Maxine Elliott

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Maxine Elliott
Maxine Elliott c.1901
Born	February 5, 1868 (1868-02-05) Rockland, Maine
Died	March 5, 1940 (aged 72) Cannes, France
Occupation	Film, stage actress

Maxine Elliott (February 5, 1868, Rockland, Maine - March 5, 1940, Cannes, France) was an American stage actress.

It is said that reviewers disagreed "over whether it was her beauty or her acting ability that attracted attention"^[1] In addition to her stage skills, Elliott was also a savvy businesswoman.

Born as Jessie Dermott, she adopted her stage name in 1889, making her first appearance in 1890 in The Middleman. In 1895, she got her first big break when Agustin Daly hired her as a supporting actress for his star player, Ada Rehan. After divorcing her first husband, Elliott married comedian Nat C. Goodwin in 1898. The two starred together at home and abroad in such hits as Nathan Hale and The Cowboy and the Lady.

In a production of The Merchant of Venice, she negotiated a contract for $200 and one-half of the profits over $20,000. She was billed alone when Charles B. Dillingham's production of Her Own Way opened on Broadway on September 28, 1903. From then on, Elliott was a star. When the production moved to London in 1905, King Edward VII asked that she be presented to him. Her younger sister, Gertrude, was married to the English actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson.

Goodwin eventually divorced Elliott in 1908. Shortly afterward, she returned to New York City to open her own Maxine Elliott Theatre, opening with The Chaperon. Elliott experimented with acting in silent films in 1913. In that year, she was in Slim Driscoll, Samaritan, When the West Was Young and A Doll for the Baby, but soon returned to London.

During World War I, Elliott returned to Europe and volunteered both her income and her time to the cause of Belgian relief, for which she received the Belgian Order of the Crown. She was dating tennis star Tony Wilding and they may have planned to marry, but he was killed in 1915.

Elliott's last stage appearance was in 1920 in Trimmed in Scarlett, aged 52. She then retired from acting, announcing that she "wished to grow middle-aged gracefully".^[2] Successful in business and investment, Elliott had homes in America and in Europe. She died in Cannes, France, a wealthy woman, at the age of 72. She was the subject of a biography titled "My Aunt Maxine: The Story of Maxine Elliot" c.1964 written by her niece Diana Forbes-Robertson.