May McAvoy
Birthday: 1899-09-06
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia May McAvoy (September 8, 1899 – April 26, 1984) was an American actress who worked mainly during the silent film era. Some of her major roles are Laura Pennington in The Enchanted Cottage, Esther in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, and Mary Dale in The Jazz Singer. McAvoy appeared in her first film, entitled Hate, in 1917. After appearing in more than three dozen films, she co-starred with Ramón Novarro and Francis X. Bushman in director Fred Niblo's 1925 production of Ben-Hur, released by MGM. The feature-length film was one of the most lavish and spectacular productions of the silent movie era. Although her voice was not heard in The Jazz Singer, McAvoy did speak in several other films, including the second "all-talkie" released by Warner Brothers, The Terror, which was directed by Roy Del Ruth and co-starred Conrad Nagel. For years a rumor circulated that McAvoy retired from the screen at the transition to sound films because of a lisp or speech impediment. In truth, she married the treasurer of United Artists, who asked her not to work. Later, she returned to films and played small roles during the 1940s and 1950s, making her final film appearance in a small part in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur.
Movies
The Jazz Singer
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects...
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Love Crazy
Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorc...
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Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman of...
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Third Finger, Left Hand
Magazine editor Margot Merrick pretends to be married in order to avoid advances from male colleague...
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Two Girls and a Sailor
A sailor helps two sisters start up a service canteen. The sailor soon becomes taken with gorgeous s...
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A Homespun Vamp
The story of Meg Mackenzie, the orphaned niece of two stingy Scotsmen, Donald and Duncan Craig. She'...
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Clarence
Clarence Smith is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler primarily because he has ov...
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Hollywood
Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She l...
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Lady Windermere's Fan
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire person...
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The Bedroom Window
William C. DeMille, Cecil B. DeMille's talented director brother, teamed with his favorite collabora...
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The Fire Brigade
Terry O'Neill is the youngest of a family of Irish firefighters. He falls in love with Helen Corwin,...
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Irish Hearts
Sheila, a feisty Irish girl, loves Emmett, a somewhat shady Irish boy. When Emmett goes to America, ...
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Three Women
A frivolous middle aged socialite is suddenly put upon to have her daughter live with her. Her conni...
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The Yellow Cab Man
Pirdy is accident prone. He has been denied insurance from every company in town because he is alway...
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The Mad Whirl
A teenager with permissive parents gets too caught up in wild parties and the fast life....
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A Trip to Paramountown
Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, feat...
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I'll Say So
Hearing that the United States has just declared war on Germany, Bill Durham hurries to a recruiting...
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Morals
Reared in a Turkish harem and threatened with marriage to a man she does not love, Carlotta escapes ...
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Only 38
The death of her clergyman husband causes Mrs. Stanley, young mother of teenage twins, to change her...
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A Perfect Lady
Dancer Lucille Le Jambon (whose real name is Lucy Higgins) loses her job when the morals committee o...
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The Bad and the Beautiful
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, ...
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A Private Scandal
A French orphan girl is adopted into the home of wealthy Americans. There she becomes romantically i...
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The Devil's Garden
William Dale, a servant for Lord Barradine, marries Mavis, a maid. Dale wants to move up in life, an...
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Hollywood: Style Center of the World
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It ...
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Her Reputation
Discovering that he has only a brief time to live Louisiana plantation owner Andres Miro makes arran...
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Two Girls on Broadway
Eddie Kerns sells his song to a Broadway producer and also lands a job dancing in the musical. He se...
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Ben-Hur
In 26 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accuse...
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My Old Dutch
The story that inspired Albert Chevalier to write his immortal Costermonger song, 'My Old Dutch', is...
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The Truth About Husbands
With an eye towards social climbing wealthy Dustan Renshaw breaks his engagement with Janet Preece t...
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A Reno Divorce
An attractive heiress, Carla (May McAvoy), and David (Ralph Graves), a successful artist, fall in lo...
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The Little Snob
May Banks (May McAvoy) is a working-class girl who gets ideas above her station in life when her fat...
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Phantom Raiders
In this second Carter mystery, a mysterious rash of cargo ships sinking in Panama leads insurers Lle...
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Movie Pests
This Pete Smith Specialty short takes a humorous look at the inconsiderate pests whose annoying habi...
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The Road to Glory
May McAvoy is a woman who is blinded in an auto accident and relies on prayer to regain her sight....
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Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
Mrs. Wiggs, a loving mother whose husband has abandoned her, supports her many children and lives in...
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Ringside Maisie
Young undefeated boxer Terry Dolan, who's been lying to his invalid mother about his career, confide...
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The Enchanted Cottage
The Enchanted Cottage stars Richard Barthelmess as Oliver, a physically and emotionally wounded Worl...
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Dulcy
A dizzy young woman aranges to turn her inventor-boyfriend's vacation into a chance meeting with a p...
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Born to Sing
A group of children put on a show in order to prove that a down and out musician was the real compos...
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Luxury Liner
Capt. Jeremy Bradford has a particularly exciting luxury liner cruise in store when he's charged wit...
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The Lion and the Mouse
Judge Ross, on the Federal Bench, rules in favor of a large company in litigation before him, unawar...
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Caught in the Fog
Wealthy Bob visits his mother's Florida houseboat in order to remove her jewelry and stumbles upon a...
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The Terror
Guests at an old English manor house are stalked by a mysterious killer known only as "The Terror"....
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Stolen Kisses
A crotchety old coot wants his son and daughter-in-law to have kids so he can have grandchildren, bu...
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No Defense
No Defense is a 1929 romantic drama directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Monte Blue. It was a silent...
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Sentimental Tommy
Grizel is the daughter of the Painted Lady, who believes that her lover will one day return. Grizel ...
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The Woman Under Oath
After a forward introduces the question of whether women are temperamentally suited for jury duty, J...
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Mystery Street
When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas...
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Slightly Used
Cynthia Martin’s father insists she marry before her two younger sisters Helen and Grace. So, she in...
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Whispers
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short we see how gossip can be used to spread propaganda or to...
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Main Street on the March!
This Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the Naz...
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Mr. Blabbermouth!
Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, America was rife with rumors about the size of Japan's arm...
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The Passionate Quest
The Passionate Quest is a 1926 American drama film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and written by Mar...
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If I Were Single
Rich girl Joan Whitney does her flirtatious best to break up the marriage of May and Ted Howard and ...
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Kick In
After serving time in Sing Sing, Chic Hewes wants to go straight, but when he refuses to be a stool ...
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Sucker List
In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a man and his racketeer buddies devise a scheme to bilk...
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Rio Rita
Doc and Wishey run into some Nazi-agents, who want to smuggle bombs into the USA from a Mexican bord...
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The Top of New York
Hilda lives in a tenement apartment with her aunt, Mrs. Brady, and her crippled younger brother Mick...
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1-2-3-Go!
While playing baseball, Mickey runs into the street to catch a fly ball and is struck by a car. When...
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West of the Water Tower
Young marrieds Guy & Bee are ostracized by their supposed friends in town when Bee discovers she is ...
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Tessie
Cigar counter girl Tessie tips off her mechanic boyfriend that a wealthy women is going to buy a car...
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Matinee Ladies
Law student Bob Ward, short on money, takes a job as a "dancing companion" at a roadhouse, where mos...
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Executive Suite
When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to ...
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To Hell with the Kaiser!
A farce in which the German Kaiser and the Crown Prince are defeated and made sport of by a plucky A...
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The Forbidden Valley
A feud has been raging between the Lee and Mitchell families, in the forbidden valley of the Kentuck...
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A Virginia Courtship
Colonel Fairfax, who lives on a Virginia plantation with his adopted daughter, Prudence, has remaine...
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The House of the Tolling Bell
According to the will of old Anthony Cole, his heir must live for one year in the spooky residence k...
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The Sporting Duchess
Very jealous of the Duke of Desborough's prize race horse "Clipstone," Major Roland Mostyn schemes t...
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