Shirley Mason
actress, soundtrack
- Birth name:
- Leonie Flugrath
- Born:
- 1900-06-06, Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Died:
- 1979-07-27, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- actress, soundtrack
Biography
Brooklyn, 6 June 1900: Leonie Flugrath entered the world, the baby of a trio of born performers. While her sisters Edna and Viola already owned the spotlight, Leonie—soon renamed Shirley Mason—slipped onto the screen at eleven in the one-reeler At the Threshold of Life. Studios barely noticed. Four quiet years passed before she resurfaced as the ambitious Becky in Vanity Fair (1915), and two more seasons drifted by before the gates finally burst open: 1917 delivered thirteen features in twelve months, climaxing with her luminous title turn in The Awakening of Ruth. The new decade slowed the conveyor belt but sharpened the material. Between 1920 and 1922 she charted the aching arc of Love’s Harvest, struck the match that lit The Lamplighter, and signed off Very Truly Yours with a wistful smile. After one last flight in The Flying Marine (1929), she folded her wings and vanished into private life. Fifty summers later—27 July 1979—the curtain fell for good.
