Elliott, Maxine

(1868-1940)

   Born Jessie C. Dermot in Rockland, Maine, actress Maxine Elliott demonstrated an independent spirit from childhood, which a convent school could not correct. In 1884, she married New York lawyer George MacDermott, but they soon separated and eventually divorced. A tall, striking beauty with black hair and luminous complexion, she realized that the stage was a career path open to ambitious women, so she sought out Dion Boucicault to teach her to act; he also helped her choose her stage name.

   Elliott's social skills as well as her beauty enabled her to find a succession of opportunities following her 1890 New York debut; she acted with the companies of T. Henry French and Augustin Daly in New York, T. Daniel Frawley in San Francisco, and Nat C. Goodwin on an 1896-1897 Australian tour. She and Goodwin were married in 1898, and they toured together for five seasons. An English comedy, When We Were Twenty-One by Henry V. Esmond, became the mainstay of their repertory. Clyde Fitch wrote Nathan Hale (1899) and The Cowboy and the Lady (1899) as vehicles for Goodwin and Elliot. After their separation in 1903, Fitch continued to write plays for Elliott, including Her Own Way (1903) and Her Great Match (1905). She personally oversaw construction of the elegant Maxine Elliott Theatre, which she opened in 1908, starring in The Chaperon.

   Although she continued to act sporadically, and even ventured into silent motion pictures, Elliott preferred to live as a socialite in England, where she bought a country manor and became a frequent companion of King Edward VII. During World War I, she devoted her wealth to transporting food and supplies to the Allies in Belgium.

   Critic Austin Latchaw recalled (Kansas City Star, 18 June 1935) that "Maxine Elliott was one of the most beautiful women the spotlight ever shone upon. There was something more, and I believe it was a degree of technique that went far to cover the limitations most of us would concede, the employment of that keen intelligence that incidentally and subsequently marked Maxine Elliott as one of the shrewdest business women the age of freedom has developed. Instead of not being able to act 'a little bit,' as some would have it, I believe Miss Elliott, in her way, was a particularly good actress." Her niece, Diana Forbes-Robertson, published a biography of her, My Aunt Maxine (1964).