Margaret Illington (born Maude Light; July 23, 1879 – March 11, 1934) was an American stage actress popular in the first decade of the 20th century. She later made an attempt at

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

acting by making two films with Adolph Zukor's

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...

franchise.

Biography

Maude Light was born on July 23, 1879 in Bloomington, Illinois to I.H. Light and his wife, Mary Ellen. She was educated at

Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...

and then for two years was a pupil at Conway's Dramatic School in Chicago. She made her Broadway debut in 1900 and a few years later she married Broadway impresario

Daniel Frohman Daniel Frohman (August 22, 1851 – December 26, 1940) was an American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer. Biography Frohman was born to a Jewish family in Sandusky, Ohio. His parents were Henry (1826–1899) and Ba ...

in 1903 making her a sister-in-law of powerful theater owner

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

. The marriage didn't last the decade and ended in 1909 but her association with Frohman was a tremendous boost to her career. An early Broadway success was ''The Two Orphans'', 1904, co-starring

Grace George Grace George (December 25, 1879 – May 19, 1961) was a prominent American stage actress, who had a long career on Broadway stage and also appeared in two films. Biography Grace George was born on December 25, 1879. She married producer Willi ...

. She and George played the sisters later played famously by Lillian and

Dorothy Gish Dorothy Elizabeth Gish (March 11, 1898June 4, 1968) was an American actress of the screen and stage, as well as a director and writer. Dorothy and her older sister Lillian Gish were major movie stars of the silent era. Dorothy also had great s ...

in D. W. Griffith's 1921 film

Orphans of the Storm ''Orphans of the Storm'' is a 1921 American silent drama film by D. W. Griffith set in late-18th-century France, before and during the French Revolution. The last Griffith film to feature both Lillian and Dorothy Gish, it was a commercial failu ...

Illington married Edward Bowes in 1910 and desired to have a baby according to newspaper accounts that interviewed her. But it was not to be and she continued in plays. One of her best known plays at this time was ''Kindling'' later turned into a 1916 silent film by

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

, but minus Illington. Illington did have some filmmaking experience appearing in Edwin Porter's popular 1905 '' The Train Wreckers'' as the female lead. In 1917 Illington decided to try her hand at feature moviemaking and signed with Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky. She starred in ''

The Inner Shrine ''The Inner Shrine'' is a 1917 silent produced by Jesse Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the first of only two films that starred Margaret Illington, a noted Broadway actress. The story is from a 1909 novel, The Inner Shrine', ...

'' and '' Sacrifice'', both directed by stage actor

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reicher; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in Mu ...

. Zukor famously visited her on the set during the making of ''The Inner Shrine''. When her two films were completed she returned to the stage and remained for about two years before retiring in 1919. In 1906 she was painted by the Swiss-born American society painter

Adolfo Müller-Ury Adolfo Müller-Ury, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life. Heritage and early life in Switzerland He was born Felice Adolfo Müller on 29 March ...

, a three-quarter seated portrait wearing a gown from the play "Mrs Leffingwall's Boots", which was exhibited at the gallery of M. Knoedler & Co., Fifth Avenue that December. Müller-Ury sent the picture to the Paris Salon in 1907 (No. 1191), and exhibited it three times more in 1908 in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. It was reproduced in ''The Metropolitan Magazine'', Vol. XXV, No. 1, 5 October 1906. On March 11, 1934, Illington died in St. Francis Hospital in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

References

External links

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portrait
by Peyton and Strauss, 1913 {{DEFAULTSORT:Illington, Margaret 1879 births 1934 deaths Actresses from Illinois American stage actresses American silent film actresses 20th-century American actresses Illinois Wesleyan University alumni Frohman family Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery People from Bloomington, Illinois