Ada May

Ada May Weeks Potter Castegnaro, born March 8, 1896, in Oyster Bay, New York, was an American actress and dancer who worked across stage, film, and radio. The daughter of Charles Meeks and Ada M. Thomson Weeks, she began dancing at a very young age. Her sisters Marion, Grace, and Ruth also pursued careers as actresses. She performed professionally under the name Ada May, a billing she adopted on the advice of Zelda Sears, and was also sometimes billed as Ada Mae Weeks. Later in life she was referred to as the Countess Castegnaro.

Weeks built her stage career across nearly two decades of Broadway appearances, from 1915 through 1932. Her earliest credited work included Around the Map, in which she served as understudy for Marilyn Miller during its 1915–1916 run, followed by Come to Bohemia and Miss Springtime in 1916. She appeared in Miss 1917 and then in Listen, Lester during the 1918–1919 season, where she danced alongside Clifton Webb. Her subsequent Broadway credits included Jim Jam Jems, which ran from 1920 to 1921, and The O'Brien Girl from 1921 to 1922. She continued with Lollipop in 1924, Rio Rita from 1927 to 1928, and The Good Fairy from 1932 to 1933.

In 1920, Weeks took legal action against theatrical impresario John Cort, suing him for back pay and seeking a court order to prevent him from claiming she was under contract to him, as his assertions were interfering with her ability to secure other theatrical engagements.

Beyond the stage, Weeks appeared in several films, including The Dancing Town in 1928, The Shaming of the True in 1930, Dance, Girl, Dance in 1933, and Monsieur Verdoux in 1947. She was also seen on television in Fireside Theatre in 1950 and performed on radio programs.

Weeks married twice. Her first husband was Wilson Potter, an American sportsman and big game hunter; they married in 1924 and divorced in 1932. Her second marriage, in 1946 in California, was to Count Mario Castegnaro, an Italian film editor. She remained married to Castegnaro until her death on April 25, 1978, at her home in New York City, at the age of 82.