Vivian Martin

Vivian Louise Martin (July 22, 1891 – March 16, 1987) was an American actress whose career spanned both the Broadway stage and silent film. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she was the daughter of Grace Gibbs and actor George Herbert Martin. Martin began performing as a child, working on stage with comedian Lew Fields before making her formal stage debut in 1901 at age ten, appearing alongside Richard Mansfield in Cyrano de Bergerac. Two years after that debut, she took on the title role in Little Lord Fauntleroy. Among her other early stage work were Stop Thief, Officer 666, and The Only Son, along with the title role in Peter Pan, a part she held for two years after succeeding Maude Adams in the role.

Martin's Broadway career extended from 1901 to 1929, opening with Tom Moore and closing with Marry the Man. Her stage credits during that period included Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Dane's Defense, Caste, and the musical Half a Widow, among other productions. After departing from film work in April 1921, she returned to the stage, resuming her theatrical career with a three-act comedy called First Night Out, written by Adelaide Matthews and Ann Nichols.

Martin entered the motion picture industry in 1914, with her first screen role as Sally, a parson's daughter, in The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England, produced by the World Film Company. She subsequently became a contract player for the Famous Players Film Company, where she gained popularity as a rival to Mary Pickford. Her film credits include The Third Kiss, His Official Fiancée, An Innocent Adventuress, and Louisiana, all from 1919, and she made forty-four films in total, including productions for the Fox Film Corporation. In the early 1920s, Martin established her own production company and distributed her films through the Goldwyn Corporation. A lawsuit over unpaid studio rentals followed, and although the matter was settled out of court, it damaged her professional standing and contributed to the decline of her film career. Several of her early films are preserved at the Library of Congress.

On May 11, 1913, Martin married actor William Jefferson, a son of Joseph Jefferson and the former husband of actress Christie MacDonald. The marriage ended in divorce in 1920. From February 28, 1926, until his death in March 1938, her husband was Arthur Hiram Samuels, who worked as an advertising writer, magazine editor, radio executive, and composer. Martin died in New York City in 1987 at the age of 95. A death notice published in the New York Times noted her longstanding connection to the Professional Children's School in New York, where she served as both a role model and a financial donor.