Vivian Martin

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan,[https://www.newspapers.com/image/1111747125/?clipping_id=163162905 "Attractions of the Week: Sessue and Vivian at Strand"]. The Grand Rapids Press. July 26, 1919. p. 5. Retrieved January 17, 2025.[https://archive.org/details/paramountpressbo01unse/page/n127/mode/2up?q=%22Vivian+Martin+As+She+Really+Is%22+%22As+you+know%22 "Vivian Martin as She Really Is"]. Paramount Press Book. October 8, 1917. p. 5. Retrieved January 17, 2025. Martin was the daughter of Grace Gibbs and actor George Herbert Martin.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/52812749/?clipping_id=163186343 "Chas. H. Martin, Veteran Actor, 82"]. The Brooklyn Eagle. December 5, 1951. p. 15. Retrieved January 17, 2025.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/belding-banner/163202439/ "About the Theaters"]. Grand Rapids Press. February 28, 1908. p. 4. Retrieved January 17, 2025. She began her career as a child actress on the stage with comedian Lew Fields.{{Citation needed |date=January 2025}}

In 1901, at age 10, Martin made her stage debut alongside Richard Mansfield in Cyrano de Bergerac. Two years later, she played the title character in Little Lord Fauntleroy.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/20658664/?clipping_id=163159347 "News of Plays and Players"]. The New York Times. March 17, 1903. p. 9. Retrieved January 17, 2025. "'Little Lord Fauntleroy' will be revived at the Casino for afternoon performances, beginning April 13. Vivian Martin, twelve years old, will play the title role."

Other early stage credits include Stop Thief, Officer 666, and The Only Son, as well as the title role in Peter Pan, which Martin played for two years after succeeding Maude Adams.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/543591084/?clipping_id=163111739 "Among the Movie Stars: Vivian Martin"]. The Brooklyn Citizen. January 26, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved January 17, 2025. Her work on Broadway began with Tom Moore (1901) and ended with Marry the Man (1929).{{cite web |title=Vivian Martin |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/vivian-martin-51690 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=January 15, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925034927/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/vivian-martin-51690 |archive-date=September 25, 2019 |url-status=live}}

A blonde, Martin entered the motion picture industry in 1914.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}} Her first role was in The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England (1914) for the World Film Company, in which she played Sally, a parson's daughter. Martin subsequently became a contract player for the Famous Players Film Company, where she achieved popularity as a rival to Mary Pickford. Among her other credits are The Third Kiss (1919), Her Official Fiancee (1919), The Innocent Adventuress (1919), and Louisiana (1919). She made forty-four movies in all, including some for the Fox Film Corporation.

In the early 1920s, Martin started her own production company and released her films through the Goldwyn Corporation. Her career entered into a downward spiral soon afterwards as a result of a lawsuit for payment of studio rentals. Although eventually settled out of court, the case did irreparable damage to her standing among her peers.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}}

In April 1921 Martin left movies and returned to the stage. Her theatrical revival began with a three-act comedy entitled First Night Out by Adelaide Matthews and Ann Nichols.{{Cite news|title=Screen Loses Vivian|author=|date=May 1, 1921|work=The Atlanta Constitution|page=E4|quote=Vivian Martin, according to advices [sic] received in Los Angeles, has retired from the screen to resume her stage career. [...] She has been a motion picture star for the past 4 years. Her first stage vehicle will be 'First Night Out,' by Adelaide Matthews and Ann Nichols, authors of 'Nighty Night' and 'Scrambled Wives.' Miss Martin was for more than three years a screen star with Famous Players-Lasky, appearing in such photoplays as 'The Third Kiss,' 'Her Official Flance,' 'The Innocent Adventuress' and 'Louisiana.' |id={{ProQuest|498116067}}}}

Several of Martin's early and rare films survive at the Library of Congress.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}}

On May 11, 1913, the 21-year-old Martin married actor William Jefferson, son of Joseph Jefferson and former husband of actress Christie MacDonald.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe/163157682/|title = Mrs. William Jefferson: Miss Vivian Martin, Ingenue, Marries Son of Joseph Jefferson|newspaper = The Boston Globe|date = May 17, 1913|page = 13}} They divorced in 1920.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-globe-democrat/163181916/ "Actress to Mary Composer"]. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. February 28, 1926. p. 3. Retrieved January 17, 2025. From February 28, 1926, until his death in March 1938, Martin's husband was advertising writer, magazine editor, radio executive, and erstwhile composer Arthur Hiram Samuels.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/686092272/?clipping_id=163195321 "Arthur H. Samuels Last Rites Today"]. The Brooklyn Eagle. March 21, 1938. p. 9. Retrieved January 17, 2025.

Martin died in New York City in 1987, aged 95. A paid death notice in the New York Times acknowledged her longstanding association with the Professional Children's School in New York, both as kindred spirit/role model and generous financial donor.{{Cite news|title=Deaths: MARTIN, Vivian|author=|date=March 23, 1987|work=New York Times|page=B7|quote=The Board of Trustees of Professional Children's School records with great sorrow the passing of Vivian Martin, our longtime friend and benefactress. From her personal experience as an actress, she understood well the challenges young performers face. Her belief in the role education in an artist's life and in the mission of PCS was an inspiration to all of us. We extend our deepest sympathy to Betty Ivey Martin at the time of her great loss.|id={{ProQuest|110807484}}}}

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• The Wishing Ring (1914)
• Old Dutch (1915)
• The Arrival of Perpetua (1915)
• An Indian Diamond (1915)
• The Little Miss Brown (1915)
• The Little Dutch Girl (1915)
• The Little Mademoiselle (1915)
• The Butterfly on the Wheel (1915)
• Over Night (1915)
• Merely Mary Ann (1916)
• A Modern Thelma (1916)
• The Stronger Love (1916)
• Her Father's Son (1916)
• The Right Direction (1916)
• The Wax Model (1917)
• The Spirit of Romance (1917)
• The Girl at Home (1917)
• Giving Becky a Chance (1917)
• Forbidden Paths (1917)
• A Kiss for Susie (1917)
• Little Miss Optimist (1917)
• The Trouble Buster (1917)
• The Sunset Trail (1917)
• Molly Entangled (1917)
• The Fair Barbarian (1917)
• A Petticoat Pilot (1918)
• Unclaimed Goods (1918)
• Viviette (1918)
• Her Country First (1918)
• Mirandy Smiles (1918)
• Jane Goes A-Wooing (1919)
• You Never Saw Such a Girl (1919)
• Little Comrade (1919)
• The Home Town Girl (1919)
• An Innocent Adventuress (1919)
• Louisiana (1919)
• The Third Kiss (1919)
• His Official Fiancée (1919)
• Husbands and Wives (1920)
• The Song of the Soul (1920)
• Mother Eternal (1921)
• Pardon My French (1921)
• Soiled (1925)
• Folies Bergere de Paris (1934) (uncredited role)

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• {{IMDb name|0553184|Vivian Martin}}
• {{IBDB name|51690}}
• [http://silentladies.com/OSLMartin.html Silent Ladies and Gents] features pictures of Vivian Martin
• [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=vivian+martin Vivian Martin portrait gallery at NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection]

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Category:1891 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:Actresses from Grand Rapids, Michigan

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:People from Grand Rapids, Michigan

Category:Broadway theatre people