Madge Bellamy

Silent film star Madge Bellamy as captured by photographer Max Munn Autrey for MOTHER KNOWS BEST (1928). She was born Margaret Philpott in Hillsboro, Texas on June 30, 1899. As a child, she took dancing lessons and aspired to become a stage performer. She got her start in theatre working with a stock company in Denver. Put under a personal contract by a Broadway producer, Madge got her big break when she replaced Helen Hayes in the Broadway play "Dear Brutus". Her success as a stage actress led to her being signed by Fox Pictures. After appearing in a number of movies in the early 20's, Madge is best remembered for her performances in “Lorna Doone” (1922) and “The Iron Horse” (1924). She was also cast in Fox's first part-talking film “Mother Knows Best” (1928). Her final silent film, “Fugitives”, was released in 1929 and her first all talking feature “Tonight at Twelve”, was released later that year. A strong will contrasted her screen image of innocence and led to disagreements over roles by the late 1920's. Her refusal to work in the film “The Trial of Mary Dugan”, which was bought expressly for her, led to her contract with Fox being terminated. It would be 3 years until she returned to the screen in the cult horror favourite “White Zombie” (1932) with Bela Lugosi. For the next few years, she appeared in a small number of low budget films and by 1936 her film career was virtually over. In 1943, she would again appear in the headlines when she shot her lover, millionaire A. Stanford Murphy after he jilted her to marry another woman. The shooting generated a lot of publicity, but effectively ended her already fading career. Madge made her last screen appearance in “Northwest Trail” in 1945 and then returned to the stage in 1946 in the L.A. production of “Holiday Lady”, after which she retired. In her spare time, she wrote screenplays and novels which were never purchased. She suffered from chronic heart problems toward the end of her life and passed away of heart failure in 1990 at the age 90.

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