Mae Clarke Information

Mae Clarke (August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.

Early life and career

Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1] Her father was a theatre organist. She studied dancing as a child and began on stage in vaudeville and in night clubs.^[2]

Clarke started her professional career as a dancer in New York, sharing a room with Barbara Stanwyck. ^[3]She subsequently starred in many films for Universal Studios, including the original screen version of The Front Page (1931) and the first sound version of Frankenstein (1931) with Boris Karloff. Clarke played the role of Henry Frankenstein's fiancee Elizabeth in Frankenstein, who was attacked by the Monster (Karloff) on her wedding day.

The Public Enemy, released that same year, contained one of cinema's most famous (and frequently parodied) scenes, in which James Cagney pushes a half grapefruit into Clarke's face, then goes out to pick up Jean Harlow.^[4] The film was so popular that it ran 24 hours a day at a theatre in Times Square upon its initial release, and Clarke's ex-husband had the grapefruit scene timed and would frequently buy a ticket, enter the theatre to enjoy that sequence, then leave the theatre.^[5]

Clarke appeared as Myra Deauville in the 1931 Pre-Code version of Waterloo Bridge. In the film, she portrays a young American woman who is forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution in World War I London. Both the film and Clarke's performance were well received by the critics.

Clarke also appeared in the modest pre-code Universal film Night World (1932), with Lew Ayres, Boris Karloff and Hedda Hopper.

By the mid-1930s, Clarke was no longer a leading lady and was only featured in small parts through to the 1960s. In the early 1930s, Clarke's face had been left scarred as a result of a car crash, recounts G. Mank in his Frankenstein film saga book It's Alive. He also writes that Mae would attend Frankenstein fan club events during her senior years.

Personal life and death

Clarke was married and divorced three times, to Lewis Brice, Stevens Bancroft and Herbert Langdon. She did not have children.

Clarke died on April 29, 1992, at age 81, from cancer, in Woodland Hills, California. She is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Selected filmography

Features

Short subjects

• Screen Snapshots (1932)
• Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 7 (1937)

References

Notes

1. ^ Mae Clarke at AllRovi
2. ^ Halliwell 1987, p. 130.
3. ^ Madsen 1994, pp. 16–17, 20.
4. ^ Clarke 1996, p. back cover.
5. ^ Cagney 1981, p. 211.

Bibliography

• Cagney, James. Cagney by Cagney. New York: Doubleday, 1981. ISBN 978-0385520263.
• Clarke, Mae. Featured Player: An Oral Autobiography of Mae Clarke; Edited With An Introduction by James Curtis. Santa Barbara: Santa Teresa Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0810830448.
• Halliwell, Leslie. Halliwell's Filmgoers Companion (Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies). New York: Collins Reference, 1997. ISBN 978-0062734785.
• Madsen, Axel. Stanwyck: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 0-06-017997-X.

External links

• Mae Clarke at the Internet Movie Database
• Mae Clarke at AllRovi
• Mae Clarke at the TCM Movie Database
• Mae Clarke at Find a Grave
• Mae Clarke at Virtual History

Categories:

• Actors from Pennsylvania
• American film actors
• American television actors
• Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
• Cancer deaths in California
• People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1910 births
• 1992 deaths

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