Mary Alden(1883-1946)

Graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1910. Among her classmates were director Paul Bern (who was murdered by his first wife just after marrying Jean Harlow) and actors Tom Powers and George Shelton. William C. de Mille, whose father named the Academy when he was a teacher there, spoke at the graduation ceremonies for the Class of 1910. He and his brother Cecil B. DeMille also graduated from the Academy.

If I had to stand up before an audience and be just Mary Alden, I should be helpless from embarrassment and self-consciousness. It's only because I can pretend to be someone else that I am able to play at all.