Miriam Seegar

Miriam Seegar Whelan (September 1, 1907 – January 2, 2011) was an American actress who worked in silent film, early sound films, and on Broadway. Born in Greentown, Indiana, she was one of the Seegar sisters, whose growing interest in acting and singing prompted their father, Frank Seegar, to leave teaching and open a hardware store to support their pursuits.

Seegar made her Broadway debut in The Squall in 1926, stepping into the role of Anita as a replacement. Her transition to film followed shortly after, beginning with The Price of Divorce in 1928, in which she appeared alongside Frances Day and Rex Maurice. Although the film was not released at the time, it was later adapted for sound and distributed in 1930 under the title Such Is the Law. That same year she also took a lead role in The Valley of Ghosts. Her film output grew steadily, with four pictures in 1929 and six in 1930, among them New Movietone Follies of 1930 and The Dawn Trail, the latter opposite Western star Buck Jones. She completed six additional films across 1931 and 1932 before retiring from acting in 1933.

In her personal life, Seegar married Tim Whelan, a film director, and the couple had two sons, Tim Whelan Jr. and Michael. Her husband died in 1957. Both sons predeceased her, with Tim Whelan Jr. dying of cancer in 1997 and Michael dying in 1998, the two losses occurring within nine months of each other.

Following her retirement from acting, Seegar built a second career as an interior decorator. She earned her ASID certification in 1953 and worked first alongside Harriet Shellenberger before establishing her own practice, continuing in the profession until 1995. In 2000, at the age of 93, she appeared in the documentary I Used to Be in Pictures, which gathered commentary from many of her contemporaries. She subsequently made guest appearances at film festivals and received an award for her screen work from the Memphis Film Festival at the age of 95. On her 102nd birthday, she sailed from Southampton to New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary 2 and returned by the same route. Seegar died on January 2, 2011, at the age of 103.