Audrey Munson
USAAudrey Manson: An American Model and Actress
Audrey Manson was an American model, theater actress, and film actress. Born in 1896, her parents divorced when she was young, and she moved to New York City with her mother. In 1906, she began posing for photographers and artists. From 1909 to 1911, she performed in musicals on Broadway.
Manson became a model for many famous and fashionable artists of the time, and she gained immense popularity. She was often referred to as Miss Manhattan, the American Venus, and more. Sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder chose her as the model for his Star Maiden sculpture and 94 other sculptures that adorned the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. From 1916, her images, based on the works of Adolf Alexander Weinman, were minted on half-dollar and 10-cent coins.
Hollywood Career and Scandal
In 1916, Audrey Manson relocated to California. She appeared in four Hollywood silent films, including "Inspiration" (1915) and "Purity" (1916), where she was featured in fully nude scenes, a first in American non-pornographic cinema. In 1919, she returned to New York City.
During this time, Manson became involved with the owner of the house where she and her mother rented an apartment, Walter Wilkins. Wilkins murdered his wife, and both Manson and her mother were suspected of being accomplices. However, they were not in New York City at the time, and the suspicion was lifted. Wilkins was sentenced to death by electric chair and hanged himself before the sentence was carried out.
The scandalous public events disrupted Audrey Manson's modeling and acting career. She turned to journalism for a while and was published in newspapers. By 1920, she returned to Mexico but struggled to find work and resorted to selling kitchenware. In 1921, she made her final film appearance in "Careless Moths," a movie she wrote the screenplay for.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1922, Audrey Manson attempted suicide by poisoning herself, and she began showing signs of mental illness. In 1931, she was court-ordered to a psychiatric hospital and remained there for 65 years, until her death, forgotten by her family.
For a long time, films featuring Audrey Manson were considered lost, but in 2004, a copy of the film "Purity" was found in France. Since 1996, there has been a resurgence of interest in Manson as a model and actress. Books have been published about her, and today, a tour of New York City includes a visit to her sculptural images.
