May McAvoy
Date of birth: 1899-09-06
Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as:
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.
Movie Credits
The Jazz Singer
1927-10-06
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects
Love Crazy
1941-05-23
Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorc
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
1925-12-25
Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman of
Third Finger, Left Hand
1940-10-11
Magazine editor Margot Merrick pretends to be married in order to avoid advances from male colleague
Two Girls and a Sailor
1944-06-14
A sailor helps two sisters start up a service canteen. The sailor soon becomes taken with gorgeous s
A Homespun Vamp
1922-02-12
The story of Meg Mackenzie, the orphaned niece of two stingy Scotsmen, Donald and Duncan Craig. She'
Clarence
1922-10-15
Clarence Smith is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler primarily because he has ov
Hollywood
1923-08-19
Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She l
Lady Windermere's Fan
1925-12-26
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire person
The Bedroom Window
1924-06-08
William C. DeMille, Cecil B. DeMille's talented director brother, teamed with his favorite collabora
The Fire Brigade
1926-12-20
Terry O'Neill is the youngest of a family of Irish firefighters. He falls in love with Helen Corwin,
Irish Hearts
1927-05-21
Sheila, a feisty Irish girl, loves Emmett, a somewhat shady Irish boy. When Emmett goes to America,
Three Women
1924-08-18
A frivolous middle aged socialite is suddenly put upon to have her daughter live with her. Her conni
The Yellow Cab Man
1950-03-25
Pirdy is accident prone. He has been denied insurance from every company in town because he is alway
The Mad Whirl
1925-03-02
A teenager with permissive parents gets too caught up in wild parties and the fast life.
A Trip to Paramountown
1922-07-10
Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, feat
I'll Say So
1918-12-22
Hearing that the United States has just declared war on Germany, Bill Durham hurries to a recruiting
Morals
1921-10-31
Reared in a Turkish harem and threatened with marriage to a man she does not love, Carlotta escapes
Only 38
1923-06-17
The death of her clergyman husband causes Mrs. Stanley, young mother of teenage twins, to change her
Gareth Hughes
2000-01-01
Documentary about the Welsh silent movie actor.
A Perfect Lady
1918-12-01
Dancer Lucille Le Jambon (whose real name is Lucy Higgins) loses her job when the morals committee o
The Bad and the Beautiful
1952-12-25
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer,
A Private Scandal
1921-06-11
A French orphan girl is adopted into the home of wealthy Americans. There she becomes romantically i
The Devil's Garden
1920-11-22
William Dale, a servant for Lord Barradine, marries Mavis, a maid. Dale wants to move up in life, an
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940-05-29
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It
Her Reputation
1923-10-14
Discovering that he has only a brief time to live Louisiana plantation owner Andres Miro makes arran
Two Girls on Broadway
1940-04-19
Eddie Kerns sells his song to a Broadway producer and also lands a job dancing in the musical. He se
Ben-Hur
1959-11-18
In 26 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accuse
My Old Dutch
1926-05-23
The story that inspired Albert Chevalier to write his immortal Costermonger song, 'My Old Dutch', is
The Truth About Husbands
1920-12-01
With an eye towards social climbing wealthy Dustan Renshaw breaks his engagement with Janet Preece t
The Savage
1926-07-18
Rivalry between two behavioral scientists gets out of hand...
A Reno Divorce
1927-10-22
An attractive heiress, Carla (May McAvoy), and David (Ralph Graves), a successful artist, fall in lo
The Little Snob
1928-02-11
May Banks (May McAvoy) is a working-class girl who gets ideas above her station in life when her fat
Phantom Raiders
1940-06-07
In this second Carter mystery, a mysterious rash of cargo ships sinking in Panama leads insurers Lle
Movie Pests
1944-07-08
This Pete Smith Specialty short takes a humorous look at the inconsiderate pests whose annoying habi
The Road to Glory
1926-02-07
May McAvoy is a woman who is blinded in an auto accident and relies on prayer to regain her sight.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1919-02-16
Mrs. Wiggs, a loving mother whose husband has abandoned her, supports her many children and lives in
Ringside Maisie
1941-08-01
Young undefeated boxer Terry Dolan, who's been lying to his invalid mother about his career, confide
The Way of a Woman
1919-07-27
A 1919 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
The Enchanted Cottage
1924-03-23
The Enchanted Cottage stars Richard Barthelmess as Oliver, a physically and emotionally wounded Worl
Dulcy
1940-10-04
A dizzy young woman aranges to turn her inventor-boyfriend's vacation into a chance meeting with a p
Born to Sing
1942-02-18
A group of children put on a show in order to prove that a down and out musician was the real compos
Luxury Liner
1948-11-09
Capt. Jeremy Bradford has a particularly exciting luxury liner cruise in store when he's charged wit
The Lion and the Mouse
1928-05-21
Judge Ross, on the Federal Bench, rules in favor of a large company in litigation before him, unawar
Caught in the Fog
1928-08-25
Wealthy Bob visits his mother's Florida houseboat in order to remove her jewelry and stumbles upon a
The Terror
1928-09-06
Guests at an old English manor house are stalked by a mysterious killer known only as "The Terror".
Stolen Kisses
1929-02-23
A crotchety old coot wants his son and daughter-in-law to have kids so he can have grandchildren, bu
No Defense
1929-04-05
No Defense is a 1929 romantic drama directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Monte Blue. It was a silent
Sentimental Tommy
1921-03-26
Grizel is the daughter of the Painted Lady, who believes that her lover will one day return. Grizel
The Woman Under Oath
1919-06-29
After a forward introduces the question of whether women are temperamentally suited for jury duty, J
Mystery Street
1950-06-23
When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas
Slightly Used
1927-09-03
Cynthia Martin’s father insists she marry before her two younger sisters Helen and Grace. So, she in
Whispers
1941-02-08
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short we see how gossip can be used to spread propaganda or to
Main Street on the March!
1941-12-09
This Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the Naz
Mr. Blabbermouth!
1942-08-08
Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, America was rife with rumors about the size of Japan's arm
Tarnish
1924-08-01
The Passionate Quest
1926-07-10
The Passionate Quest is a 1926 American drama film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and written by Mar
If I Were Single
1927-12-17
Rich girl Joan Whitney does her flirtatious best to break up the marriage of May and Ted Howard and
Kick In
1922-12-17
After serving time in Sing Sing, Chic Hewes wants to go straight, but when he refuses to be a stool
Sucker List
1941-07-26
In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a man and his racketeer buddies devise a scheme to bilk
Rio Rita
1942-03-11
Doc and Wishey run into some Nazi-agents, who want to smuggle bombs into the USA from a Mexican bord
The Top of New York
1922-06-18
Hilda lives in a tenement apartment with her aunt, Mrs. Brady, and her crippled younger brother Mick
1-2-3-Go!
1941-04-26
While playing baseball, Mickey runs into the street to catch a fly ball and is struck by a car. When
West of the Water Tower
1924-01-06
Young marrieds Guy & Bee are ostracized by their supposed friends in town when Bee discovers she is
Tessie
1925-09-18
Cigar counter girl Tessie tips off her mechanic boyfriend that a wealthy women is going to buy a car
Matinee Ladies
1927-04-09
Law student Bob Ward, short on money, takes a job as a "dancing companion" at a roadhouse, where mos
Executive Suite
1954-04-30
When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to
To Hell with the Kaiser!
1918-06-30
A farce in which the German Kaiser and the Crown Prince are defeated and made sport of by a plucky A
The Forbidden Valley
1920-10-10
A feud has been raging between the Lee and Mitchell families, in the forbidden valley of the Kentuck
A Virginia Courtship
1921-12-19
Colonel Fairfax, who lives on a Virginia plantation with his adopted daughter, Prudence, has remaine
The House of the Tolling Bell
1920-09-05
According to the will of old Anthony Cole, his heir must live for one year in the spooky residence k
The Sporting Duchess
1920-02-29
Very jealous of the Duke of Desborough's prize race horse "Clipstone," Major Roland Mostyn schemes t