Mae Costello (born Mae Altschuk; August 13, 1882 – August 2, 1929) was an American stage and film actress of the early twentieth-century.

Early life

Mae Costello was born Mae Altschuk in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York to Catherine (''née'' Callender) and Lewis Altschuk (born 1855), a

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n immigrant. As a teenager, she began performing in stage productions in stock theater companies throughout the United States. In 1902, she married actor Maurice Costello.Stein Hoffman, Carol.''The Barrymores: Hollywood's First Family''. University Press of Kentucky, 2001. They had two daughters,

Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903Costello's obituary in ''The New York Times'' says that she was born on September 17, 1905. – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ...

and

Helene Costello Helene Costello (June 21, 1906 – January 26, 1957) was an American stage and film actress, most notably of the silent era. Early life and career Born in New York City, Costello was the youngest daughter of the prominent stage and pioneering ...

, both of whom became successful film actresses. The couple separated in 1910 and divorced in 1927.

Career

Costello appeared in motion pictures beginning in the early 1910s, billed as Mrs. Costello, opposite such actors as

John Bunny John Bunny (September 21, 1863 – April 26, 1915) was an American actor. Bunny began his career as a stage actor, but transitioned to a film career after joining Vitagraph Studios around 1910. At Vitagraph, Bunny made over 150 short films – ma ...

Flora Finch Flora Finch (17 June 1867 – 4 January 1940) was an English-born vaudevillian, stage and film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company. The vast majority of her films from the sil ...

, Wallace Reid, Florence Turner,

Antonio Moreno Antonio Garrido Monteagudo (September 26, 1887 – February 15, 1967), better known as Antonio Moreno or Tony Moreno, was a Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s. Early life and silent fil ...

Bobby Connelly Robert Joseph Connelly (April 4, 1909 – July 5, 1922) was an American child actor of silent films. He is one of the first male child stars of American motion pictures beginning his career in 1913 at the age of four. Career Connelly's parents w ...

and

Clara Kimball Young Clara Kimball Young (born Edith Matilda Clara Kimball; September 6, 1890 – October 15, 1960) was an American film actress who was popular in the early silent film era. Early life Edith Matilda Clara Kimball was born in Chicago on Septembe ...

, as well as her husband and daughters. In 1929, Costello died of heart disease and was interred at the

Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles runs in the community of East Los Angeles. It is also called "New Calvary Cemetery" because it succeeded the original Calvary Cemetery (on north Broadway), over whi ...

, California.

Partial filmography

*''

The Money Mill ''The Money Mill'' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by John S. Robertson and starring Dorothy Kelly, Evart Overton and Gordon Gray.Slide p.147 Cast * Dorothy Kelly as Helen Ogden * Evart Overton as Jack Burton * Gordon Gray as ...

'' - Mrs. King (1917) *''

Her Right to Live ''Her Right to Live'' is a 1917 dramatic silent film released by the Vitagraph Studios. This film is now lost. Plot Polly Biggs (Peggy Hyland) is the eldest of a family of orphaned children who are taken in by their uncle, Mayor Hoadley (John ...

'' - Mrs. Biggs (1917) *''When a Woman Loves'' - Mrs. King (1915) *''The Taming of Betty'' - Mrs. Cutler (1913) *''The Spirit of the Orient'' (1913) *''The One Good Turn'' (1913) *''The Mills of the Gods'' - The Nurse (1912) *''Diamond Cut Diamond'' - The Telephone Operator (1912) *''

Her Crowning Glory ''Her Crowning Glory'' is a 1911 American silent short comedy film directed by Laurence Trimble. The film is preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and is included in the DVD ''Treasures From American Film Archives program #2, 50 Pr ...

'' - The Nurse (1911)

References

External links

* * 1882 births 1929 deaths American stage actresses American film actresses American people of German descent American silent film actresses Actresses from New York (state) People from Brooklyn Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles) 19th-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses Catholics from New York (state) {{US-film-actor-1880s-stub