Mae Clarke: Movies & Box Office

Mae Clarke, born Violet Mary Klotz on August 16, 1910, emerged from a Philadelphia childhood where her father worked as a theatre organist and she learned to dance for vaudeville stages. At age twelve she marched in the Miss America Pageant Parade dressed as a lobster, a quirky early public appearance that foreshadowed a career defined by striking visual moments. She moved to New York City as a teenager, sharing a room with future star Barbara Stanwyck, and began working as a nightclub dancer before transitioning to the silver screen in the late 1920s. Clarke’s breakthrough arrived at Universal Studios, where she starred as Elizabeth, the ill‑fated bride in James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein, a role that cemented her as a memorable early horror heroine. The same year she became immortalized in film lore when James Cagney smashed a half grapefruit into her face in The Public Enemy, a scene that was endlessly parodied and contributed to her lasting pop‑culture notoriety. Throughout the 1930s she headlined a series of pre‑Code dramas such as Waterloo Bridge and Fast Workers, demonstrating versatility that survived a 1933 automobile accident that left her with a broken jaw and facial scarring. As studio budgets shifted, Clarke moved into supporting and uncredited parts in iconic later films like Singin' in the Rain and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and appeared on television series including Perry Mason and Batman before retiring in 1970 to teach drama. Her personal life saw three marriages—to Lew Brice, Stevens Bancroft, and Herbert Langdon—yet she never had children. Mae Clarke spent her final years at the Motion Picture & Television Country House, passing away from cancer on April 29, 1992, and is buried at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.