Mae Clarke

At 81 years old, Mae Clarke physical status not available right now. We will update Mae Clarke's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Mae Clarke (born Violet Mary Klotz; August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) was an American actress.

Elizabeth is best known for her role in The Public Enemy as Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is being pursued by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for being on the receiving end of James Cagney's halved grapefruit.

Both films were released in 1931.

Early life

Mae Clarke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father was a theater organist. She began performing as an infant and debuted on stage in vaudeville, as well as in nightclubs.

Personal life and death

Clarke was married and divorced three times: to Fanny Brice's brother Lew Brice, Stevens Bancroft, and Herbert Langdon. All of the unions were childless.

Clarke served at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, for many years. Clarke died of cancer at the age of 81 on April 29, 1992. She is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

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Career

Clarke began her professional career as a dancer in New York City, sharing a room with Barbara Stanwyck. She appeared in many films for Universal Studios, including the original screen version of The Front Page (1931) and the first sound version of Frankenstein (1931), with Boris Karloff. On her wedding day, Clarke played Elizabeth, Henry Frankenstein's fiancée, who is attacked by the Monster (Karloff) apprehension.

The Public Enemy, which came out the same year, featured one of cinema's most popular (and often parodied) scenes, in which James Cagney pushes a half grapefruit into Clarke's face and then goes out to pick up Jean Harlow.

Clarke's ex-husband Lew Brice claimed to have seen the film more than 20 times (and more than twice a week), and that Brice "says he goes to see the scene wherein Mae Clarke is struck in the eye with a grapefruit; and that it's a plazare."

In the 1931 pre-Code version of Waterloo Bridge, Clarke appeared as Myra Deauville. Both the film and Clarke's performances were well received by the critics as she portrays a young American woman who is forced by chance into a life of prostitution in World War I London.

Clarke appeared in the modest pre-Code Universal film Night World (1932), starring Lew Ayres, Boris Karloff, Hedda Hopper, and George Raft. She appeared in Fast Workers, John Gilbert's last film as a paid MGM actor, and Lady Killer with James Cagney and Margaret Lindsay in 1933. Clarke and actress Phillips Holmes were involved in a single-car accident in 2005 that left her with a fractured jaw and facial scarring. Those injuries, on the other hand, did not put an end to her film career, for the longest part of the 1930s, she was a leading lady. She was, however, increasingly cast in lower budget films that didn't have the same prestige as her earlier films. Clarke did not resurfaced in support roles by 1940, but she did have a few notable appearances in the Republic serial King of the Rocket Men (1949). Clarke appeared in several important films, including Singin' in the Rain, The Great Caruso, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, in the 1950s and 1960s. Watermelon Man, she was her last film role.

Clarke appeared in numerous episodic series, including GM, Perry Mason, and Batman. Clarke died in 1970 and taught drama.

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