Madge Bellamy
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| Madge Bellamy | |
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| Birth name | Margaret Derden Philpott |
| Born | June 30, 1899 Hillsboro, Texas, USA |
| Died | January 24, 1990 (aged 90) Upland, California, USA |
Madge Bellamy (June 30, 1899 – January 24, 1990) was an American film actress who was a popular leading lady in the 1920s.
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[edit] Early life
Bellamy was born in Hillsboro, Texas as Margaret Derden Philpott.
She ran away to New York City at age 17, and soon was working as an actor and dancer on Broadway.
[edit] Career
Bellamy made her film debut in 1920. After 4 years with Famous Players her contract was picked up by 20th Century Fox. Her best known films include Love Never Dies (1921), Lorna Doone (1922), and The Iron Horse (1924).
Bellamy was known as being occasionally impetuous. She made a successful transition to sound film in 1928 with the hit Mother Knows Best but after a dispute with Fox in 1929 she left the studio and could not find work again until 1932 when she began appearing in B movies.
She is perhaps best known today for the 1932 film White Zombie (film) in which she starred opposite Bela Lugosi. She had a reputation of being difficult to work with, led a lavish life, attending all night parties and events on a regular basis. Her love life was just as wild, becoming involved with numerous men during the 1920s and 1930s.
[edit] Scandal and decline
In 1943 she shot her lover, Stanwood Murphy, which generated much publicity at the time and finished her career. At the time of the shooting she was quoted as saying, "I only winged him, which is what I meant to do. Believe me, I'm a crack shot".[1] She made her last screen appearance in 1945. She lived in poverty for much of her post-screen life and worked selling tools in a shop and was unsuccessful in her attempts at becoming a published novelist. In the 1980s, however, she sold her property during the California real estate boom and by her account made more money than she had during her years in films.
Madge Bellamy died of heart failure in Upland, California. Her autobiography, A Darling of the Twenties which she had been planning since the 1970s, was published just months after her death.
[edit] References
- ^ Dindle, Peter; The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia; page 191; McFarland and Company, 2001; ISBN 0-7864-0859-6
