From Wikipedia
Martha Mansfield (July 14, 1899 – November 30, 1923) was an
American actress in silent films and vaudeville stage plays.
She was born Martha Ehrlich in New York City to Maurice and
Harriett Gibson Ehrlich. She had a younger sister, Edith, born in 1905. Although
many biographies state that Martha was born in Mansfield, Ohio, her birth
record and death certificate both have New York City as her place of birth. Her
mother, Harriet, was from Mansfield, Ohio, having emigrated there from Ireland
in 1885. Martha later adopted the name of the town as her stage name.
Her first Hollywood movie was Civilian Clothes (1920)
directed by Hugh Ford. She gained prominence as Millicent Carew (originally
offered to Tallulah Bankhead) in the film adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, which starred John Barrymore. She then signed with Selznick Pictures
where she was cast with Eugene O'Brien in The Perfect Lover (1919). In 1921,
Mansfield returned to the stage in a vaudeville tour. She appeared in two
independent films the following year: Queen of the Moulin Rouge and Till We
Meet Again. She spent the remainder of the year touring the vaudeville circuit.
In 1923, Mansfield completed her contract for Selznick and
signed with Fox Film Corporation. Her first film for Fox was The Silent Command,
starring Edmund Lowe and Béla Lugosi. The final completed features in her short
film career were Potash and Permutter and The Leavenworth Case, both from 1923.
On November 29, 1923, while working on location in San
Antonio, Texas on the film The Warrens of Virginia, Mansfield was severely
burned when a tossed match ignited her Civil War costume of hoop skirts and
flimsy ruffles. Mansfield was playing the role of Agatha Warren and had just
finished her scenes and retired to a car when her clothing burst into flames.
Her neck and face were saved when leading man Wilfred Lytell threw his heavy
overcoat over her. The chauffeur of Mansfield's car was burned badly on his
hands while trying to remove the burning clothing from the actress. The fire
was put out, but she sustained substantial burns to her body.
She was rushed to a hospital where she died less than
twenty-four hours later of "burns of all extremities, general toxemia and
suppression of urine". Mansfield was 24 years old. Accompanied by actor
Phillip Shorey, Mansfield's body was transported back to her home in New York
City. She was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.
