Madeline Fairbanks

Madeleine (known professionally as Madeline) Fairbanks was born on November 15, 1900, in New York City. Along with her twin sister Marion Fairbanks, she began her acting career on the stage, starring in such productions as "Claudia", "The Prince Chap", "Mary Jane's Pa", "The Piper", "Snow White", "The Blue Bird" and countless others at the New Theatre and the Little Theatre in New York City. The twins first entered films with Biograph around 1910, but due to Biograph's policy of not revealing the names of their players, they received little publicity. In 1912 they joined the Thanhouser Film Corporation (which was conveniently located in New Rochelle, allowing them to commute each day from their home in New York City), where they were billed as "The Thanhouser Twins". Their first film at Thanhouser was (naturally) The Twins (1912). They continued to divide their time between stage and screen and in 1917 joined the cast of the Ziegfeld Follies, where they remained for several years. In 1921, while the twins were appearing at the George M. Cohan Theatre in "Two Little Girls in Blue", they signed with Cosmopolitan Productions for parts in the upcoming film The Beauty Shop (1922), to be released by Paramount. In 1923 Madeline announced she would devote her time to the pursuit of serious dramatic roles, while her sister Marion would remain in musical revues. Madeline appeared in "Mercenary Mary", "The Grab Bag" and "The Ritz Revue", but by 1924 the twins were eager to work together again and they reunited for the stage production of George White's "Scandals". In 1937 Madeline married Leonard Sherman and they had one daughter, Kate. The couple were divorced in 1947. Madeline Fairbanks died on January 15, 1989, of respiratory failure at the age of 88.