Edith Storey

Edith Storey (March 18, 1892 – October 9, 1967) was an American actress born in New York City to William Chase Storey and Minnie Storey, née Thorn. She began performing as a child and appeared on Broadway between 1903 and 1904, with credits including Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch and The Little Princess. Her younger brother, Richard, also pursued an acting career, and the two appeared together on stage at least once, in a 1916 revival of Anne Crawford Flexner's adaptation of Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.

Storey's film career began in 1908 with Francesca di Rimini, also known as The Two Brothers. She accumulated two film roles that year and a total of seventy-five by 1913, with a significant number of those being Westerns. Her skill as a horsewoman — she was reported to be capable of performing her own stunts — made her a natural fit for the genre. While working at the Star Film Ranch in San Antonio, Texas, between 1910 and 1911 under contract with the Star Film Company, she earned the nickname Billy among the cowboys of the Méliès film company for her ability to ride virtually any horse. Outside of that contract period, Storey worked primarily for the New York-based Vitagraph Studios throughout her career.

Among her notable films were The Immortal Alamo (1911), A Florida Enchantment (1914), and The Christian (1914), the last of which was based on Hall Caine's novel of the same name. Storey was recognized for taking on male impersonation roles, most notably the character Lillian/Lawrence in A Florida Enchantment, and was compared to Vesta Tilley in that regard. In 1918, she signed with Metro, making her debut for that studio in The Eyes of Mystery. Between 1913 and 1921, she appeared in an additional seventy-one films, the majority of which were shorts. She retired in 1921 at the age of twenty-nine, having appeared in nearly 150 films over the course of her screen career.

Following her retirement from acting, Storey served as village clerk of Asharoken, Long Island for nearly thirty years. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1523 Vine Street. Storey was living in Northport, New York, at the time of her death on October 9, 1967, at the age of seventy-five. She was cremated at Fresh Pond Crematory on October 13, 1967.