Mae Costello (née Altschuk; August 13, 1882 – August 2, 1929) was an American stage and film actress of the early twentieth-century.
Early life
Mae was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York to Catherine (''née'' Callender) and Lewis Altschuk (born 1855), a
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
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
Maurice George Costello (February 22, 1877 – October 29, 1950) was a prominent American vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s who later played a principal role in early American films as leading man, supporting player, and director ...
.
[Stein Hoffman, Carol.''The Barrymores: Hollywood's First Family''. University Press of Kentucky, 2001. ] They had two daughters,
Dolores Costello and
Helene Costello, 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 – m ...
,
Flora Finch,
Wallace Reid
William Wallace Halleck Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923)
was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover".
He also had a brief career as a racing driver.
Early life
Reid was born in St. Lou ...
,
Florence Turner
Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films.
Biography
Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by h ...
,
Antonio Moreno,
Bobby Connelly and
Clara Kimball Young, as well as her husband and daughters.
In 1929, Costello died of heart disease and was interred at the
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California.
Partial filmography
*''
The Money Mill'' - Mrs. King (1917)
*''
Her Right to Live'' - 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'' - 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 Brooklyn
Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles)
19th-century American actresses
20th-century American actresses
Catholics from New York (state)
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