Muriel Kirkland

Muriel Kirkland (August 19, 1903 – September 26, 1971) was an American actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1925 to 1959. Born in Yonkers, New York, she was the daughter of advertising executive Charles B. Kirkland and Margaret (Keith) Kirkland.

Kirkland's path to the stage began at age 16, when her parents enrolled her in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to help her overcome what she described as severe shyness and self-consciousness. Six months into her studies, the academy dismissed her with the assessment that she would never become an actress. Rather than accepting that verdict, she treated it as motivation and pursued the profession regardless. After being turned down by theatrical agencies, she secured a part with a stock company in Yonkers, which served as her professional debut. An apprenticeship with director Stuart Walker followed, first in Cincinnati and then with his company in Huntington, West Virginia, where Walker named her leading lady. Working under Walker, she developed her vocal technique and stage confidence. She also performed with the Orpheum Players in Kansas City, the All-Star Jefferson Players in Birmingham, Alabama, and in summer theater in Westchester County, New York, Magnolia, Massachusetts, and New Rochelle, New York. She additionally appeared in a company headed by Blanche Bates.

Kirkland made her first New York stage appearance at age 19, playing Maria in The School for Scandal. That same season she reached Broadway, cast as Nettie in Out of Step. Her subsequent Broadway credits included Brass Buttons (1927), Cock Robin (1928), Strictly Dishonorable (1929), The Greeks Had a Word for It (1930), I Love an Actress (1931), Fast Service (1931), Lady of Letters (1935), Stop-over (1938), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938), Inherit the Wind (1955), and The Legend of Lizzie (1959). Her role in Strictly Dishonorable came after she was the forty-ninth actress to audition for the part.

Financial pressures during the Depression led Kirkland to pursue film work. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her to a contract in 1932, though the studio was dissatisfied with her screen appearance and she went without assignments for six months before being cast in Fast Workers (1933). After her MGM contract concluded, she worked as a freelance film actress, appearing in Cocktail Hour, Hold Your Man, To the Last Man, Nana, and The Secret of the Blue Room.

In radio, Kirkland became the fourth actress to portray the title character in the soap opera The Story of Mary Marlin. During her time in that role, she participated in a photo re-enactment of key moments from the program that appeared in the September 11, 1944, issue of Life magazine.

On May 24, 1936, Kirkland married actor Staats Jennings Cotsworth Jr. in New York City. She died on September 26, 1971, at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City from emphysema and related complications, at the age of 68.