Mary Newcomb

Mary Newcomb (1893–1966) was an American actress who appeared on the American and British stage and in films. Early life Mary Newcomb was born on August 21, 1893, in North Adams, Massachusetts, the daughter of Josiah Turner Newcomb, and Sophie De Wolfe Newcomb. She grew up in New York City and La Grangeville in Dutchess County, New York. She attended Lauralton Hall Academy, a convent school for girls in Milford Connecticut. Newcomb was an advocate for allowing women to vote, giving speeches with Carrie Chapman Catt and Elsie Lincoln Benedict. She began lecturing on a suffrage tour when she was 17, addressing New York crowds from Albany to Battery Park. Acting career Newcomb was discovered and encouraged as an actress by the distinguished actor Robert Edeson, who heard her speaking as a suffragette in New York and recognized her inherent talent. Her "first actual role" was in His Brother's Keeper, a production of Edeson's company.