Mary Alden
1883 - 1946Mary Maguire Alden (June 18, 1883 – July 2, 1946) was an American motion picture and stage actress. She was one of the first Broadway actresses to work in Hollywood.
Born in New York City, Alden began her career on the Broadway stage. She spent five years on Broadway before moving to Hollywood where she worked for the Biograph Company and Pathé Exchange in the first portion of her career. Her most popular role in movies came in Birth of a Nation directed by D.W. Griffith in 1915. Alden played the role of a mulatto girl in love with a northern politician. The following year she was in Griffith's Intolerance with Mae Marsh, Miriam Cooper, and Vera Lewis. After making Less Than The Dust with Mary Pickford in 1917, she took a temporary leave from motion pictures, acting for a while on the stage. Critics acclaimed Alden's portrayal of the mother, Mrs. Anthon, in The Old Nest (1921) and her characterization of an old lady in The Man With Two Mothers (1922). The latter feature was produced by Sam Goldwyn.
Alden was prolific as a motion picture actress throughout the 1920s and into the early 1930s. A sampling of movies in which she had roles are The Plastic Age (1925), The Joy Girl (1927), Ladies of the Mob (1928), and Port of Dreams (1929). The final films she received screen credit for are Hell's House, Rasputin and the Empress, and Strange Interlude, each from 1932.
Alden died at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California in 1946. This had been her residence for the last four years of her life. She was 63 years of age.
Parted Curtains
James C. Bradford, James C. Bradford
Henry B. Walthall, Mary Alden
A young man just released from prison can't find work because no employer will hire an ex-convict. Broke and hungry, he steals money off of a painter. The painter, however, takes pity on him and decides to help him get his life back together.
Parted Curtains
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
D. W. Griffith
Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Erstwhile Susan
John S. Robertson
Constance Binney, Jere Austin
Barnabetta Dreary's grim life of slaving for her Pennsylvania Dutch father Barnaby and her two brothers, is surprisingly changed when Barnaby marries Juliet Miller. Known as Erstwhile Susan, she becomes fond of Barnabetta, and because she retains control of her fortune, induces the other Drearys to relieve Barnabetta of some of her drudgery.
Erstwhile Susan
The Unwritten Law
Edward LeSaint
Elaine Hammerstein, Forrest Stanley
The Unwritten Law is an extant 1925 silent film crime melodrama directed by Edward LeSaint and starring Elaine Hammerstein. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures Corporation. In the UK distribution was handled by Film Booking Offices of America.
The Unwritten Law
Milestones
Paul Scardon
Lewis Stone, Alice Hollister
1860 ushers in the era of iron ships, Richard Sibley, a builder of wooden ships, stubbornly resists the change, which leads him to forbid the marriage of his daughter Rose to John Rhead, a proponent of the new method. This injustice outrages John's sister Gertrude so much that she breaks off her engagement to Sibley's son Sam. Meanwhile, John and Rose elope.
Milestones
The Lily and the Rose
Paul Powell
Lillian Gish, Wilfred Lucas
To the dismay of Allison Edwards, her bookworm, adoring neighbor, Mary Randolph, falls in love with and marries Jack Van Norman, a rich and handsome former football star. After a few months of marital contentment, Jack becomes infatuated with Rose, an exotic dancer.
The Lily and the Rose
Faint Perfume
Louis J. Gasnier
Seena Owen, William Powell
After a stormy six year marriage, Barnaby Powers divorces his wife Richmiel. She returns home, taking their young son Oliver with her. Barnaby follows her, to ask for custody of the boy, but meets and falls in love with Richmiel's pretty and sensitive cousin Ledda. Complications ensue.
Faint Perfume
Hell-to-Pay Austin
Paul Powell
Wilfred Lucas, Bessie Love
After her father's death, little Briar Rose is taken in by the men at a lumber camp. The girl shows a definite preference for one of the lumberjacks, "Hell-to-Pay" Austin, so he becomes her new "father." Just as much as Hell-to-Pay takes care of Briar, she watches over him, and it is largely through her influence that he gives up hard drinking and needless fighting. Then, when Briar is old enough, she goes away to school and quickly falls in with the wrong crowd. Hell-to-Pay comes after her and takes her away from Doris Valentine, an adventuress who had been teaching Briar the tricks of the trade. When they are reunited, Hell-to-Pay and Briar realize that they are in love, so they decide to change their relationship from guardian and ward to husband and wife.
Hell-to-Pay Austin