Mary Murillo (born Mary O'Connor; 22 January 1888 – 4 February 1944) was an English actress, screenwriter, and businesswoman active during Hollywood's
silent film
A silent film is a film without synchronized 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) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
era.
Early life
Mary was the illegitimate daughter of Sarah Mary Peacock (née Sunter). In 1894, her mother married Edward O'Connor, a Roman Catholic Irish commercial traveller, and she was raised as Mary O'Connor. She was the eldest of four sisters (she also had an elder stepsister, Isabel Peacock, who later appeared in American films as
Isabel Daintry). She was educated at St. Monica's in Skipton, Yorkshire, and at the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Roehampton. She adopted the professional name Mary Murillo after being compared in looks to a Murillo painting of the Madonna.
Career
In 1908, she traveled to America with her stepsister to start a stage career, and in February 1909, she made her debut in the chorus of the Broadway musical comedy ''Havana''. She toured the United States, finding only small parts until 1913, when she started sending scenarios to film companies. Her first script to be accepted was bought by the husband-and-wife team of
Phillips Smalley
Wendell Phillips Smalley (August 7, 1865 – May 2, 1939) was an American silent film director and actor.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, he was the grandson of Wendell Phillips; he was the son of George Washburn Smalle ...
and
Lois Weber
Florence Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 – November 13, 1939) was an American silent film director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She is identified in some historical references as among "the most important and prolific film directors in the e ...
. Other commissions followed, and the first film known to be credited to her is 1914's ''A Strand of Blond Hair'', a
Vitagraph
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907 ...
comedy short starring
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 ...
and
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 sile ...
.
[Profile of Mary Murillo at womenandsilentbritishcinema.wordpress.com](_blank)
/ref>
She wrote five melodramas for Theda Bara
Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...
during the 1910s popularity of vamp films. She also wrote for Bara's Fox rival, Valeska Suratt. Murillo served as screenwriter for Fox Film
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1914 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. It was the corporate successor to his earlier Greater Ne ...
from 1916 to 1917, then joining Norma Talmadge
Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent film, silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among ...
Productions in 1919. She returned to the UK in 1923 to work for Stoll Film Studios. She wrote the script for the hit French sound film ''Accusée, levez-vous!'' (1930). In 1936, she formed the company Opticolor to market in Britain a French motion picture colour system, Francita, developed by her husband, Maurice Velle, son of French film pioneer Gaston Velle
Gaston Velle (1868–1953) was a French silent film director and pioneer of special effects, who was prominent in early French and Italian cinema during the first two decades of the 20th century. Like his father, the Hungarian entertainer Joseph ...
, but the business failed after a disastrous demonstration of the system. She later worked for J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank's Religious Films Ltd.
A selection of films made by Murillo, Maurice Velle, and Gaston Velle was featured at Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival in Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
in 2015.
Filmography
* '' A Strand of Blond Hair'' (1914)
* '' Mavis of the Glen'' (1915)
* ''The Little Gypsy
''The Little Gypsy'' is a lost 1915 silent film drama directed by Oscar Apfel and starring Dorothy Bernard. It was produced by William Fox and released through Fox Film Corporation.
Cast
*Dorothy Bernard - Babbie
*Thurlow Bergen - Gavin
*Raymo ...
'' (1915)
* ''The Unfaithful Wife
''The Unfaithful Wife'' () is a 1969 French–Italian erotic thriller film written and directed by Claude Chabrol and starring Stéphane Audran and Michel Bouquet. The story follows a businessman who discovers his wife has been unfaithful.
Plo ...
'' (1915)
* '' A Soldier's Oath'' (1915)
* '' The Green-Eyed Monster'' (1916)
* '' A Parisian Romance'' (1916)
* '' Gold and the Woman'' (1916)
* ''Blazing Love
''Blazing Love'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Kenean Buel and starring Virginia Pearson and Louise Huff.Solomon p.233
Cast
* Virginia Pearson as Margaret Walsh
* Louise Huff
Louise Huff (November 14, 1895 – August ...
'' (1916)
* '' The Eternal Sapho'' (1916)
* '' Sins of Men'' (1916)
* ''East Lynne
''East Lynne, or, The Earl's Daughter'' is an 1861 English sensation novel by Ellen Wood, writing as Mrs. Henry Wood. A Victorian-era bestseller, it is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot centering on infidelity and dou ...
'' (1916)
* ''Ambition
Ambition, Ambitions or Ambitious may refer to:
* Ambition (character trait)
Music
* Ambitions (album), ''Ambitions'' (album), a 2017 album by One Ok Rock
* Ambition (Tommy Shaw album), ''Ambition'' (Tommy Shaw album), 2014
* Ambition (Wale al ...
'' (1916)
* '' The Unwelcome Mother'' (1916)
* '' Her Double Life'' (1916)
* '' The War Bride's Secret'' (1916)
* '' Love and Hate'' (1916)
* '' The Vixen'' (1916)
* '' The Bitter Truth'' (1917)
* '' Love Aflame'' (1917)
* '' The New York Peacock'' (1917)
* '' Sister Against Sister'' (1917)
* ''Love's Law
''Love's Law'' is a 1917 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Tefft Johnson and starring Joan Sawyer, Stuart Holmes and Olga Grey.Solomon p.238
Cast
* Joan Sawyer as Innocence, later Moner Moyer
* Stuart Holmes as Andre
* Olga G ...
'' (1917)
* '' Tangled Lives'' (1917)
* ''She
She or S.H.E. may refer to:
Language
* She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English
Places
* She County, Anhui
** She Prefecture, 589-1121
* She County, Hebei
* She River, or Sheshui, Hubei
* ...
'' (1917)
* '' Two Little Imps'' (1917)
* ''Jack and the Beanstalk
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...
'' (1917)
* '' Wrath of Love'' (1917)
* '' Outwitted'' (1917)
* '' The Eternal Mother'' (1917)
* '' The Secret of the Storm Country'' (1917)
* '' The Avenging Trail'' (1917)
* ''Cheating the Public
''Cheating the Public'' is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Richard Stanton and starring Enid Markey, Ralph Lewis and Bertram Grassby.
Cast
* Enid Markey as Mary Garvin
* Ralph Lewis as John Dowling
* Bertram Grassby as Chester ...
'' (1918)
* '' The Reason Why'' (1918)
* '' Her Only Way'' (1918)
* '' The Forbidden City'' (1918)
* ''The Panther Woman
''The Panther Woman'' is a 1918 American drama film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Olga Petrova. It was written by Mary Murillo based upon the 1895 novel ''Patience Sparhawk and Her Times'' by Gertrude Atherton and released in October 1918 b ...
'' (1918)
* '' The Heart of Wetona'' (1919)
* '' The Other Man's Wife'' (1919)
* ''Mothers of Men
''Mothers of Men'' is a 1917 silent film directed by Willis Robards, promoting woman's suffrage. The seven-reel drama is considered lost. A five-reel re-edited version also directed by Robards was released in 1921—following ratification of the ...
'' (1920)
* '' Yes or No'' (1920)
* '' The Wonderful Chance'' (1920)
* '' The New York Idea'' (1920)
* '' The Passion Flower'' (1921)
* ''The Sign on the Door
''The Sign on the Door'' is a 1921 American silent film, silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge and Lew Cody. The film was directed and written by Herbert Brenon, and based upon the 1919 play of the same name by Channing Pollock (writer), Cha ...
'' (1921)
* ''Perjury
Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
'' (1921)
* '' Shams of Society'' (1921)
* '' Moonshine Valley'' (1922)
* ''The Sins Ye Do
''The Sins Ye Do'' is a 1924 British silent romance film directed by Fred LeRoy Granville and starring Joan Lockton, Henry Victor and Eileen Dennes. It was made at Cricklewood Studios by Stoll Pictures.
Plot
"A British love drama about a man ...
'' (1924)
* '' The Princess and the Clown'' (1924)
* '' Forbidden Cargoes'' (1925)
* ''A Woman Redeemed
''A Woman Redeemed'' is a 1927 British crime film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Joan Lockton, Brian Aherne and James Carew. The screenplay concerns a secret society that tries to steal sensitive information. The film was based on the ...
'' (1927)
* '' King's Mate'' (1928)
* '' Mon gosse de père'' (1930)
* '' Accused, Stand Up!'' (1930)
* '' My Old Dutch'' (1934)
References
Further reading
* Luke McKernan, 'Searching for Mary Murillo' in Christine Gledhill and Julia Knight (eds.), ''Doing Women's Film History: Reframing Cinemas, Past and Future'' (Urbana, Chicago and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2015),
* Christina Petersen,
Mary Murillo
, Women Film Pioneers Project (2017)
External links
- ''MARY MURILLO, EARLY ANGLO LATINA SCENARIST,'' by Antonio R¨ªos-Bustamanten University of Arizona (1995)
*
portrait of Mary Murillo
portrait of Isabel Daintry, Murillo's step-sister
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murillo, Mary
1888 births
1944 deaths
Actresses from Bradford
English people of Irish descent
English women screenwriters
Women film pioneers
20th-century English screenwriters
20th-century English women
20th-century English people
English expatriate actresses in the United States