Muriel Ostriche

Silent-film actress Muriel Ostriche was born in New York City on March 24, 1896. As a young girl she planned on becoming a schoolteacher, but that career fell by the wayside when, while still a high-school student, she was stopped on the street by director Christy Cabanne, who asked her to take a screen test at American Biograph studios, where he was working. She did so and was hired by Biograph. However, Biograph only used her as an extra, and it wasn't long before she left the company and went to work for several other studios, notably Powers and Pathe, and then settled in for a spell at American Sinclair, across the river in Fort Lee, NJ. She was mentored there by director Étienne Arnaud, who put her in quite a few films. After she left Eclair she worked briefly for Reliance Pictures, then joined the Thanhouser Company, her first picture there being Miss Mischief (1913). Thanhouser set up a special division for her, called Princess Films, and turned out a string of one-reelers starring her, often with Boyd Marshall as her co-star. Off-screen, she enjoyed the life of a movie star, and was especially fond of upscale restaurants which, as was the fashion of the time, had dance bands to whom patrons could "trip the light fantastic" in between courses. She became renowned for making the circuit of those establishments, and was often praised in the entertainment press of the day for her "beautiful" dancing. One of the best-known of those restaurants, Rector's, featured waiters who would dance with the patrons. One of them was a fellow who was trying to break into movies but so far had just appeared in small parts, and was such a fine dancer that he and Ostriche often danced together for the enjoyment of the restaurant's customers. His name was Rudolph Valentino. She left Thanhouser in 1915, when the studio's survival was in serious doubt. She worked for several different studios, among them Universal, Vitagraph and World Films. She stayed with World for three years, and then made several independent films that were released through Arrow Productions. She made her last film, The Shadow (1921), in 1921 for low-budget independent producer J. Charles Davis, then retired. She married twice and had four children, two with each husband. She passed away after a short illness in St. Petersburg, FL, on May 3, 1989, at 93 years of age.