Beryl Mercer

Spanish-American actress (1882–1939)

Maitland Paisley

(m. 1896; div. 1909)

Holmes Herbert
(m. 1909; div. 19??)Children1

Beryl Mercer (August 13, 1882 – July 28, 1939) was a Spanish-born American actress of stage and screen who was based in the United States.^[1]

Early years

Beryl Mercer was born to British parents in Seville on 13 August 1882. Her father was Edward Sheppard Mercer, said to be Spanish despite his name, and her mother was actress Effie Martin.^[2]^{[note 1]}^[3]

Career

She became a child actress, making her debut on 14 August 1886 at the Theatre Royal, Great Yarmouth, when she was age 4 and returned to the stage when she was ten. In London, she appeared in The Darling of the Gods and the production by Oscar Asche of A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[2] In 1906 she appeared as a Kaffir slave in the West End play The Shulamite.^[4] She travelled with this play to the United States, where she received good reviews.^[2] That 1906 play marked her Broadway debut.^[5]

Mercer was honored by Dowager Queen Alexandra for her work as an entertainer during World War I.^[6]

Mercer's film debut came in The Christian.^[7] She was best known as a film actress for her motherly roles. She played Lew Ayres' mother in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and James Cagney's mother in The Public Enemy (1931). She also regularly appeared as a grandmother, cook or maid in some high-profile films. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1916 and 1939, and her career was at a peak in the 1930s when she regularly appeared in several films per year. Mercer appeared in Cavalcade (1933), Jane Eyre, The Little Minister, and The Richest Girl in the World (all 1934). She was in two versions of Three Live Ghosts (1929 and 1935) and The Little Princess (1939) as Queen Victoria.

Personal life

Mercer was married to Maitland Paisley early in her life. Her only other marriage was to actor Holmes Herbert in the late 1920s. She had one child, Joan Mercer, later Bitting, born on 16 September 1917.^[8]

Death

On 28 July 1939, Mercer died in Santa Monica, California, aged 56, following surgery for an undisclosed ailment. She was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.^[9]

Filmography

The Shulamite (1915)
The Final Curtain (1916) – Mary
Broken Chains (1922) – Mrs. Mulcahy
The Christian (1923) – Liza
We Americans (1928) – Mrs. Levine
Mother's Boy (1929) – Mrs.O'Day
Three Live Ghosts (1929) – Mrs. Gubbins
Seven Days' Leave (1930) – Sarah Ann Dowey
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) – Paul's Mother
Dumbbells in Ermine (1930) – Grandma Corey
In Gay Madrid (1930) – Doña Concha
Common Clay (1930) – Mrs. Neal
The Matrimonial Bed (1930) – Corinne
An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee (1930, Short) – Mrs. Warner Bros. Pictures
Outward Bound (1930) – Mrs. Midget
Inspiration (1931) – Marthe, Yvonne's Maid
East Lynne (1931) – Joyce
The Public Enemy (1931) – Ma Powers
The Sky Spider (1931) – Mother Morgan
The Man in Possession (1931) – Mrs. Dabney
The Miracle Woman (1931) – Mrs. Higgins
Merely Mary Ann (1931) – Mrs. Leadbatter
Are These Our Children? (1931) – Mrs. Martin – Eddie's Grandma
Forgotten Women (1931) – Fern Madden
Lovers Courageous (1932) – Mrs. Smith
Devil's Lottery (1932) – Mrs. Mary Ann Meech
Lena Rivers (1932) – Grandmother Nichols
Young America (1932) – Grandma Beamish
Unholy Love (1932) – Mrs. Cawley
No Greater Love (1932) – Mrs. Burns
Midnight Morals (1932) – Mother O'Brien, the Prison Matron
Smilin' Through (1932) – Mrs. Crouch
Six Hours to Live (1932) – The Widow
Cavalcade (1933) – Cook
Her Splendid Folly (1933) – Mrs. McAllister
Supernatural (1933) – Madame Gourjan, Paul's Landlady
Blind Adventure (1933) – Elsie
Berkeley Square (1933) – Mrs. Barwick
Broken Dreams (1933) – Mom
Change of Heart (1934) – Harriet Hawkins
Jane Eyre (1934) – Mrs. Fairfax
The Richest Girl in the World (1934) – Marie
The Little Minister (1934) – Margaret
Age of Indiscretion (1935) – Mrs. Williams
Forbidden Heaven (1935) – Agnes, 'The Duchess'
Hitch Hike Lady (1935) – Mrs. Bayne
Magnificent Obsession (1935) – Mrs. Eden
Three Live Ghosts (1936) – Mrs. Gibbins
My Marriage (1936) – Mrs. Dolan
Call It a Day (1937) – Mrs. Elkins, the Cook
Night Must Fall (1937) – Saleslady
The Little Princess (1939) – Queen Victoria
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) – Mrs. Jennifer Mortimer
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) – Queen Victoria
A Woman Is the Judge (1939) – Mrs. Butler (final film role)

Notes

^ The reference work An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 says of Mercer, "... her mother was the famed actor Beryl Montague."

References

^ Erickson, Hal. "Beryl Mercer: biography". AllMovie. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Nissen, Axel (February 21, 2012). Mothers, Mammies and Old Maids: Twenty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood. McFarland. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7864-9045-5. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
^ Lowe, Denise (2014). An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317718963. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ Wearing, J. P. (December 5, 2013). The London Stage 1900–1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Scarecrow Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-8108-9294-1. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
^ "Beryl Mercer". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ "Her Stage Career Began in Childhood". Detroit Free Press. December 3, 1930. p. 18. Retrieved March 13, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "The Show Window". Hartford Courant. September 16, 1930. p. 19. Retrieved March 12, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Joan Mercer Bitting, 92; Founding Member of St. Matthew". Palisadian-Post. Pacific Palisades, Calif. September 10, 2009. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
^ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 52. ISBN 978-0786409839. Retrieved March 13, 2018.