People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

Maude Fealy

Born 4 March 1883 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, as Maude Mary Hawk.
Died 9 November 1971 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.

Married Louis Hugo Sherwin, 1907; divorced 1909.
Married James Durkin, 1909; divorced 1917.
Married John Cort Jr., 1920; annulled 1923.

Maude Fealy began as an actress at age in with the theatrical touring company her mother performed with and continued acting with her mother through her childhood. In her early twenties, Maude became a leading actreess and performed with future film director Cecil B. DeMille. She and her second husband established the Fealy-Durkin Stock Company.

In 1911 (or 1910), Maude made her film debut for the Thanhouser Company and alternated between stage and film work. In 1913, she signed a three-year contract with Thanhouser but broke the agreement when she and her husband left the company in 1914. Presumably, Maude and James returned to stage work in between sporadic film appearances.

While she did not appear in many films, over the course of her silent era career Maude worked for Thanhouser Company (1910-1913), Thanhouser Film Corporation (1913-1914), New York Motion Picture Corporation (1914), Holland Film Manufacturing Company (1914), The Balboa Amusement Producing Company (1915), Knickerbocker Star Features (1915), George Kleine Productions (1915), Ivan Film Productions, Incorporated (1916), and Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, Incorporated (1917).

Fealy may not have made any other motion pictures after 1917, until 1931. Maude taught acting in Denver, Colorado, and Los Angeles over the years. She appeared in a number of small roles in films through 1958.

References: Website-IMDb; Website-Wikipedia.