Mary Alden

Mary Maguire Alden (June 18, 1883 – July 2, 1946) was an American motion picture and stage actress. She was one of the first Broadway actresses to work in Hollywood. She worked for the Biograph Company and Pathé Exchange in the first portion of her career. Her most popular role in movies came in The Birth of a Nation directed by D.W. Griffith in 1915. Alden played the role of a mulatto woman in love with a northern politician. The following year she was in Griffith's Intolerance with Mae Marsh, Miriam Cooper, and Vera Lewis. After making Less Than The Dust with Mary Pickford in 1917, she took a temporary leave from motion pictures, acting for a while on the stage. Critics acclaimed Alden's portrayal of the mother, Mrs. Anthon, in The Old Nest and her characterization of an old lady in The Man With Two Mothers (1922). The latter feature was produced by Sam Goldwyn.

Alden was a prolific motion picture actress throughout the 1920s and into the early 1930s. A sampling of movies in which she had roles are The Plastic Age (1925), The Joy Girl (1927), Ladies of the Mob (1928), and Port of Dreams (1929). The final films she received screen credit for are Hell's House, Rasputin and the Empress, and Strange Interlude, each from 1932.

Alden died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California in 1946, aged 63 years. This had been her residence for the last four years of her life. Alden was interred in an unmarked grave under her married name of Deangman in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California.

Selected filmography

The Battle of the Sexes (1914) as Mrs. Frank Andrews Home, Sweet Home (1914) as The Mother The Old Fisherman's Story (1914) as The Gypsy The Birth of a Nation (1915) as Lydia Brown, Stoneman's Housekeeper The Slave Girl (1915, Short) as Sally, a Yellow Girl The Outcast (1915) as The Girl's Mother A Man's Prerogative (1915) as Elizabeth Towne Ghosts (1915) as Helen Arling The Lily and the Rose (1915) as Mrs. Fairfax Acquitted (1916) as Mrs. Carter The Good Bad-Man (1916) as Jane Stuart Macbeth (1916) as Lady Macduff An Innocent Magdalene (1916) as The Woman Hell-to-Pay Austin (1916) as Doris Valentine Pillars of Society (1916) as Lona Tonnesen The Narrow Path (1916) as Shirley Martin Intolerance (1916) as Uplifter #1 Less Than the Dust (1916) as Mrs. Bradshaw The Argyle Case (1917) as Nellie Marsh The Land of Promise (1917) as Gertie Marsh The Naulahka (1918) as Prince's Mother The Narrow Path (1918) as Margaret Dunn Common Clay (1919) as Mrs. Neal The Unpardonable Sin (1919) as Mrs. Parcot The Mother and the Law (1919) as An Uplifter The Broken Butterfly (1919) as Zabie Elliot Erstwhile Susan (1919) as Erstwhile Susan The Inferior Sex (1920) as Clarissa Mott-Smith Parted Curtains (1920) as Mrs. Masters Miss Nobody (1920) as Jason's Wife Milestones (1920) as Rose Sibley Honest Hutch (1920) as Mrs. Hutchins Silk Husbands and Calico Wives (1920) as Edith Beecher Kendall Trust Your Wife (1921) The Witching Hour (1921) as Helen Whipple Snowblind (1921) as Bella The Old Nest (1921) as Mrs. Anthon Man with Two Mothers (1922) as Widow O'Neill The Hidden Woman (1922) as Mrs. Randolph A Woman's Woman (1922) as Densie Plummer Notoriety (1922) as Ann Boland The Bond Boy (1922) as Mrs. Newboat Has the World Gone Mad! (1923) as Mrs. Bell The Tents of Allah (1923) as Oulaid The Empty Cradle (1923) as Alice Larkin The Steadfast Heart (1923) as Mrs. Burke The Eagle's Feather (1923) as Delia Jamiesoon Pleasure Mad (1923) as Marjorie Benton Painted People (1924) as Mrs. Bryne A Fool's Awakening (1924) as Myra When a Girl Loves (1924) as The Czarina Babbitt (1924) as Mrs. Myra Babbitt The Beloved Brute (1924) as Augustina Siege (1925) as Aunt Augusta Ruyland Faint Perfume (1925) as Ma Crumb The Happy Warrior (1925) as Aunt Maggie Under the Rouge (1925) as Martha Maynard The Unwritten Law (1925) as Miss Grant Soiled (1925) as Mrs. Brown The Plastic Age (1925) as Mrs. Carver The Earth Woman (1926) as Martha Tilden (The Earth Woman) Brown of Harvard (1926) as Mrs. Brown Lovey Mary (1926) as Mrs. Wiggs April Fool (1926) as Amelia Rosen The Potters (1927) as Ma Potter The Joy Girl (1927) as Mrs. Courage Twin Flappers (1927) Fools for Luck (1928) as Mrs. Hunter Ladies of the Mob (1928) as Soft Annie The Cossacks (1928) as Lukashka's Mother The Sawdust Paradise (1928) as Mother Someone to Love (1928) as Harriet Newton Girl Overboard (1929) Bad Sister (1931) as Minor Role (uncredited) Politics (1931) as Mrs. Mary Evans Hell's House (1932) as Lucy Mason (uncredited) When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932) as Mrs. Higgins (uncredited) Strange Interlude (1932) as Mary, the Leeds' maid Rasputin and the Empress (1932) as Natasha's Lady in Waiting (uncredited) One More Spring (1935) as Minor Role (uncredited) The Great Hotel Murder (1935) as Mrs. Harvey (uncredited) Gentle Julia (1936) as Aunt (uncredited) Legion of Terror (1936) as Accident Onlooker (uncredited) Career Woman (1936) as Townswoman (uncredited) That I May Live (1937) as Woman in Auto Camp (uncredited) (final film role)