Editing Maxine Elliott

{{short description|American actress and businesswoman}}
{{for|the actress born in 1904|Maxine Elliott Hicks}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|image      = Maxine Elliott, 1905.jpg
|caption    = Maxine Elliott, circa 1905, by [[Burr McIntosh]]
|birth_name = Jessie Dermott
|birth_date = {{birth date|1868|2|5}}
|birth_place= [[Rockland, Maine]], U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1940|3|5|1868|2|5}}
|death_place= [[Cannes]], France
|relations= [[Gertrude Elliott]] (sister)
|occupation = {{ublist|class=nowrap |Film and stage actress |Businesswoman}}
|signature = Signature of Maxine Elliott.png
}}
'''Maxine Elliott''' (February 5, 1868 – March 5, 1940) also known as '''Little Jessie''', '''Dettie''' or by her birth name '''Jessie Dermott''',{{sfn|Lovell|2016|loc=Chapter 1}} was an American actress and businesswoman. She managed her own theater and experimented with [[silent films]] in the 1910s. Immensely popular, she was rumored to have intimate relationships with highly notable people such as King [[Edward VII]] and [[J.P. Morgan]]. During [[World War I]], she was active on the cause of the [[Commission for Relief in Belgium|Belgian relief]].

==Early life==
Born on February 5, 1868, to Thomas Dermot, a sea captain and Adelaide Hill Dermot,<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZToOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA87 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=XIV |publisher=James T. White & Company |pages=87–88 |year=1910 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |via=Google Books}}</ref> she had a younger sister, actress [[Gertrude Elliott]] and at least two brothers, one of whom, a sailor, was lost at sea in the Indian Ocean.{{When|date=January 2018}}{{sfn|Forbes-Robertson|1964|pp=277–278}}

By age 15 in 1883, Jessie had been seduced and made pregnant by a 25-year-old man whom she may have married underage, according to the biography by [[Diana Forbes-Robertson]], her niece. She either miscarried or lost the baby. This incident left a psychological wound on her for the rest of her life.{{Cn|date=February 2023}}

Eliott later developed a relationship with a man from a rich local family, Arthur Hall. When suspicions of her pregnancy developed and when her relationship with Hall was eventually exposed, she and her father left for South America. In her later years she would make bitter remarks about the separation between her and Hall.{{sfn|Lovell|2016|loc=Chapter 1}}

==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}}

==Businesswoman==
Elliott was successful in both business and investment. She had homes in America, England, and in France. A photograph of [[Winston Churchill]] (accompanied by his wife, [[Clementine Churchill|Clementine]]) working on an oil painting in the grounds of one of her houses, Hartsbourne Manor{{sfn|Hartsbourne Country Club|2020|p=}} in England, appears in Andrew Roberts' ''Churchill: Walking with Destiny''.{{sfn|Roberts|2018|pp=lxxxiii, lxxviii, cxii, lcxxxii lxxxii}}

Elliott's sister [[Gertrude Elliott|Gertrude Elliot]] with her husband [[Johnston Forbes-Robertson]] and their children [[Maxine Blossom Miles|Maxine "Blossom" Miles]], [[Jean Forbes-Robertson|Jean]], Chloe and [[Diana Forbes-Robertson|Diana]] lived in a wing of Hartsbourne Manor.<ref>{{Cite news|last=TIMES|first=Special Cable to THE NEW YORK|date=1909-08-22|title=KING EDWARD SMILES ON MAXINE ELLIOTT; American Actress Admitted to the Circle of His Friends at Marienbad. PRAISED IN ENGLISH PRESS Miss Elliott Called "Handsomest Woman of Her Generation" -King Annoyed by Public Attention.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/08/22/archives/king-edward-smiles-on-maxine-elliott-american-actress-admitted-to.html|access-date=2021-09-22|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1932, she built le [[Château de l'Horizon]] near [[Juan-les-Pins]]. There she entertained guests that included Churchill, [[Lloyd George]] and [[Vincent Sheean]].{{sfn|Shakespeare|2016|p=}} In her old age, the diarist [[Henry Channon|"Chips" Channon]] described her as "an immense bulk of a woman with dark eyes, probably the most amazing eyes one has ever seen", "lovable, fat, oh so fat, witty and gracious"; he recorded having watched her eat "pat after pat of butter without any bread".<ref>Bertie- A Life of Edward VII, Jane Ridley, Chatto & Windus, 2012, p. 438</ref> Elliott died on March 5, 1940, in [[Cannes]], France, a wealthy woman, at the age of 72.{{sfn|Forbes-Robertson|1964|pp=277–278}}

== Death and legacy ==
Elliott was interred at Protestant Cemetery in Cannes and became the subject of a biography titled ''My Aunt Maxine: The Story of Maxine Elliot'' c.1964, written by her niece, [[Diana Forbes-Robertson]].{{sfn|Forbes-Robertson|1964|pp=277–278}} Her other descendants include British actor [[Leo Woodall]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/leo-woodall-white-lotus-jack-interview/|title=Make Some Room for The White Lotus's Leo Woodall|journal=W Magazine|first=Carolyn|last=Twersky|date=28 November 2022|accessdate=27 February 2024}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1913|| ''From Dusk to Dawn'' || ||
|-
|1917|| ''[[Fighting Odds]]'' || Mrs. Copley ||
|-
|1919|| ''[[The Eternal Magdalene]]'' || The Eternal Magdalene || (final film role)
|}

== See also ==

* [[Mary Pickford]]
* [[Edna Goodrich]]

==Bibliography==
'''Footnotes'''
 {{Reflist|group="A"}}
{{reflist|20em}}
'''References'''
*{{cite book|last=Block|first=Maxine | title = Current Biography Yearbook|year=1968| publisher = H. W. Wilson Company| isbn=9780824204778}} <small>- Total pages: 916 </small>
*{{cite book|last=Forbes-Robertson|first=Diana | author-link =Diana Forbes-Robertson| title = My Aunt Maxine: The Story of Maxine Elliott|year=1964| publisher = Viking Press}} <small>- Total pages: 306 </small> (UK edition: ''Maxine'', Hamish Hamilton, 1964)
*{{cite web |last=Hartsbourne Country Club|date=2020|url = https://www.hartsbourne.co.uk/the-club/history/|title =History of Hartsbourne Country Club |publisher = Hartsbourne Country Club| access-date = September 4, 2020 }}
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*{{cite book|last=Lovell|first=Mary S. | author-link =Mary S. Lovell| title = The Riviera Set|year=2016| publisher = Little, Brown Book Group| isbn=9781408705216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTSuDQAAQBAJ&q=Maxine+Elliott| access-date = September 3, 2020}} <small>- Total pages: 448 </small>
*{{cite web |last=Lusher|first=Adam |date=February 26, 2018|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/winston-churchill-cara-delevingne-great-aunt-sex-affair-darkest-hour-doris-castlerosse-channel-4-documentary-lady-infidelity-uk-prime-minister-a8229906.html|title =Did Churchill really fall for Cara Delevingne's great aunt in the villa of Edward VII's former mistress?|work = [[The Independent]]| access-date = September 3, 2020 }}
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*Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums, and Dorris A. Isaacson. ''Maine, a Guide "Down East."'' American guide series. Rockland, Me: Courier-Gazette, 1970.
*[[Rockland, Maine]]'s ''Courier-Gazette'', pp.&nbsp;260–1 (year?)
<!-- R -->
*{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Andrew | author-link = Andrew Roberts (historian)| title = Churchill: Walking with Destiny|year=2018| publisher = Penguin Random House UK| isbn= 9780241205648 }} <small>- Total pages: 1152 </small>
<!-- S -->
*{{cite book |last1=Sheean |first1=Vincent |author-link =Vincent Sheean| title=Between the Thunder and the Sun |date=1943 |publisher=Macmillan}}
*{{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|''The Seattle Star'', September 3,|1915}}|date= September 3, 1915|title= Maxine Elliott Faces Death In Trenches When Lover Is Killed |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093407/1915-09-03/ed-1/seq-1/|newspaper=[[The Seattle Star]]|publisher=E.H. Wells & Co.|location=Seattle, King, Washington|issn=2159-5577|oclc=17285351|pages=1–14|access-date= September 3, 2020 }}
* {{cite web |last=Shakespeare|first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Shakespeare|date=November 5, 2016|url = https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/divinely-decadent|title =Divinely decadent|publisher = [[The Spectator]]| access-date = September 3, 2020 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Maxine Elliott}}
*{{IMDb name|0254556}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=maxine+elliott Maxine Elliott photo gallery] at [[NYP Library]] Digital Collections
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/puzzlemaster/5892958158/in/photostream/ Maxine Elliott, 1921 passport photo]
*[https://panam1901.org/panamlogo.htm Maxine Elliott, 1901 Pan American Exposition]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Maxine}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesswomen]]
[[Category:American expatriate actresses in France]]
[[Category:American silent film actresses]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:American women in World War I]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Maine]]
[[Category:Actresses from Maine]]
[[Category:People from Rockland, Maine]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)]]
[[Category:Forbes-Robertson family]]
[[Category:American women business executives]]