Also know as “The Gardenia of the Screen”, Mae was born Marie Adrienne Koenig in Virginnia, USA. She took to the stage at an early and first appeared on Broadway partnering the ballroom dance star Vernon Castle in the 1906 show “About Town”. Soon after this initial break through, she joined the chorus line of the Ziegfeld Follies and by 1915 she was one of their headline names appearing in shows in Paris partnering such names as Rudolph Valentino and Clifton Webb.
A move into film followed in 1916 with “To Have and to Hold” with Wallace Reid; with stardom following soon after, with her becoming one of MGM’s top names, often appearing with the leading matinee idols of the day. Many of her films include choreographed dance sequences created especially for her talents as a dancer. She was married four times including to Robert Leonard, who wrote and produced several films in which she starred.
It was an unfortunate combination of; a voice unsuitable for talkies and her fourth marriage to Prince David Mdvani that caused her decline. Her husband took control of her business affairs and his advice to leave MGM was the career killer. After they divorced she grew more eccentric eventually declaring herself bankrupt and living the rest of her life in poverty.
The early film poster are works of art - sadly the artist are usually unknown. Here are a few.
Later in her career she appeared at the New York hotspot, Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, sadly she refused to accept the limitation of her age and appeared in heavy unflattering make up. Sadly her dance routines received mixed reviews. Her authorised biography The Self-Enchanted was compiled by Jane Ardmore with Mae's assistance; was published in 1959. Second hand copies are available - click on title to find a copy - The Self-Enchanted
MORE News - direct from Mae's great grand niece "she was reported to have been born Marie Adrienne Koenig (note spelling) in Portsmouth, Virginia, but Murray family lore (still trying to get a birth certificate) has her born a Murray in County Monaghan, Ireland. Also the “authorised biography” by Jane Ardmore has been largely discredited. A new biography is being published later this year, but perpetuates the Koenig name, although it has her as being born in New York City." -- SEE below for the book.