Mabel Trunnelle

Biography

Dwight, Illinois, welcomed Mabel Trunnelle on November 8, 1879, and by 1911 the East-Coast veteran of footlights had traded boards for celluloid at thirty-two. That watershed year flickered with three one-reelers—A Modern Cinderella, In the Days of Chivalry, and the flag-waving The Star Spangled Banner that quickly became her calling card. She kept facing cameras until 1923’s The Love Trap, then, at forty-four, stepped back into greasepaint and live audiences. A century later, on April 29, 1981, her story closed in Glendale, California, one month past her 101st birthday.