Born 1891 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australian Actress Mae Busch had her first film appearances in The Agitator and The Water Nymph, both released in 1912. She worked in both silent and sound films in early Hollywood.
At the pinnacle of her film career, Busch was known as the versatile vamp. She starred in such feature films as The Devil’s Pass Key (1920), Foolish Wives (1923), and in The Unholy Three (1925). Her career declined abruptly after 1926, when she walked out on her contract at Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer and suffered a nervous breakdown.
In 1927, Busch was offered a leading role in a Hal Roach two-reeler, Love ’em and Weep, which began her long association with Laurel and Hardy. She appeared in 13 of their comedies, often as shrewish, gold-digging floozies (Chickens Come Home, Come Clean), a volatile wife of Oliver Hardy (Sons of the Desert, Their First Mistake), or more sympathetic roles (Them Thar Hills, Tit for Tat, The Fixer Uppers). Her last role in a Laurel and Hardy film was in The Bohemian Girl, again as a combative spouse of Hardy’s, released in 1936.
Busch’s film roles after 1936 were often uncredited. Overall, she had roles in approximately 130 motion pictures between 1912 and 1946. She died in 1946, age 54. For her contributions to the film industry, Busch was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
Take a look at these vintage photos to see the beauty of young Mae Busch in the 1910s and 1920s.
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