Editing Maxine Elliott (section)

==Acting==
[[File:Maxine Elliott story on the front page of The Seattle Star - September 3 1915.jpg|thumb|alt=B&W newspaper article| Maxine Elliott story on the front page of September 3, 1915, ''[[The Seattle Star]]'']]
She adopted her stage name ''Maxine Elliott'' in 1889, making her first appearance in 1890 in ''The Middleman''.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/>

In 1895, she got her first big break when [[Augustin 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''.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/>

For her appearance 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, and they were rumoured to have had an intimate relationship.{{sfn|Lusher|2018|p=}}

Goodwin eventually divorced Elliott in 1908. Around this time she became friendly with financier [[J. P. Morgan]]. Some biographers of Morgan claim the seventy-year-old Morgan had a sexual relationship with Elliott but no evidence substantiates these rumours. Assuredly Morgan gave her financial advice, which helped her become a rich woman. Shortly after divorcing Goodwin, she returned to New York City and in 1908 opened her own theater, ''[[Maxine Elliott Theatre|The Maxine Elliott]]'', located on 39th Street near [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]].{{sfn|Lovell|2016|p=}}

She was both owner and manager, and, at the time, the only woman in the United States running her own theater. Her first production was ''The Chaperon''. She 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 she soon returned to Britain. In 1913, she started dating New Zealand's tennis star [[Anthony Wilding]], who was over 15 years her junior, with ''[[The Seattle Star]]'' calling him her lover.{{sfn|''The Seattle Star'', September 3,|1915|p=1}}

According to the ''Star'' she had planned to marry Wilding, but he was killed on May 9, 1915, at the [[Battle of Aubers Ridge]] in World War I.{{sfn|''The Seattle Star'', September 3,|1915|p=1}} After his death she reportedly became obsessed with the [[World War I|War]] and moved to [[Belgium]]. There she volunteered both her income and her time to the cause of the Belgian relief, being rewarded with the Belgian [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Order of the Crown]]. {{sfn|''The Seattle Star'', September 3,|1915|p=1}}

In 1917, Elliott returned to the U.S. and signed with the newly formed [[Goldwyn Pictures]] to make the 1917 film ''[[Fighting Odds]]'' and 1919 film ''[[The Eternal Magdalene]]''. Elliott can be seen visiting Charlie Chaplin's studios in 1918 and cavorting with him and her entourage before Chaplin's cameras. Her visit to Chaplin survives and is sometimes included in omnibus videos on Chaplin.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

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".{{sfn|Block|1968|p=278}} According to biographer Diana Forbes-Robertson, contemporary critics were divided on whether it was "her beauty or her acting ability that attracted attention" over her career.{{sfn|Forbes-Robertson|1964|pp=277–278}}