A publicity photo of Mae Murray (Marie Adelaide Koenig, 1885-1965) by Ruth Harriet Louise (Ruth Goldstein, 1903-1940), MGM’s chief portrait photographer 1925-30
Mae Murray appeared in the 1908 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES as a member of the chorus (“Brinkley Girl” and a member of the “Bowery Group”); by 1915 she was (probably) a featured star in the “Blue Follies.”
With Francis X. Bushman (1883-1966) in THE MASKED BRIDE
Her career in Hollywood has eclipsed her Broadway period, since she became internationally famous as a film star, “The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips.” Her glamour was intense, although, in retrospect, sadly brief — after a lengthy period of apprenticeship (she made her Broadway début in 1906 in Lew M. Fields’s ABOUT TOWN; her first film was TO HAVE AND TO HOLD in 1916), she reached the apex of fame with THE MERRY WIDOW and THE MASKED BRIDE (both 1925).
Her 1926 marriage to (Prince) David Mdivani (1904-1984) proved ruinous. One of the “Marrying Mdivanis” — the second M was silent — he was only notionally a prince; it is fairer to say he was an Olympic-class gigolo, one of several siblings who specialized in marrying for money and fame.
Mae Murray’s later life was a sad one — her hard-won diva laurels provided no cushion for a series of hard knocks.
