Full Name Martha Sleeper Role Comedienne Name Martha Sleeper | Years active 1923–1945 Occupation Actress Children Victoria Albright | |
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Born June 24, 1910 ( 1910-06-24 ) Lake Bluff, Illinois, U.S. Died March 25, 1983, Beaufort, South Carolina, United States Spouse Hardie Albright (m. 1934–1940) Parents Minnie Akass, William B. Sleeper Movies The Bells of St Mary's, Long Fliv the King, Spitfire, The Scoundrel, Should Sailors Marry? Similar People Leo McCarey, Fred Guiol, Hardie Albright, H M Walker, Hal Roach | ||
Tomorrow's Youth (1934) DICKIE MOORE
Martha Sleeper (June 24, 1910 – March 25, 1983) was a film actress of the 1920s-1930s and, later, a Broadway stage actress. She studied dancing for five years with Russian ballet master, Louis H. Chalif, at his New York dancing studio. Her first public exhibitions were at Carnegie Hall at his class exhibitions.
Contents
- Tomorrows Youth 1934 DICKIE MOORE
- Family
- Film career
- Business career
- Death
- Former discrepancies re Martha Sleepers year of birth
- References
Family
Martha Sleeper reputedly spent her first years on a sheep ranch in Wyoming. Her father, William B. Sleeper, was an official of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville circuit in New York City. Her uncle was John J. Murdock, head of KAO and one of the most powerful men in the business. He would have a major impact on her career. Her mother was Minnie Akass.
He retired to Los Angeles, California in 1923 due to ill health. Martha was under contract to Hal Roach studios beginning in 1924, when she was 14 years old. Her father was found dead of heart disease on September 1, 1925, in bed at his home on 1756 N. Tamarind Street. Martha, then 15 years old, with her mother and sister, were away, having taken a short trip to New York City.
Film career
Sleeper's film career began in 1923 and continued until 1945. Her first screen appearance, at the age of 13, was in The Mailman (1923), an independent production. After appearing in several kiddie comedies at the Christie studio she was signed by the Hal Roach studio for the 'Our Gang" series but she quickly outgrew that role. From 1925-27 she appeared in comedies playing opposite the studio's most popular male stars. She left the Roach studio in late 1927 and moved to the FBO studio where she starred in six silent features during 1928-29. With the coming of sound she was signed by MGM and placed in their training program.
From 1930-36 she played supporting roles in many melodramas her role typically that of a well bred somewhat snobbish society woman who ends up losing her man to the film's leading lady. Frustrated by the types of roles she was being offered Martha began playing onstage in and about Los Angeles, at one point drawing raves as Eliza Doolittle in a performance of Pygmalion in 1932.
After appearing in some low budget melodramas for the poverty row Monogram studio Martha and her husband, actor Hardie Albright, left Hollywood for New York in 1936 where Martha began a long run in both on and off-Broadway plays. In 1945, as a favor to director Leo McCarey, Martha played the role of Patsy's mother in The Bells of St. Mary's. It was her last screen role.
Business career
Martha left Hollywood for New York and the Broadway stage in 1936. Over the next dozen years she would appear in many stage plays both on and off-Broadway. Among those was "The Rugged Path" in 1945 that starred Spencer Tracy in his only Broadway stage role. In New York she turned a hobby into a thriving business, finding herself at the forefront of a fashion craze for "gadget jewelry" in the late 1930s.
In 1949, she and her second husband were on an extended cruise in the Caribbean. Her destination was the Virgin Islands and a vacation with her husband, however, when she reached Puerto Rico, she fell in love with the island. Terminating the cruise Martha and her husband took up permanent residence in San Juan. Looking for a new challenge, and no longer interested in jewelry design, She reinvented herself one more time and began designing women's clothing and resort wear. She had her designs manufactured locally and sold them through a boutique that she established in a 300 year old building in Old Town San Juan. She won many awards and commissions from large corporations for unique designs. She operated this business from 1950 until her retirement in 1969. In 1969, married her third husband and left San Juan for Beaufort, South Carolina, where she spent her remaining years.
Death
Martha Sleeper died of a heart attack, aged 72, in Beaufort, South Carolina, where she had lived with her third husband, Col. Howard C. Stelling, who survived her. She had no children.
Former discrepancies re Martha Sleeper's year of birth
Many sources had cited 1907 as Sleeper's year of birth, but she was actually born shortly after the 1910 census was taken in April 1910. Martha's true date of birth is June 24 1910 as verified by a copy of her birth certificate.
No "Martha Sleeper" appears in the 1910 census records; however, a "Martha Sleeper" is listed as 9 years old in the 1920 census (April 1920) and 19 years old in the 1930 census (April 1930). An airline passenger list, flight CBA 611 from St. Maarten to Charlotte Amalie, VI, on 10 Sep 1962, gives a birthdate of 6-24-1910, in Illinois (ancestry.com). A U.K. Incoming Passenger list (ancestry.com) for the RMS Queen Elizabeth, from New York to Southamptom, arriving 19 Aug 1958, gives a birthdate of 24.6.10. The Social Security Death Index records the date of birth of a "Martha Stelling" (Sleeper's third husband's surname) who died in March 1983 in Beaufort County, South Carolina as June 24, 1910. Sleeper's 1983 New York Times obituary, as well, was titled "Martha Sleeper Is Dead At 72."