Martha Mansfield

Silent film star Martha Mansfield in a 1920 profile study by photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. She was born in New York City on July 14, 1899. At the age of 14, she became determined to become an actress. She lobbied for, and won, a role in the Broadway production of Little Women in 1912. She also began working as an artists' model and dancer. She was signed to a six-month contract with Essanay Studios in 1917 where she appeared in three films with French actor Max Linder. In 1918, she appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies, and later that same year, she made her feature film debut in “Broadway Bill”. In early 1919, Mansfield announced that she had decided to pursue a film career full-time. In October 1919, she appeared in Florenz Ziegfeld's “The Midnight Frolic”. Her first Hollywood movie was “Civilian Clothes” (1920) directed by Hugh Ford. She gained prominence as Millicent Carew in the film adaptation of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1920), which starred John Barrymore. She then signed with Selznick Pictures where she was cast with Eugene O'Brien in “The Perfect Lover” (1919). In 1921, Mansfield returned to the stage in a vaudeville tour. She appeared in two independent films the following year: “Queen of the Moulin Rouge” and “Till We Meet Again” (1922). The promising beauty was signed by Fox Studios in 1923 and began work on a new picture “The Warrens of Virginia” (1924). Nearing the completion of the film, she had just finished a scene and was returning to her automobile when her dress caught fire from a carelessly strewn match. Engulfed in flames, co-star Wilfred Lytell managed to throw his coat around her and extinguish the fire, but it was too late. She was rushed to a hospital where she died the following day of "burns of all extremities, general toxemia and suppression of urine". She was only 24 years old.

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