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Mae Murray (May 10, 1889 - March 23, 1965) was an
United States|American actor|actress and dancer,
who became known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung
Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen."

Born Marie Adrienne Koenig in Portsmouth,
Virginia|Portsmouth, Virginia, she first began
acting on the Broadway theatre|Broadway
theater|stage in 1906 with dancer Vernon and Irene
Castle|Vernon Castle. In 1908, she joined the
chorus line of the Ziegfeld Follies, moving up to
headliner by 1915.

Murray became a star of the club circuit in both
the United States and Europe, performing with
Clifton Webb, Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert
(actor)|John Gilbert, among others.

Her film|motion picture debut was in To Have and
to Hold (1916 in film|1916). She became a major
movie star|star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring
with Rudolph Valentino in Delicious Little Devil
and Big Little Person in 1919 in film|1919.

Murray's most-famous role was probably in The
Merry Widow (movie)|The Merry Widow (1925 in
film|1925) opposite John Gilbert.  However, when
silent film|silent movies gave way to sound
film|talkies, Murray's voice proved to be not
compatible with the new sound, and her career
began to fade. Her career was injured even further
when her fourth husband, Prince David Mdivani (a
Russian nobleman whose brother, Serge, married
Pola Negri), became her manager and suggested that
she leave MGM. Eventually, the pair divorced, and
Murray lost custody of their son in a bitter court
battle.

Murray's finances continued to collapse, and for
most of her later life she lived in poverty. She
wrote a not-particularly-successful autobiography,
The Self-Enchanted.

She later moved into the Motion Picture &
Television Country House and Hospital|Motion
Picture House in Woodland Hills,
California|Woodland Hills, a retirement community
for Hollywood professionals, where she died.

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0615141|name=Mae Murray
http://silentgents.com/Gents.html Silent Ladies &
Gents