Mary Freeman Byrne (née Keith) (4 October 1886 – 18 January 1961) was an American author who sometimes wrote under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Marie Byrne. Byrne was born in Brockton,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and trained for the stage at the Leland Powers Theatrical School in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. She appeared in plays with such actors of the day as

Joan Davis Josephine "Joan" Davis (June 29, 1912 – May 23, 1961) was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy '' I Married Joan'', Davis had a successful ea ...

and

Donald Meek Thomas Donald Meek (14 July 1878 – 18 November 1946) was a Scottish-American actor. He first performed publicly at the age of eight and began appearing on Broadway in 1903. Meek appeared in the films '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938) a ...

. She gave up acting and settled in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

after marrying Ferdinand Byrne, who had a medical practise in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Byrne wrote short stories for American and British magazines, including ''Modern Weekly'', ''Charm'', and ''Home Weekly''. Byrne published her novel ''Softly Softly'' in 1958, under the pen name Marie Byrne. Byrne died at coastal Old House Farm,

West Itchenor West Itchenor is a village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula The Manhood Peninsula is in the southwest of West Sussex in England. It has the English Channel to its south and Chichester to the north. It is bordered to its west by Chi ...

, West Sussex England in 1961 whereas her main home was declared to be 3 Watford Home, Northwood, Middlesex. Her estate was publicly sworn at £16,673 (). Her executors were Natalie W V Wolff, Phyllis R Doyle, and Miles Austin Byrne, an actor-relative.

References

1886 births 1961 deaths 20th-century American women writers Pseudonymous women writers People from Brockton, Massachusetts Writers from Massachusetts 20th-century pseudonymous writers {{US-story-writer-stub