Maude Eburne (born Maud Eburne Riggs, November 10, 1875 – October 15, 1960) was a Canadian character actress of stage and screen, known for playing eccentric roles.
The death of Eburne's father in 1901 was a catalyst for her entry into acting as a profession. She said that he would not have approved a stage career for her and added, "If my father knew I was on the stage, he would not rest in peace."[1]
Eburne began her career in stock theater in Buffalo, New York.[2] Her early theater work was in Ontario[citation needed] and New York City, debuting on Broadway to great acclaim as "Coddles" in the 1914 farceA Pair of Sixes.[3] "When I first came to New York... I said I didn't want to be beautiful young girls or stately leading women, but wanted parts that had something queer in them, especially if there were dialect."[4]
She continued to play mainly humorous domestic roles on stage, appearing in productions such as The Half Moon (1920), Lady Butterfly (1923), Three Cheers (1928) and Many a Slip (1930),[5] before her first significant film role — and first sound film role —[1] in The Bat Whispers (1930), director Roland West's sound remake of his 1926 silent featureThe Bat.
Personal life
Eugene J. Hall married Eburne "in about 1905". They had a daughter, Marion Birdseye Hall, in 1907.[1] He died in 1932.[6]
Eburne retired in 1951.
Death
Eburne died on October 15, 1960, in Hollywood, California,[1] at age 84.
