| May Boley | |
| Birth Name: | May Blossom Boley |
| Birth Date: | 29 May 1881 |
| Birth Place: | Washington, District of Columbia |
| Death Place: | Hollywood, California |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Spouse: | Lt. Frederick Lindsley Nicholson (1901–?) |
May Blossom Boley[1] (May 29, 1881 – January 7, 1963) was an American actress known for her role as Whale Oil Rosie in Moby Dick (1930).[2]
Besides being an actress, Boley was a dancer. An article in an 1898 issue of a newspaper commented on "the grace with which she accomplished a difficult solo dance".[3] In 1900, she was a member of the Alice Nielsen Opera Company.[4] Her last stage appearance in New York was in the musical Jubilee.[5] As a singer in the musical Hit the Deck (1927), Boley introduced the popular song "Hallelujah".[6]
Boley starred in The Great Pie Mystery (1931) with Harry Gribbon, Alma Bennett, Harry Myers, Dick Stewart, George Gray and Julia Griffith; Hail, the Princess (1930) with Monte Collins and Alma Bennett; Beneath the Law (1929) with Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough; and Richard Carle in The Warrior (1928) with James Sullivan. She also starred in The Women (1939),[7] and Dangerous Curves (1929) as Mrs Spinelli.[8]
Ethan Mordden, in his book Sing for Your Supper: The Broadway Musical in the 1930s, wrote that Boley resembled Elsa Maxwell.[9]
On August 2, 1901, in New York City, Boley married Lieutenant Frederick Lindsley Nicholson, a British Army officer from Putney Hill, London, England.[1]
On January 7, 1963, Boley died in Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital following a long illness. She was 81.[10]