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| Martha Sleeper |
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| born: 24 June 1910 Lake Bluff, Illinois, United States of America |
died: 25 March 1983 (at home) Beaufort, South Carolina, United States of America (heart attack, age 72) |
| American actress who had a stint on the Broadway stage. Some sources state she was born in 1907, which is inaccurate. More speculation surrounds her non-appearance as Billy Gilbert's wife Ethel in The Chimp. The record shows that her Mom and Dad (WILLIAM B.and MINNIE) were married in Chicago on 30 Dec 1903. He was 39 and she was 29 years old. The family moved around a lot but is easy to follow in the US Census's. On Wikipedia, Martha's bio says that her Dad was in the upper management of the Keith Albee Vaudeville Circuit, which explains the traveling. The "Exhibitors Trade Review" (not a fan magazine) in the 16 Aug 1924 issue says that Martha is "the niece of J J MURDOCK, Vice President of the B F Keith Vaudeville Circuit" (he was a VIP in the industry.) In the April 1910 Census, the Dad and Mom and daughter ANNETTE (age 3) are in Wyoming. Dad is working as the head honcho of a ranch; there is no Martha (because she wasn't born until 24 June). The Wiki bio mentions this, but I can take it one step farther: The 1910 Census asks the question: how many children has the wife bore? (and) how many are still living? MINNIE SLEEPER answers "1" to both questions. This means that up to April 1, 1910, Mom has had one child and that child is still living. That one child would be ANNETTE, sister of MARTHA. My wild guess is that the Dad's health was already starting to fail and thus he sought life in "the wide open spaces".If you follow her in the fan magazines, you'll see that in 1923 she was playing pre-teens and teens in feature length dramas (non-ROACH). Most articles about her mention her young age. She was a "champion swimmer" and stage dancer before Hollywood. She was married 3 times, first in 1934 to an actor. |
| Real name: Martha Marie Sleeper Height: 5'4" |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography; plus 1 film with Laurel & Hardy |
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