"May Elmore Bensen, known as "Mother Bensen", is one of the most interesting women on motion pictures, and one of the very few who frankly tell their age. (...) She attended schools in New York and in Boston. She became a teacher and later a professional reader. For some time she was on the Lyceum platform, and at various times did legitimate stage work. She is decidedly well informed, a serious thinker, and an authority on many questions. She can speak several languages, and decides all questions pertaining to English for her associates. She was educated in music and became known as a singer.

She went to California twenty-six years ago. Her first picture was Jewels of Sacrifice (1913), in which she played the part of the wife. Recently she appeared in The Old Cobbler (1914), The Foundlings of Father Time (1914), an allegorical subject. She was featured in Their Golden Wedding (1914) with Charles "Daddy" Manley. Recently she appeared in "In the Folds of the Flag" ?) (maybe The Flag of Fortune (1915)), The Measure of Leon Du Bray (1915), and in Marianna (1915) she took the part of the blind wife. She had a very good part in The White Feather (1914), a recent anti-war picture.

Mother Bensen is of a sunny disposition and, as her nickname implies, is mother to all the players at Universal City. Her hair, once dark, is now slightly gray, and she has bright blue eyes."

See photos of celebrities before they hit the big-time.

May Bensen

Actress