Muriel Starr

Starr was born near Montreal in a lumber camp.{{cite news |title=Canadian Actress Travels Far, Winds Up on Soap Opera for NBC |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-muriel-starr/173046298/ |access-date=May 24, 2025 |work=The Gazette |date=February 4, 1944 |location=Canada, Quebec, Montreal |page=7|via = Newspapers.com }} Her work in an 1894 production of Shore Acres led The Washington Post to say, "Little Muriel Starr ... is one of the sweetest stage children ever seen in Washington."{{cite news |title='Shore Acres' at Albaugh's |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-post/173048535/ |access-date=May 24, 2025 |work=The Washington Post |date=December 25, 1894 |page=4|via = Newspapers.com }} By 1902 she had a "singing and dancing specialty" in addition to her acting.{{cite news |title=Amusements |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsfield-sun/173049279/ |access-date=May 24, 2025 |work=The Pittsfield Sun |date=September 11, 1902 |page=5|via = Newspapers.com }}

Starr was a favorite of Australian audiences, and at one time considered settling there.

In 1913–1915 she toured Within the Law for J. C. Williamson, followed by Mid-Channel, Madame X, The Yellow Ticket, Bought and Paid For, Under Cover and The Law of the Land in which she could play strong emotion. She was less successful in the comedies The Chorus Lady and especially Sunday{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221920605 |title=Muriel Starr and Her Plays |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 August 1915 |access-date=17 January 2020 |page=15 |via=Trove }}

She returned in December 1917 for Hugh J. Ward with Richard Walton Tully's The Bird of Paradise, followed by The Easiest Way, The Man Who Came Back, Nobody's Widow, The Great Divide, Common Clay, Silent Witness and her famous pieces Within the Law and Bought and Paid For. A cousin, Norma Mitchell, accompanied her and played support roles. Her male lead, Louis Kimball (1889–1936), received good notices. Before leaving, she married W. Hartwell Johnston at the Registry Office in Sydney. Her cousin and her mother, Mrs O'Loughlin, also cited as Mrs Hughie MacIver, were present at the ceremony. Mr Johnston was managing director of the Wrigley Company in Australia.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239359788 |title=Muriel Starr |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 September 1918 |access-date=17 January 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}

Her third season in Australia began in April 1924 and brought new plays: Robert Hichens' The Garden of Allah, East of Suez, The Pelican, The Skin Game, and Secrets and revivals of Silent Witness, Bought and Paid For, and Madame X, possibly her greatest role.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136614623 |title=Referee Theatreland |newspaper=The Referee (Sydney newspaper) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 June 1924 |access-date=17 January 2020 |page=14 |via=Trove }} In Melbourne she tried a revival of The Silver King when Within the Law failed to draw the usual crowds.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223294851 |title=Is Spoken Drama Losing Favor? |newspaper=The Weekly Times (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 September 1925 |access-date=18 January 2020 |page=18 |via=Trove }}

While in Melbourne, she swerved her car onto the wrong side of the road to avoid a stationary vehicle, mounting the footpath and crushing a pedestrian, causing serious injuries. She was charged with dangerous driving, but found not guilty.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91611777 |title=Miss Muriel Starr |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=5 February 1926 |access-date=18 January 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}

Her farewell performances in regional centres included French Leave, The Sign on the Door, and Outcast.

In 1927, she reprised a string of her starring roles at the Palace Theatre, Sydney and momentarily saved it from conversion to a movie theatre. Harvey Adams, her leading man in many plays from 1925, now also served as producer. New plays included The House of Glass, Cornered,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246212566 |title=Muriel Starr Opens on Christmas Eve |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 December 1927 |access-date=16 January 2020 |page=34 |via=Trove }} Robert H. McLaughlin's The Eternal Magdalene, The Goldfish, The Donovan Affair, Whispering Wires, The Last Warning, Nice People, Sweeney Todd, The Hole in the Wall and Shooting Shadows. This last play was reviewed scathingly in Adelaide{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41329306 |title=Shooting Shadows |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=30 August 1927 |access-date=19 January 2020 |page=15 |via=Trove }} and not attempted elsewhere.

In May 1930, she declared herself bankrupt, owing £3,427 (perhaps a million dollars in today's money), mostly to J. C. Williamson. The judge granted her an unconditional discharge on the grounds that her creditors knew the risks inherent in show business and so she was able legally to return to America.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73804159 |title=Muriel Starr Bankrupt |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=6 May 1930 |access-date=16 January 2020 |page=12 |via=Trove }}

Starr portrayed Mrs. Garvin on the NBC radio serial Young Widder Brown. Other radio programs on which she performed included Amanda of Honeymoon Hill, Kitty Foyle, and Just Plain Bill.

In late 1918 she married W. Hartwell Johnston, an American business manager in Sydney.{{Citation needed |date=May 2025}} Starr died on 19 April 1950{{cite web |title=Muriel Starr |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/muriel-starr-60905 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=May 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607175124/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/muriel-starr-60905 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |url-status=live}} in her dressing room at the St Johns Theatre in New York while appearing in the production The Velvet Glove.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18157454 |title=Muriel Starr Dies in U.S. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 April 1950 |accessdate=12 January 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

• Going Some (1909) as Jeane Chapin{{cite news |title=Laughter In "Going Some" |work=The New York Times |date=April 13, 1909 |location=New York, New York |page=10 |via = NYTimes.com}}
• A Man of Honor (1911)
• The Stranger (1911) as Mary Washington
• The Right to Happiness (1912)
• The Truth Wagon (1912) as Heen Dean
• The Indiscretion of Truth (1912)
• Gamblers All (1917)
• John Hawthorne (1921) as Laura Smart
• The Star-Wagon (1937) as Angela and as herb woman
• On the Rocks (1938) as Lady Chavender
• Case History (1938) as Ann
• Outward Bound (1938) as Mrs. Clivedon-Banks (replacement)
• The Velvet Glove (1949) as Sister Athanasius

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.ausstage.edu.au/indexdrilldown.jsp?xcid=59&f_contrib_id=235511 Australian theatre credits] at AusStage
• {{IBDB name|60905}}
• {{IMDb name|1013496}}

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Category:Canadian stage actresses

Category:Canadian film actresses

Category:1888 births

Category:1950 deaths

Category:Canadian expatriates in Australia