In 1902-3 Taliaferro appeared in An American Invasion with John E. Dodson and Miss Annie Irish. The following year she was seen in the support of Louis Mann in The Consul. Her greatest opportunity came when she was cast for Lovey Mary in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, a part she played continuously for two and one-half years. In 1905 she supported Arnold Daly in You Never Can Tell and later went on tour in The Bishop's Carriage. After a brief season in vaudeville she joined William Collier's company in a tour of Australia.

    In the first decade of the 20th century, Taliaferro's husband and manager, Frederic Thompson, announced that her first name would be changed to Nell for billing purposes. Her first production with her new name was Springtime, and the change brought an outcry of opposition from the public. By 1910, she was once again Mabel.[3]

    In 1911, her movie career began with the Selig Studios in The Three of Us and the film version of Cinderella co-starring her then-husband Thomas Carrigan.[4] She continued performing in films through her retirement in 1921. In 1940, she appeared in her final picture, My Love Came Back. Her final Broadway success was in ''Bloomer Girl'' (1944).

    On November 20, 1950, Taliaferro co-starred with Glenn Langan in "The Floor of Heaven" on Studio One on TV.[5]

    Suffrage activism

    Mabel Taliaferro was known as favoring women's suffrage.[6] In February 1914 she participated in a suffrage gathering that drew 1,500 people to honor the work of Anna Howard Shaw.[7]

    Personal life and death

    In 1906, Taliaferro married (as her first husband) Frederic Thompson, who created Luna Park in Coney Island as well as the New York Hippodrome, under whose management she starred in the Broadway play Polly of the Circus.[8] [9] [10]

    On January 11, 1920, Taliaferro married army officer Josephus P. O'Brien in Darien, Connecticut. They were divorced in Reno, Nevada on June 3, 1929.[11] She was also married and divorced actor Thomas Jay Carrigan.[12] [13] Taliaferro married Robert Ober. He died in 1950.[14] She had one child.[15]

    In 1907, she was injured in a car crash.[16] She died in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 24, 1979, aged 91.[17]

    Filmography

    Stage

    TV

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Women in History Month . ItalianTribune.com . 12 March 2020 . 2 September 2023.
    2. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E0CEED8173EE733A25752C0A9649D946797D6CF New York Times
    3. News: Mabel Taliaferro (Nell) . April 14, 2021 . The Anaconda Standard . February 6, 1910 . Montana, Anaconda . 18.
    4. Pictorial History of the Silent Screen by Daniel Blum c. 1953 page 25
    5. News: Television . . . . . . Highlights of the Week . April 13, 2021 . Detroit Free Press . November 19, 1950 . 22. Newspapers.com.
    6. News: Mabel Taliaferro, Actress and Suffragist, 27 Today . Altoona Tribune . May 21, 1914 . Altoona, Pennsylvania . 6 . Newspapers.com.
    7. News: Stars Draw 1,500 to Suffrage Fete . The New York Times . February 17, 1914 . New York, New York . 6 . NYTimes.com.
    8. News: December 1, 1906 . Fred Thompson Marries. Head of Thompson & Dundy Weds Miss Mabel Taliaferro . New York Times.
    9. News: Mabel Taliaferro Sues. Charges Her Husband, Fred Thompson, with Cruelty in Divorce Action . New York Times.
    10. News: Mabel Taliaferro A Bride. Actress Married to Tom Carrigan, Her Leading Man . July 10, 1913 . . January 16, 2023.
    11. News: Mabel Taliaferro Divorced . April 14, 2021 . The New York Times . Associated Press . June 4, 1929 . 30. . ProQuest.
    12. News: Thomas Jay Carrigan . April 14, 2021 . The New York Times . October 3, 1941 . 23. . ProQuest.
    13. News: Actress's Baby Wanders. Mabel Taliaferro's Child is Found in a Wood ... . January 6, 1921 . . January 16, 2023.
    14. News: Robert Ober . 1950-12-08 . Daily News . . 52 . . 2023-01-16.
    15. Web site: Archived copy . August 2, 2015 . March 13, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160313023336/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19480326&id=tzAaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ICUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3382,5058927&hl=en . dead .
    16. News: December 27, 1907. Mabel Taliaferro Hurt In Car Crash. Badly Cut on Arm and Bruised When Brougham is Wrecked on Broadway. New York Times.
    17. News: Mabel Taliaferro, 91, Star of Silent Screen Acted in 100 Plays . . February 3, 1979 .
    18. News: Mabel Taliaferro Star in Play, "The Prince's Secret" . Evening Star . February 18, 1935 . Washington DC . A-12.