Mae Murray

The 74-year-old lady managed to co-write her autobiography in 1959 entitled "The Self-Enchanted" and ended her days in the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, CA.

Created her stage name "May Murray" by taking "May" from the month she was born and "Murray" from one of her favorite hangouts, Murray's Restaurant on 42nd Street.

Mae fought for custody of her son for two years. When she finally was given custody, she was unable to care for him due to financial and personal problems. In 1940, he was adopted by his foster family and his name was changed to Daniel Michael Cunning.

Divorcing Mdvani in 1934, Mae lost her son in a nasty custody battle. The former actress grew more eccentric over the years and was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy, living in abject poverty for the better part of her later life.

She was billed third, behind Lowell Sherman and Irene Dunne in the romantic dramedy Bachelor Apartment (1931) and a co-starring role opposite Sherman again in the crime caper High Stakes (1931).

Her first sound film, Peacock Alley (1930), received lackluster reviews and failed at the box office. As time had taken its leading lady toll on her (she was now past 40), her voice and mannerisms were not deemed suited to talkies. She might have remained on the MGM for a few more years; however, her fourth and last husband, Prince David Mdvani, who she allowed control over her business affairs, ill-advisedly had her leave the studio. Mae only made two more films.

Her last silent film was the MGM romantic drama Altars of Desire (1927) opposite Conway Tearle. Mae's movie career faded with the advent of sound.

Rudolph Valentino was best man at her 1926 marriage to Prince David Mdivani; Pola Negri was matron of honor.

Brought over to MGM, Mae's most acclaimed film would be The Merry Widow (1925) opposite matinée idol John Gilbert and written and directed by Erich von Stroheim.

She also starred in the romantic drama The Masked Bride (1925) and appeared in the title role in Valencia (1926); Altars of Desire (1927).

Mae remained a top star, moving around for different studios playing opposite a number of handsome leading men, including The Gilded Lily (1921) with Lowell Sherman; Peacock Alley (1922) and Broadway Rose (1922) both with Monte Blue; Jazzmania (1923) and The French Doll (1923) both with Rod La Rocque; and, most notably, The Delicious Little Devil (1919) and Big Little Person (1919) both opposite Rudolph Valentino.

Spoke often about discovering Rudolph Valentino and giving him a role in her film The Delicious Little Devil (1919).

Leonard, whom she married in 1918 and divorced in 1925.

Mae became Universal Picture's new darling in the films Princess Virtue (1917), On Record (1917), The Bride's Awakening (1918), Her Body in Bond (1918), Modern Love (1918), Big Little Person (1919) and The Scarlet Shadow (1919). Many of her films, containing dance sequences designed especially for her, were written and produced by her third husband (of four), Robert Z.

In 1916, the strikingly exotic beauty with the frizzy blonde hair moved to films a year later starring as Lady Joselyn alongside handsome Wallace Reid as Captain Ralph Percy in the To Have and to Hold (1916), produced by pioneer producer Jesse L. Lasky.

The success of that film helped move her quickly up the ladder with Lasky starring her in such romantic comedies and dramas as the title role in Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1916), plus The Dream Girl (1916), The Plow Girl (1916), A Mormon Maid (1917) and The Primrose Ring (1917).

Clifton Webb was her steady dance partner throughout the Spring of 1914.

After moving up in status with featured/co-star roles in the Broadway productions of "The Young Turk" (1910), "The Broadway Belles" (1910) and "The Little Highness" (1913) and "The Daisy" (1914), Mae moved up to become a Ziegfeld headliner in 1915. Mae played the top clubs in Paris and in America in an act that accentuated her dancing prowess. Other highly smooth dance partners would follow, including Clifton Webb, Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert.

The lovely lady eventually joined the "Ziegfeld Follies" chorus line in 1908.

Mae's professional career hit an early break when she partnered with ballroom extraordinaire Vernon Castle in the 1906 Broadway show "About Town.

" She continued in the chorus with such New York shows as "The Great Decide" (1906), "Fascinating Flora" (1907), "The Hoyden" (1907) and "The Merry-Go-Round" (1908).

Dubbed "The Girl with the Bee Stung Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen," silent screen star Mae Murray was born in New York City as Marie Adrienne Koenig on May 10, 1885. The middle of three children born to French and German émigrés, she began studying dance at a young age.