Elsie Mackay (actress)

Elsie Mackay
In 1922 with his second wife Elsie Mackay in a Vanity Fair photo for The White-Faced Fool
Born	1894 Roebourne, Western Australia
Nationality	American
Occupation	stage and screen actress
Spouse(s)	Lionel Atwill

• For the English aviator and actress known as 'Poppy Wyndham' please see Elsie Mackay

Elsie Mackay (born 1894 in Roebourne, Western Australia,^[1] date of death unknown) was an American stage and screen actress in the twenties and thirties.^[2][3]

Private life

In 1920 Mackay became the second wife of actor Lionel Atwill,^[4] but they divorced in March 1928, after he had detectives raid an apartment on Manhattan's 68th Street in 1925, where Mackay was found with actor Max Montesole. One source claims that they had a son, John.^[5] A second source says that Atwill was survived by his son John in 1946.^[6] A third source is somewhat contradictory as Atwill's son John from his first marriage died in World War II.^[7]

Theatre and film

Elsie Mackay's stage career included:

• 'Grumpy' at Hollis Street Theatre, Boston. March 27, 1915-16.^[8]

And in Broadway:^[2]

• Another Man's Shoes, 1918, where she replaced Alma Tell as Lionel Atwill's leading woman,^[9]
• As You Like It, as Rosalind 1919,
• Clarence, as Violet Pinney 1919,
• Poldekin, as Maria 1920,
• Deburau, as Marie Duplessis, 1921,
• The White-Faced Fool, 1922,
• The Comedian, as Jacqueline, 1923.

The only film in which Elsie Mackay is known to have performed, as an uncredited bit part actress, was:^[1]

• Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

References

1. Elsie Mackay at the Internet Movie Database
2. Elsie Mackay at the Internet Broadway Database
3. There were two actresses by the name of Elsie Mackay in the 1920s, but the English actress and aviator was known on stage (London and Broadway) and film as Poppy Wyndham. Poppy Wyndham at 'Find a Grave' Many sources conflate the careers of these two actresses, but IMDB makes clear the distinction as Atwill's (ex)wife Elsie Mackay was still performing in 1935, whilst 'Poppy Wyndham' died in an air accident in 1928. IMDB - Disambiguation page for Elsie Mackay
4. Condé Nast
5. Great Character Actors - Lionel Atwill
6. Lionel Atwill Fan club
7. "Actor Lionel Atwill's Son Killed in British Air Action". Chicago Tribune. 29 April 1941. Commonwealth War Graves Commission - CWGC record
8. The Forum - Ephemera, Theatre poster.
9. New York Times Published: May 30, 1918 - PDF Archive Theatrical Notes

External links

• Elsie Mackay at the Internet Movie Database
• Elsie Mackay at the Internet Broadway Database
• Condé Nast